Assessment 3 Instructions: Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining

Create a 4-6 page action plan that addresses improvements in discriminatory practices and provides clearly defined policies that are intended to increase employee morale and workplace safety. The audience for the plan is senior management.

Introduction

When organizational leaders and union leaders work together collaboratively, both sides increase their capacity to deal with unionization issues in a proactive manner through strategy development and action planning, resulting in positive change that reflects all stakeholder interests.

The National Labor Relations Act is landmark legislation for business and industry in the United States, and has had a significant impact on the responsibilities and placement of HR management functions in organizations with respect to union formation and regulation.

Some experts believe organizational management will evolve from legalism to humanism in the future. What might be the primary forces that contribute to the evolution? Meanwhile, others disagree that such an evolution will occur. What forces might oppose an evolution from legalism to humanism in the future?

As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.

How are unions positive forces in the workplace? How are they negative?

What are the first steps HR management takes in anticipation of unionization?

• What type of issue would lead you to choose arbitration as a method of resolution, as a company representative?
• What factors are important to consider when selecting trials as a method of resolving workplace issues?
• Scenario
• As an HR manager in a unionized hospital or other health care organization, it has come to your attention that the collective bargaining process can be used as a focal point for the formation of policies and practices that will improve the organization's employee-centered philosophy and, therefore, assist in the implementation and humanistic enforcement of key provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and the Civil Rights Act.

Deliverable

Complete the following parts of this assessment based upon your research and understanding of methods of addressing the scenario described above.

Part 1: Problem Description and Analysis

Complete the following:

Explain and suggest ways that collective bargaining and legal mandates can advance the strategy of improving working conditions and environmental ambience in a health care organization.

Explain how the collective bargaining process can be used to develop organizational policies and practices.

Include some of the obstacles inherent in the collective bargaining process that might hinder effective development of policies and practices.

• Explain how the National Labor Relations Act provisions related to protected activities of employees can be used to foster improvements in workplace conditions.
• Explain how the Civil Rights Act provisions related to discrimination based on gender can be employed to foster improvements in a safe and secure work environment.
• Part 2: Recommendation: Action Plan
• Recommend an employee-centered plan of action that will address improvements in discriminatory practices by:
• Reducing workplace sexual harassment.

Fostering improvements in collaborative working arrangements.

Encouraging open and clear communication among staff and management.

Developing and maintaining a secure work environment.

• The audience for this action plan is senior management and workplace union leadership. Base your recommendation on the following expansion of the scenario:
• It has been determined that employee satisfaction and morale is due primarily to discriminatory practices and lack of clearly delineated policies that foster harmony in the workforce and provide a safe and secure working environment.
• Part 3: External Stakeholder Considerations
• Once you have senior leadership on board, you must also consider options for reformatting the action plan for external stakeholders, such as union leadership, regulatory boards, community members, et cetera.

Include a 2–4 paragraph reflection on how you would need to reformat this plan to meet the needs or requirements of external union leadership and other key external stakeholders.

Explain how the collective bargaining process can be used to develop organizational policies and practices.

Consider options for reformatting the action for external stakeholders.

Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for professionals in health care administration.

Write coherently to support a central idea in an appropriate format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.

• Resources: Discriminatory Practices

MHA Program Library Guide can help direct your research.This article addresses critical issues regarding how organizational researchers and practitioners can contribute to eradicating employment discrimination:

• Lindsey, A., King, E., McCausland, T., Jones, K., & Dunleavy, E. (2013). What we know and don't: Eradicating employment discrimination 50 years after the Civil Rights Act. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 6(4), 391–413.
• Resources: Relations With Labor Unions

MHA Program Library Guide can help direct your research.Review the following:

• Johnson, J. E., & Billingsley, M. (2014). Convergence: How nursing unions and Magnet are advancing nursing. Nursing Forum, 49(4), 225–232.
• Satyadi, C. (2013). Healthcare leadership with labor union workforce. Clinical Leadership & Management Review, 27(1), 24–27.
• Schnake, M., & Copeland, R. (2015). Harris Medical Center and Harris Memorial Hospital: Unfair labor practices or management's rights? Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, 21(1), 81-86.

Twomey, D. P. (2013). Licensed practical nurses: Protected "employees" or statutory "supervisors" under the NLRA? The impact of the 11th circuit's Lakeland Health Care decision. Labor Law Journal, 64(2), 57–66.

• Woodford, K. C., & Woodford, T. J. (2015). Avoiding union organizing of micro units following specialty healthcare: A management perspective. Labor Law Journal, 66(4), 197–214.
• Resources: Collective Bargaining and Organizational Policies

MHA Program Library Guide can help direct your research.Review the following:

Moody, K. (2014). Competition and conflict: Union growth in the US hospital industry. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 35(1), 5–25.

• Fallon, L. F., Jr., & McConnell, C. R. (2014). Human resource management in health care: Principles and practices (2nd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning. Available in the courseroom via the VitalSource Bookshelf link.

Chapter 19, "Relations With Labor Unions," pages 363–382.

• Chapter 21, "Human Resources Arbitration," pages 399–408.

National Labor Relations Board. (n.d.). National Labor Relations Act. https://www.nlrb.gov/guidance/key-reference-materi…

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-righ…

National Archives. (n.d.). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-ri…

• Review the following:

Health Administration Masters Research Guide.