Orange Industries Union-Management Collaboration Plan

EXMGT 5587 : Organizational Behavior –Section 2

Assignment B – Orange Industries Union-Management Collaboration Plan

Submitted by: Matthew Luimes

Submitted to: Patrick Hartling

Introduction

Almost every union-management collaboration initiative is created in response to competition and market opportunities. Often this puts pressure on companies to perform with fewer resources and also, to adjust to new technologies in order to boost profits. A unionized work environment is not always the easiest setting to gain cooperation to program and human behavior changes. In some organizations, past clashes may have broken trust between the two sides that resulted in unpleasant working environments. Union officials might engage

While keeping economic foresight Orange Industries leaders need to draw out a statement describing the desired the organization feels they need. Included in this statement there must be a declaration of the relationship Orange Industries is striving for between union and management. This signed document will then communicate and guide the organizations effectiveness. “The staff will work together as a team to create a long-term vision for direction organization change that will include a shared set of long-term goals and a set of norms or guiding principles” (Schuster, M. H., & Kesler, G. C. (n.d.)). Buy-in from all parties is essential since our goal is to build cooperation between management and union. “The “vision thing” is still with us, but while leaders insist in having a compelling vision, the fact is that many – both the leaders and the visions – leave people standing still, unmoved. A leader who engages stakeholders when developing a vision will, in the end, articulate one that resonates strongly and impels people to act”. (Gandz, 2009). Once the vision statement is created Orange Industries’ effective leadership will propose a plan on how they must execute. This could be described in a mission statement and measured and reviewed at semi-annually

In order to be sustainable Orange Industries has to change this and let everyone involved be the voice of the human factor in decision making. Both, union and management know that at Orange Industries’ that the most important asset is its people. “Studies of employee commitment have shown that commitment cannot be achieved without the support and participation of the union” (Schuster, M. H., & Kesler, G. C. (n.d.)). Encouraging all employees to take part in properly sized focus groups will fuel teamwork. Taking each group suggestions into consideration will build trust, as well as future cooperation. “Research reveals some insights into team composition and performance. First, when the task entails considerable thought (solving a complex problem such as reengineering an assembly line), high-ability teams – composed of mostly intelligent members – do better than lower-ability teams, especially when the workload is distributed evenly (Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., Judge, T., & Breward, K., n.d.). Just as a professional sport organization assembles their team in a well-orchestrated fashion, each problem solving focus group must be aligned in a way that is most effective. This involves properly sized teams, as well as placing members with skills that compliment another.