...Unions have been around since the early 1900’s and have always been a significant influence on the interest of their workers. From safeguarding the worker’s rights to dealing in the collective bargaining processes, Unions are there to protect what is right for a worker in a workplace. As Unions are usually formed by groups of workers, which in turn, essentially makes them more powerful when it comes down to conducting business strategies when negotiating with their respective companies or organizations. On the other hand, as a Human Resource manager, you are there to serve many purposes and perform many key functions. From implementing company laws and developing compensation and benefits packages, to the process of hiring and terminating employees,...
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...Task: How much power or influence do the labor and management sides have over workplace rules and organization? In a workplace the rules have to be fair for both employees and employers. Everyone wants to make money and be treated properly. It is my opinion that labor and management have a relatively fair and equal influence. Chapter 4 case study 4.1 asks about the Landrum-Griffin Act. The Landrum-Griffin Act Title I section speaks in regards to the equal rights of every member to nominate, vote, attend meetings, and participate in deliberations. It also refers to freedom of speech and assembly that refers to every member having the right to assemble freely and express any views or arguments they may have with the union as long as it cannot be construed as impairing the rights of the labor organization. In Title IV Section 401(e) of the Landrum-Griffin Act it says “In any election… a reasonable opportunity shall be given for the nomination of candidates and every member in good standing shall be eligible to be a candidate and to hold office”. (Holley) With these excerpts from the Landrum-Griffin Act it gives the labor the rights to collectively decide what they will argue for in the workplace by voting and deliberating as a whole what the majority of the union sees as acceptable terms. Both members of management and labor can be a part of the union and both can hold member or officer positions. With the opportunity of both labor and management to hold different positions...
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...1. Introduction Equality and diversity in the workplace has become a central topic in the debate within the human resource management literature. Traditionally, society has been divided into different social classes, which arise from different aspects such as access to material resources, access to education and employment opportunity. These divisions in class differences have reflected and have fundamental influence over employment relationships (Williams and Adam-Smith, 2009). However, inequality nowadays is more complex. It has gone beyond the issue of class differences, thus the lack of equality and non-discrimination framework impedes the progress of equality and diversity in contemporary organisations (Fawcett Report, 2013). The presented paper builds on the existing literature on the topic of equality and diversity in the workplace, and aims to examine the role of trade unions, governments and human resource managers in promoting equality and diversity within organisations. Particular difficulties of advancing equality in practice are investigated and solutions to overcome these issues are discussed. Overall, the paper is structured into three main sections. To begin, a short outline of different approaches used in addressing equality and diversity will be considered. The first main section highlights the role of the stakeholders in promoting equality and diversity in the workplace. The second section evaluates numerous challenges preventing the promotion of equality...
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...characteristics, for example, promotion prospects, location of plants, working hours, and especially the wages. The only difference between the two job offers is that there are irritations of noise and an increased risk of work accidents in firm A while not in firm B. Which job do you choose? Definitely the job in firm B! The only thing firm A could do, is to compensate you for worse working conditions by paying an extra bonus. Compensating wage differentials are where people are paid more for dirty, dangerous or difficult work. This perspective on the functioning of labour markets originates from the writings of Adam Smith. The theory of compensating wage differentials stated that workers receive wage premium related to harms and hazards at their workplace. Utilities of workers are therefore equalised between industries and occupations by means of competition in the labour market. In particular, the theory implies that the marginal worker receives a compensated wage just enough to accept the work conditions, whereas those who are not risk averse or do not mind adverse conditions are paid more than is necessary to have them work in jobs that are risky or have bad working conditions. In an ideal market situation where each worker is well informed and everybody shares the same information. The worker is confronted with a schedule of wages and risk in different occupation. The worker has a utility function depending on wages, occupational health and safety (OSH) hazard and leisure of the form...
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...employees in unionized workplaces, or those who could unionize, and laws that affects the workplace. This includes processes and rules related to collective bargaining. The government provides a fair and balanced framework of labor relations and dispute settlement. With policy development and analysis of trends and issues of labor relations, the government provides facilitation and education, dispute resolution services and information for collective bargaining. The Canadian Labour Congress is releasing this study to show just how much better the union advantage truly is – both nationally and in 30 communities across the country. This study shows that in Canada on an average, unionized workers get almost $5 more an hour than non-union workers. A union is a group of workers who come together for making collective decisions about their work and working conditions. There is a democratic union in which the members elect the leaders through voting process. With the help of collective bargaining, these leaders negotiate with the employer in terms of wages, safety, working conditions, hours, and other benefits, on behalf of the members. The rights of unionized workers may vary extensively depending on the country, region and industry. Also rules, regulations and laws can also be amazingly complex. These rights are constantly evolving, and state governments adopt national laws to defend or diminish the rights of unionized workers. A non-unionized workplace is a workplace where there is no...
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...Use of Social Media in the Workplace Executive Summary With the growing number of social media-related lawsuits happened in Canada, many employers have to find how to create efficient and effective social media policies for their companies. I am a student in a course called Advanced Written Communication, which is one of my third year courses in Bachelor of Business Administration program. As a business student, I am also interested in this problem. From the research, I find some social media-related cases and some privacy legislations in Canada. They warn both employers and employees that it is necessary to have enough legal and security knowledge. Employers should create media policies based on Canada’s laws, and employees also should carefully use social media in the workplace according to company’s policies. In addition, I find a fact that numerous companies in Canada and United States ban social media at work. However, this will alienate new employees who like social media, and make old employees feel unhappy. Thus, to create efficient and effective social media policies, a list of useful points are provided at the end. 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Purpose We will analyze cases of using social media in the workplace, consider the effect of Canada’s related laws, and finally find out how to create efficient and effective social media policies for the company. 1.2 Problems When Creating Social Media Policies In recent years, social media has become an important...
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...Group Assignment Case Study: Q.2: What strategies can Phil use to increase his chances of success in organizing a union within his company? Phil should focus on the strategy of stability. By implementing this, workers will be able to understand why organizing a union within his company will create stability for both the employees and the employers. Phil can argue, that there are many advantages to having a union put in place. For instance, unions have the ability to increase workers compensation in addition to giving more rights to employees. This will likely spark interest in the company, as we often hear that when more rights, opportunities and compensation are given to employees, it is likely to result in a happier and more productive work environment. The reason stability is the most effective, is because a union is able to provide a stable workplace, where ones job is secure. Aforementioned, benefits and compensation packages are usually more lucrative then the average worker, working in a non unionized company. Lastly, with increase of stability it is likely that turnover will decrease, and reductions in costs for recruitment and termination packages will occur (Hebdon and brown, 2012). Based on John Godard’s strategies (Hebdon and Brown, 2012) Phil can argue to increase his chances in organizing a union within his company: The improvement of terms and conditions of the workplace * Improvement in wages, benefits and current terms of the workplace * This...
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...Justice in the workplace: Why it is important and why a new public policy initiative is needed Provocation Series Volume 2 Number 3 Professor Paul Edwards FBA, Industrial Relations Research Unit, Warwick Business School and Senior Fellow, Advanced Institute of Management Research Justice in the workplace Contents Executive summary 3 Introduction 6 Job quality and limited success in dealing with it 8 The proposals: building workplace justice 13 Workplace justice 19 Limits to legally based solutions 24 Labour market and employer-led changes 27 Constraints and possibilities 31 Concluding remarks 39 References 42 Notes 45 Acknowledgements The help and encouragement of Keith Sisson have been crucial to the production of this paper, which is a completely revised version of the 2005 Annual Employment Relations Lecture, Keele University. I am grateful to colleagues at Keele and to the audience there, and also to David Coats and Paul Marginson, for comments and suggestions. I take sole responsibility for the views expressed. 2 Justice in the workplace Executive summary The goal of improving fairness in the workplace has been central to UK public policy since 1997. For rather longer, companies have spoken of employee empowerment through such things as teamwork. Much has been done in both areas, but major concerns remain. In relation to fairness, employee rights give entitlements, but these rights also need to be meaningful and effective. In the workplace, the take-up...
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...Organization Studies http://oss.sagepub.com ‘Subterranean Worksick Blues’: Humour as Subversion in Two Call Centres Phil Taylor and Peter Bain Organization Studies 2003; 24; 1487 DOI: 10.1177/0170840603249008 The online version of this article can be found at: http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/24/9/1487 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: European Group for Organizational Studies Additional services and information for Organization Studies can be found at: Email Alerts: http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://oss.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav Citations http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/24/9/1487 Downloaded from http://oss.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on July 31, 2009 1487 Authors name ‘Subterranean Worksick Blues’: Humour as Subversion in Two Call Centres Phil Taylor and Peter Bain Abstract Phil Taylor University of Stirling, UK Peter Bain University of Strathclyde, UK This article engages in debates stimulated by previous work published in Organization Studies, and more widely, on the purpose and effects of workers’ humour and joking practices. The authors emphasize the subversive character of humour in the workplace, rejecting perspectives which see humour as inevitably contributing to organizational harmony. Drawing on methodologies, including ethnography, which permitted...
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...The implications of the diminution in union forms of representation for the efficiency of employee voice within the workplace In the first decade of the 21st century, HR has been set a large significant number of issues and many subjects such as employee relationship, strategic HR approaches, employee rewarding, people resourcing, management ethics and so forth have attracted great deal of attention, concern and study to analysis their role, effect and contributions in organizations. Even though there are wide ranges of subjects playing different roles in human resource practices, an appreciation of operating the relationship between employees and employers has become an essential position of business and management recently. Traditionally, employers in employee relationship tried to maintain the control of the workforce with the goal of enhancing business performance. Clearly, if workers are treated fairly and respectively, in addition, they have appropriate influence on managerial decision-making, it could better for them perform improvably. Managers prefer grater work outcomes, nevertheless, it could bring employees’ requirements being disregarded or undermined (Budd, 2004). Therefore, employees bond to express their voice appropriately and their interests should be respected. The main way in which workers tend to voice their interests and representations in the workplace is to participate in collective unions so that they could in a position of greater strength; trade unionism...
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...Weekly Written Assignment, Week 2, Chapters 4, 5 and 6 Union and Management: Key Participants in the Labor Relations Process Why and How Unions are Organized Negotiating the Labor Agreement October 30, 2014 Case 5-3, "Did the Company Violate....?", p. 232; and Case 5-5, "Bulletin Board Use", p. 236. Answer the questions at the end of each case in typewritten format, 3 - 5 pages. 1. Was this matter within the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board? The statements made by the employer appear to coincide with an unlawful promise of benefits, and therefore, are unacceptable in relation to the act. The concept of “positive coercion” is addressed in the case study, and these actions directly influence the manner in which employees may view the union and its possible entrance into the organization. In this context, the company does not possess a right to actively or even passively coerce employees into making a decision on one side or another, as this should be an independent decision that is left in the hands of employees without any type of influence. This is an important factor in demonstrating the value that is placed upon organizations and their ability to coerce employees to make decisions in one way or another, and how this type of behavior is unacceptable in all cases. 2. Were Leiner’s actions considered a protected activity under the Labor Management Relations Act? I think yes. The employer had an e-mail policy that restricted use of the...
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...Employee Relations What are the implications of the decline in union forms of representation for effective employee voice within workplace? Introduction: Union has been a very important part in employee relations. This was actually the voice of employees towards the management/ employers at workplace. Basically union is “an association, combination, or organization of employees who band together to secure favourable wages, improved working conditions, and better work hours and to resolve grievances against employers” (Bagchi, 2003). Unions always try to protect workers right and maintain a balanced relationship between workers and management. Unions’ existence can be traced from the 18th century, when the rapid growth of industrialisation took place. This industrial growth drew attention of women, children, rural workers and immigrants to the work force in different roles and actions. This unskilled and semi-skilled work force continuously organized them to fit in to the system from the beginning; and later become an important arena for the development of trade unions. In recent age the relationship between employee and employer has changed so does the process of representation process. The relationship between employee and employer should have some sort of equality in it. But as a matter of fact this has rarely be a case when an applicant or employee gets the choice to select the desired workplace or work itself from the employers. It’s rather more driven by employers’...
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...Essay Questions: How and why do the workplace experiences of employees from non – English speaking backgrounds differ from other workers? How can, and should, should actor respond to this? How are these differences manifested, and responded to, in your own workplace? The workplace experiences of employees from Non–English Speaking Backgrounds (NESB) differ from other workers for a number of reasons. Employment opportunity is a primary reason why individuals emigrate to other countries (de Castro et al. 2006). While employment in a host country has benefits, immigrants often face considerable challenges as they learn and adjust to the norms and values of the host culture. In particular, immigrant workers may face the ‘‘double jeopardy’’ of dealing with stressors related to both working in a new country as well as to living in a new society (de Castro, Gilbert & Takeuchi 2008). Like other European countries, Australia is also a very attractive destination for migrant workers. Migrants have been part of Australian society and the Australian workforce since colonisation began in 1788. However the migrant population at the time was of a predominantly European background. It was from the mid-nineteen century when Chinese, Pacific Islander, Lebanese, Afghan, Indian and European migrants arrived and settled in Australia. Due to the gradual liberalisation of Australian immigration policies, the ethnic composition of Australian migrants has shifted significantly, bringing...
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...Introduction This paper entails the critical analysis on the Global Mining (GM) case study whereby the human resource (HR) related issues are identified through GM’s problems and a provision of 3 HR strategies targeting at 3 key HR issues. This paper also address the possible implementation challenges that GM may face so as to mitigate them. However, detailed implementation approaches of these strategies are beyond the scope of this paper. HR Strategies There are growing evidence of positive impact HR strategies have on organisational effectiveness and performance (Boselie, Dietz and Boon 2005; Combs et al. 2006; Guest et al. 2003; Huang 2000). Lee, Lee and Wu (2010) quoted Mondy et al. (2002) on the boundary of HR strategies to include five key functions: staffing, human resource development, compensation and benefits, safety and health, and employee and labour relations. Based on Lee, Lee and Wu (2010)’s own study, which extended Mondy et al. (2002)’s HR strategies to include teamwork, HR planning, performance appraisal and employment security, they concluded that HR strategies do attribute to a company’s performances. The espousals of HR strategies are critical in motivating employees’ commitment towards corporate’s strategic objectives (Buller and McEvoy 2012). GM’s HR Director, Susan Maffat, commented on unclear HR strategy offers an indication of GM’s poor or ineffective/inefficient HR strategies. The following problems currently faced by GM are the manifestation of...
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...engaged”. By “relations” we mean “the relationships that exist within the industry between the employer and his workmen.” The term industrial relations explain the relationship between employees and management which stem directly or indirectly from union-employer relationship. Industrial relations are the relationships between employees and employers within the organizational settings. The field of industrial relations looks at the relationship between management and workers, particularly groups of workers represented by a union. Industrial relations are basically the interactions between employers, employees and the government, and the institutions and associations through which such interactions are mediated. The term industrial relations have a broad as well as a narrow outlook. Originally, industrial relations were broadly defined to include the relationships and interactions between employers and employees. From this perspective, industrial relations cover all aspects of the employment relationship, including human resource management, employee relations, and union-management (or labour) relations. Now its meaning has become more specific and restricted. Accordingly, industrial relations pertains to the study and practice of collective bargaining,...
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