Labor-management Cooperation Research Articles

A Conference on Quality of Work Life: Issues Affecting the State of the ArtBureau of Labor-Management Relations and Cooperative Programs, U.S.Department of Labor (1984)

A Conference on Quality of Work Life: Issues Affecting the State of the Art<i>Bureau of Labor-Management Relations and Cooperative Programs</i>, U.S.Department of Labor (1984)

Democracy in the Workplace: Toward Labor-Management Cooperation

Democracy in the Workplace: Toward Labor-Management Cooperation

Productivity and fiscal pressure

Under the pressure of fiscal crises, elected officials and their constituents are demanding that productivity improvement be institutionalized in government. Pressured public administration is responding with innovations ranging across measurement and auditing, joint labor-management cooperation, incentives tied to performance, training, information resources, microcomputer applications, and new means of financing productivity investments. Potential progress is limited, however, by bureaupathologies, private sector assumptions, capital underfunding, statutory or procedural obstacles, and labor-management differences. Nevertheless, public sector productivity programs promise to benefit all interested parties.

Ford and the UAW have a Better Idea: A Joint Labor-Management Approach to Plant Closings and Worker Retraining

Responding to the severe recession in the U.S. automobile industry in the late 1970s, Ford Motor Company and the United Automobile Workers negotiated, as part of their 1982 national agreement, innovative provisions to deal with the problems faced by redundant workers. This article outlines the basic components of the UAW-Ford model for plant closings and describes the implementation of the model at a San Jose site. The UAW-Ford approach is an example of best practice in the area of joint labor-management cooperation when dealing with the human resource problems of a plant closure. Among the lessons learned from the San Jose experience are the value of early advance notice; the importance of an external catalyst and source of technical assistance in getting the program under way and moving in the right direction; the necessity of good union and management leadership; the importance of on-site delivery of services to the displaced workers; the importance of frequent communication with the workers; the value of having a flexible, readily available resource base to underpin the readjustment program; and the employer's sense of responsibility in discharging obligations to the dislocated work force.

The Changing Work Place

Contrary to popular prophecies of doom, the work place will undergo no cataclysmic transformation in the next decade. The labor force will continue to grow, as women and immigrants flock to work in increasing numbers. Computerized technologies will alter the content of many jobs, but they will neither force millions out of work nor result in dramatically different skill requirements in the labor market. Despite the flurry of interest in labor-management cooperation in the early 1980s, American industrial relations will also continue to be characterized by traditional adversarial roles. Workers will be more educated than in prior generations, jobs will shift increasingly into the service sector, and both displaced workers and declining geographic areas will struggle with the U.S. economy's gradual evolution. For unions, the greatest challenges posed by the changing work place will be to meet the expectations of more affluent and educated workers in a period of slow economic growth, to reconcile concerns for job security and improved productivity, to expand their organizing efforts in growing occupations, industries, and regions, and to sustain their longstanding commitment to social justice.

Labor-Management Cooperation in American Communities: What's in it for the Unions?

Area labor-management committees (ALMCs) have been established in over 40 American communities. These committees have the potential, not always realized, to improve dramatically the legitimacy and power accorded to unions at the community level. While separate from the collective bargaining process, ALMCs do contribute to improved communications and other changes at the bargaining table. They also can serve as a unique forum to assist local employers and unions interested in establishing work-site labor-management committees and in exploring the quality of work-life. Finally, these local labor management organizations stand as a microcosm and as a potentially important element in a national industrial policy.

Gainsharing: a few questions, and fewer answers.

Gainsharing is an important organization development intervention, yet many of the basic questions have not been answered. This paper addresses these questions by developing a conceptual model and using the model to review the case study literature on gainsharing . The plans varied in terms of structural factors, implementation factors, and situational factors, and a majority were successful. Gainsharing impact was found in five key areas: organizational effectiveness, individual quality of work life, ideas and innovation, labor-management cooperation, and pay. Relevant research is briefly reviewed and several unanswered questions are identified for future research.

Collective Bargaining in 1982: A Turning Point in Industrial Relations?

In some industries, the 1982 round of collective bargaining may have signaled the transition from traditional adversarial bargaining to greater labor-management cooperation, employment security guarantees, and more worker participation .

The Labor Relations Process.

THE LABOR RELATIONS PROCESS, 9th Edition provides you with the latest information available on current research, issues and events in labor relations. To bring this dynamic field to life, the book integrates real-world examples and quotes from practitioners. This comprehensive text examines the labor movement from its inception to current and emerging trends, including topics such as unions, labor agreements, collective bargaining, arbitration, and labor relations in government, white-collar, and international contexts. The authors give an in-depth analysis of all facets of the relationship between management and labor, including a study of the rights and responsibilities of unions and management; the negotiation and administration of labor agreements; and labor-management cooperation. Other topics explored include the results of the labor relations process, and collective bargaining issues such as healthcare costs containment, pensions, labor productivity and alternative work arrangements.

Public sector productivity in an era of retrenchment

National Productivity ReviewVolume 1, Issue 1 p. 100-109 Article Public sector productivity in an era of retrenchment Martin D. Hanlon, Martin D. Hanlon is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies at Queens College of the City University of New York. He has written articles and papers on labormanagement cooperation to improve the quality of working life and is editor of the Quality of Woklife Review.Search for more papers by this author Martin D. Hanlon, Martin D. Hanlon is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies at Queens College of the City University of New York. He has written articles and papers on labormanagement cooperation to improve the quality of working life and is editor of the Quality of Woklife Review.Search for more papers by this author First published: Winter 1981 https://doi.org/10.1002/npr.4040010112Citations: 2 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume1, Issue1Winter 1981Pages 100-109 RelatedInformation

Theme Appreciation as a Construct for Organizational Change

This paper develops an organizational change construct from the activities of the Jamestown (New York) Area Labor-Management Committee, a community-based program of labor-management cooperation. As part of this program, projects to increase productivity and to improve the quality of working life were undertaken by internal labor-management committees in ten factories over a four-year period. Although each organizational experience was episodic, these efforts collectively gave rise to community “themes”—such as skills development, gains-sharing, and layout redesign—which served to stimulate further organizational change, often in unanticipated ways. Diffusion typically was from part of one organization to part of another, rather than from a part, to the whole, of the same organization. In effect, a community “theme-set” evolved out of many piecemeal organizational projects. The various themes then served to integrate the micro projects and the Area Committee's macro objectives. Singly and in combination, the eight themes comprising the set rendered general (community) objectives more concrete, and concrete (organizational) projects more general. A two-phase change process is described, and a thematic reappreciation is made. The concept of theme developed in this paper then is considered in light of other, related concepts. Based on the timing of theme appearance and the degree of organizational appreciation, four theme subsets are distinguished. Development within each subset is elaborated, and the subsets are contrasted in terms of certain theme attributes. Four partial explanations are posited for general appreciation of themes: (1) community coherence, (2) organization-theme fit, (3) the existence of alternative participative options, and (4) the nature of the intervention process. After subsequent developments in Jamestown are shown to support theme appreciation, the paper examines the relevance of theme appreciation to change within organizations—irrespective of links to a community program. Three issues are treated: (1) unit of analysis, (2) the role of non-participants in organizational change, and (3) organization-wide transformation. In each case, the potential value of theme-appreciation is suggested. The paper concludes by expressing some cautions about pseudo-appreciation of themes.

The Spillovers of Labor-Management Cooperation: A Reply to Weinberg

The Spillovers of Labor-Management Cooperation: A Reply to Weinberg

The CEC: Labor‐Management Cooperation in New York

Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and SocietyVolume 20, Issue 2 p. 212-220 The CEC: Labor-Management Cooperation in New York ROBERT B. McKERSIE, ROBERT B. McKERSIESearch for more papers by this authorLEONARD GREENHALGH, LEONARD GREENHALGHSearch for more papers by this authorTODD D. JICK, TODD D. JICK *The authors are, respectively, Professor of Labor Relations, Alfred P. SIoan School of Management, MIT; Assistant Professor, Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, Dartmouth College; and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Administrative Studies, York University.Search for more papers by this author ROBERT B. McKERSIE, ROBERT B. McKERSIESearch for more papers by this authorLEONARD GREENHALGH, LEONARD GREENHALGHSearch for more papers by this authorTODD D. JICK, TODD D. JICK *The authors are, respectively, Professor of Labor Relations, Alfred P. SIoan School of Management, MIT; Assistant Professor, Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, Dartmouth College; and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Administrative Studies, York University.Search for more papers by this author First published: March 1981 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-232X.1981.tb00197.xCitations: 1 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume20, Issue2March 1981Pages 212-220 RelatedInformation

Unionization in America

Abstract Throughout the Left there is a wrong impression of the labor struggles of the Depression, which obscures our understanding of the nature and origin of the increasingly anti-union ‘revolt against work’ of today. Trade unions in the 1920's were generally in a weak and worsening position. While union membership constituted 19.4% of non-agricultural workers in 1920, only 10.2% were organized by 1930. The employee representation plans, or company unions, of “welfare capitalism” were being instituted as substitutes for unionism, in an effort at stabilized, peaceful industrial relations. There were some, however, who even before the Crash realized that independent unions were essential for effective labor-management cooperation.

Advances in secondary prevention of alcoholism through the cooperative efforts of labor and management in employer organizations

This article focuses on the fact that the most effective method developed to date for achieving broad-scale secondary prevention of alcoholism on a systematic basis, is through cooperative labor-management programs in business and industry programs which provide a workable means of early detection, and effective motivation which are prerequisites to successful treatment of this unique disease. Problems to be overcome on secondary prevention are: (1) the difficulty of early detection of the disease; (2) society's stigmatization of the disease which encourages concealment by the victim; (3) the power of the addiction; and (4) the victim's guilt feelings, remorse, and hopelessness, which prevent his seeking treatment. These factors make motivation a prerequisite to successful secondary prevention. Employer organizations have the most effective method discovered to date for motivating the alcoholic to do something about his problem—the desire of the alcoholic to keep his job. Within the last ten years, the National Council on Alcoholism, working with many employer organizations, has developed an effective method of detecting the disease in its early and middle stages through observation of deteriorating job performance by the immediate supervisor. As a result, there is today in operation a tested, successful method of achieving secondary prevention of alcoholism on a broad scale by employer organizations through the cooperative efforts of labor and management.

Obstacles to the Introduction of Efficient Money Incentives in a Hungarian Factory

Examination of obstacles to the introduction of efficient money incentives in a Hungarian factory. Information on the company, its workers, and shop-floor problems; Need for labor-management cooperation; Divergence between management and worker goals; Workers' perceptions of their jobs; Role of the labor union. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

Book Note and Review: Social Insurance and Employee Welfare: The Scanlon Plan: A Frontier in Labor-Management Cooperation

Book Note and Review: Social Insurance and Employee Welfare: The Scanlon Plan: A Frontier in Labor-Management Cooperation

Book Reviews

Book Reviews —Work, Workers and Work Measurement. Adam Abruzzi. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1956, $7.50—reviewed by James R. Thomen; —Explorations in Role Analysis: Studies of the School Superintendency Role. Neal C. Gross, Ward S. Mason, and Alexander W. McEachern. John W. Wiley, Inc., 1958, pp. 379, $8.75—reviewed by Daniel E. Griffiths; —The Scanlon Plan, A Frontier in Labor-Management Cooperation. Edited by Frederick G. Lesieur. Publication of Industrial Relations Section, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology Press and John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1958, $4.50—reviewed by Thomas A. Cowan; —Sampling Opinions—An Analysis of Survey Procedures. Frederick F. Stephan and Philip J. McCarthy. New York: John Wiley &amp; Sons, Inc., 1958, pp. 451, $12.00—reviewed by Martin K. Starr; —Mathematical Programming. Nyles V. Reinfeld and William R. Vogel. Prentice Hall, Inc. 1958, pp. 274, $9.00—reviewed by Sebastian B. Littauer; —Queues, Inventories and Maintenance. Philip M. Morse, (Publications in Operations Research No. 1), New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1958 (ix + 202 pp. $6.50)—reviewed by James R. Jackson.

Labor-Management Cooperative Committees in Britain's Electricity Supply Industry

In the April 1958 issue of the Review, Marvin Frankel advanced the thesis (in Joint Industrial Planning in Great Britain) that the British Labour party's postwar effort to establish top-level tripartite development councils in nonnationalized industries has largely failed. In contrast, the authors of this article argue persuasively that the system of labor-management cooperative committees established by law at all levels of the nationalized electricity supply industry in Great Britain has achieved very promising results. Drawing upon their personal experience with this system as well as upon data concerning the measurable aspects of these joint committees, the authors emphasize the speed with which local committees in particular have transferred their attention from welfare and grievance activities to complex problems affecting the industry's efficiency. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)

Labor-Management Cooperative Committees in Britain's Electricity Supply Industry

Labor-Management Cooperative Committees in Britain's Electricity Supply Industry