CASE

When Ralph Morgan joined the Beacher Corporation he started out as a process designer in operations. Ralph remained in this position for five years. During this time there were two major strikes. The first lasted 5 weeks; the second went on for 18 weeks. As a member of the union, Ralph was out of work during both of these periods, and in each case the strike fund ran out of money before a labor agreement was reached. Last year Ralph was asked if he would like to apply for a supervisory job. The position paid &2500 more than he was making, and the chance for promotion up the line made it an attractive offer. Ralph accepted. During the orientation period , Ralph found getting angry at the management representative. This guy seemed to believe that the union was too powerful and the management personnel had to hold the line against any further loss of authority. Ralph did not say anything, but he felt the speaker was ill informed and biased. Two developments have occurred over the last six months, however , that have led Ralph to change his attitude towards the union management relations at the company. One was a run-in with a union officer who accused Ralph o deliberately harassing one of the workers. Ralph could not believe his ears. Harassing a worker ? Get serious. All I did was tell him to get back to work, he explained to the steward. Nevertheless, a grievance was filed and withdrawn only after Ralph apologized to the individual whom he allegedly harassed. The other incident was a result of disciplinary action. One of the workers in his unit came in late for the third day in a row and, as required by the labor contract. Ralph sent him home without pay. The union protested, claiming that the worker had really been late only twice. When Ralph went to the personnel office to get the workers clock-in sheets, the one for the first day of tardiness was missing. The clerks in that office, who were union members, claimed that they did not know where it was. In both of these cases, Ralph felt the union went out of its way to embarrass him. Earlier this week the manager from the orientation session called Ralph. Ive been thinking about bring supervisors into the orientation meetings to discuss the unions attitude towards management. Having been on the other side, would you be interested in giving them your opinion of what they should be prepared for and how they should respond? Ralph said he would be delighted. I think its important to get these guys ready to take on the union and Id like to do my share. He explained.

A.What was Ralphs attitude toward the union when he first became a supervisor? What barriers were there that initially prevented him from changing his attitude regarding the union? (10 marks)

B. Why did Ralphs attitude change? What factors accounted for this? (10 marks)