Labor Relations: Describe and Discuss the Role of Management in an Organization

Labor Relations
Name
Institution
Labor Relations
Abstract
At the zenith of labor relations is the desire of both the management and labor to build a working institution. This ideal is however not easily realized as the owners of the organization work hard to exploit the employee’s labor as a way of increasing their profits. This scenario has necessitated the need for labor unions to ensure that the employees get good remuneration and are free from exploitation by the employers. Understanding the role of the management and the reason why labor unions are formed however helps in ensuring a good working relationship between the employees and the organization.
Introduction
At the peak of labor relations is the aspiration of both management and labor to form working and useful institution. When this takes place, the management gets to a place where it plans, organizes and directs work to enable the workers to comprehend their roles and responsibilities in a manner that can bring about the expected results. There is a robust work environment and sturdy operating relationships among everyone that keeps everyone happy and ensures productivity in the organization. However, this is not always the case as the employees might not live up to the expectation and the management might not address some of the pertinent issues among the employees. This calls for labor relations to act as a conduit between the management and the employees. In the past, competition in the manufacturing industry led to low sales and an increase in the number of imports. In most cases, managers blame the decline in sales to the adversarial nature of labor-management relations but this is not the case as the existence of labor unions leads to productivity in the organization.
Even though most employers especially in the automobile industry believe that labor unions are the reason for declining sales, the truth is that strong labor unions can be the solution to this challenges that face the industry. In the past three decades, there has been an increase of completion in the automobile industry something that has forced some companies to wind up their operations. The problem within the industry has been propelled by labor unions that have been pushing the organizations within this industry to offer better working terms and remuneration for their employees. This has created a scenario where these companies have been paying more to their employees thus reducing their profit base. It is therefore not surprising that most automobile companies see labor unions as enemies and have been fighting hard to ensure that their employees do not belong to any union. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of labor unions in the auto industry as well as examine the various theories that are related to labor relations with a view of establishing how unions and organizations can work together for the good of the organization (Sabia, Burkhauser, & Hansen, 2012).
The Role of Management
In an organization, the management plays an important role of conducting business and guiding the actions of the workers to attain the business objectives. The management is also tasked with the hiring, promotion, or transferring the employees to ensure that there is productivity in the organization. All these actions are taken as a way of ensuring that the employees are productive. According to experts, the main reason why the organization exists is to make profits and this should be undertaken using all the available means. In an organization, the management acts as the link between the employees and the owners. Under the stakeholder theory, the management is only supposed to make decisions that favor the owners since they are the ones who came together to start the organization and their terms should therefore be respected over those of any other individual (Blyton, & Turnbull, 2008).
The challenge that the management faces is that while it carries the authority to guide work, it also bears the responsibility of understanding the employee rights and to foster an environment where the organization can thrive. One element of this is to institute expectations and standards that will make it possible for individual employees and the entire organization to achieve its business wants. The management also has the responsibility of comprehending the existing national and state laws. This is crucial as lawsuits might be brought up against the organization if such laws are contravened. There is also need for the management to comprehend the policies and procedures that guides the organization as this is the only way through which they can ensure that such policies are adhered to. For this to be possible there is need for objectivity and the shaping of behavior that the management wants to be demonstrated in the organization. This calls for high integrity among the management as employees often learn by examining the manner in which the management conducts itself (Abbott, 2006).
Role of Labor Unions
Trade unions have been in existence since the 1930’s to bring about equal bargaining power on the control of employers over workers and to represent the interest of workers in the employment association. It is only through the efforts of labor unions that workers are able to profit from better pay and working environment, and that they are handled with dignity and respect at the work place. Even though the membership in labor unions has been declining steadily over the last few years, its importance in the organization cannot be overemphasized (Lemieux, 2006).
Labor unions came about as a way of offering employees equal bargaining power with the management who initially had the power to solely lay down the working terms and remuneration. Unions are tasked with the responsibility of representing the employees of a particular organization with the management. Since the union consists of all the workers, it has a bigger voice than in the event that the employees were dealing with the management as a person. Unions are credited with the abolition of sweatshops in the United States as well as child labor since they worked tirelessly for these practices to be abolished. The National Labor Relations Act gives employees the authority to bargain collectively through their preferred union spokespersons. Labor unions are given the power to organize strikes as well as taking other measures which would force the management to listen to their demands (Gennard, & Judge, 2002).
For a long time, workers have been tasked with fighting for better working conditions for employees. They stand for the employee’s interests and have been instrumental in providing higher salaries for employees in unions as well as better working conditions, and protection from random decisions by employers. Unions are quite instrumental and have indeed been credited with the abolition of workplace discrimination in the United States. Going forward, unions are expected to grow stronger as the lobby for workers welfare continues to attain center stage in organizational literature. Ideally, the law disallows the possibility of employers dominating a union or segregating the employees on account of being involved in a labor union. The unions take the initiative of addressing the areas of concern where they feel that the management can bring about changes. The union has the power to take legal action against the management if they are convinced that the management is interfering with the role of the labor unions or the employees that are involved with the unions (Gennard, & Judge, 2002).
In order for the management to work effectively with the labor unions, there are various strategies that the management can take to ensure a good working relation with the unions. One of the strategies that the union can take to guarantee such a working relationship is to regard the union as a business partner. Instead of treating the union as an adversary, the organization should share the concerns that they have with the union leaders and let them help in creating solutions. If the management goes to the union officials before taking any action against the employee, they will prevent a scenario where the only time that they hear about the employee issue is when the employee is being terminated. The other strategy that the management can do to ensure that there is a good working relationship is to develop multiple union-c...