Read the vignette below and answer ONE of thediscussion questions in the Module 1 Discussion Forum.

Vignette Bob sat in his office staring out the window and thinking about the future. As the human resources manager of the firm, Bob had just finished preparing an announcement to be sent to all employees informing them that the company had just been sold to a larger competitor. After 20 years of service, Bob was very proud of the employee relations that existed at his company and wondered how things might change now that a larger corporation would be in charge.

Although Bob's unit was not unionized, he knew that the new owner had a number of unionized facilities within its corporate structure. Bob had never thought much about what it would be like to manage in a unionized firm and whether the management strategies he had relied upon throughout his career would be as effective or even entirely legal.

• How might the labor relations process change if he had to deal with employees as a group through their selected union representative rather than as individuals?
• Would there be an effort to equalize employment terms and policies between union and nonunion facilities of the new owner?
• Would unions already representing employees at other similar facilities of the owner now seek to organize employees at Bob's unit?

While Bob had more questions than answers about the immediate future, he did resolve to be proactive by attempting to expand his current level of knowledge about the labor relations process.

Answer ONE of the following discussion questions in the Module 1 Discussion Board:

In your opinion, what is the biggest difference between managing employees in a unionized versus nonunion firm?

OR

In your opinion, does having other unionized facilities within a corporation's operating units alter management's approach to labor relations at its nonunion facilities, and, if so, give an example to illustrate what you mean.

Submission Guidelines

Post your original answer. Then provide a meaningful response to at least two of your colleagues' posts (just typing "I agree" does not count).

You can gain up to 1 point for each time you participation in the Discussion Board. These points will accumulate and, at the end of the semester, be added to your individual group project grade.

Other thing to do is to give responses to these two students

1. In my opinion, the biggest difference between unionized and nonunionized firms' management of employees would have to be representation and advocacy of the employee. While employee interests such as better pay and benefits may come as a cost to the employer, when workers feel and are shown that their efforts, time, and knowledge to perform the job are valuable to the organization they are more likely to remain committed to their employer and ultimately reduces their need to look elsewhere for employment. The real issue is the lack of workers knowing the ins and outs of their rights as an employee and how to advocate for themselves. I believe as a whole no one is really "taught" how to advocate for themselves in the workplace, especially when it comes to negotiating for increased wages. Unions could appear as a positive entity to those workers who may not know how to effectively present their issues and concerns to their management teams. What better way than to have someone do it for you?

I do feel with nonunionized firms this is a challenge to navigate. How do you know what to negotiate without selling yourself short but at the same time not seeming overly confident? Where do you look to compare market wages for your industry in surrounding areas? It's a lot more ground work and research that has to be done on part of the employee.

2. The biggest difference between managing employees in a unionized vs nonunion is the authority and power of managers and the company. For example, pay wages/salary. This is determined from the union and the company via negotiation or contract. In a nonunion firm, this step would be completely skipped. The difference is, within a Union, worker rights are aimed to be protected. Also, within a Union, workers must pay union fees/dues. In a nonunion firm, this isn't required.

Compensation and money are the biggest differences between Unionized firms and nonunion firms in my opinion. Having a father who works at the shipyard, I hear a lot about union dues and "the union". If I'm being quite honest, I never fully understood unions until my father started his job.