Why Union Is Needed And Employee Motivation

Labor unions are a gathering of people for a united cause. People within a labor union fight for common goals such as better pay and fair working conditions. In most cases when a union attacks a certain aspect it is so they can all acquire the same out come, such as raising the minimum wage to twelve dollars an hour for all. The primary reason unions were created was because workers weren’t always treated appropriately throughout history. Industrial leaders would make maximum profit by making their employees work twelve to fifteen hour workdays for seven days a week and they would only earn pennies for each hour of work. The conditions in which employees conducted work was unsafe and unhealthy yet no one could complain because they could not afford to lose their job. This is when labor unions were introduced, at first they started off small only pertaining to a specific geological area in regards to a specific craft such as shoe making in Philadelphia. The smaller unions are known as locals, an employee affiliated with the union is then appointed as a liaison between their fellow workers and the corporation making them the shop steward. However, people realized they held power in numbers and ultimately national unions were established such as the, Knights of Labor.

First some disclosure about myself: my mother was a strong union member for General Motors for over 32 years where she held several different offices in the union. My stepfather was a member of the local iron workers union and then a member of the union at Tinker Field Airbase. When I got out of high school I worked at General Motors wishing I could join the union. Within a year of being out of school I hired on the fire department and joined their local union where I was a member for over 22 years. Needless to say I have a long history with labor unions and the benefits they provide. I know unions have done great things for our nation and have been a counterbalance to greedy companies that take advantage of

In your post you focus on the idea that unions are not readily available now based on our current economy, however there still is a need or want for such organizations. There definitely has been a decline in unions that can be related to a number of factors, but the need for them probably still does exist. Many large corporations fought viciously to portray unions in a negative light and to highlight their shortcomings. In 2003, I witnessed a four month long strike by union grocery workers in Southern California (Jordan, 2004). With over 70,000 union members representing 900 grocery stores, the impact was significant. Eventually both sides would come to an agreement after consumers lost interest in supporting the strike. In the end, employees won better health care benefits, but lost some wage protections.

*  Culture is Negotiated. One person cannot create a culture alone. Employees must try to change the direction, the work environment, the way work is performed, or the manner in which decisions are made within the general norms of the workplace. Culture change is a process of give and take by all members of an organization. Formalizing strategic direction, systems development, and establishing measurements must be owned by the group responsible

The United States has a population of 300,000,000 (16+), and only about 190,000,000 people are involved in the workforce. This means that 63% of the citizens are involved with the workforce, and 37% are not. Of the active workforce, only 78% of the workers have at least a high school degree, and only 50% have a college degree. The average worker makes $51,759 on a yearly basis. Based on your degree you will make more or less. The younger part of the workforce has had less productivity in comparison to the older part of the workforce. The younger part has not yet learned how to effectively use time, and resources, while the older part has had a lot of experience. Overall, the workforce is pretty productive. The tables have really turned for the unionized vs nonunionized workers. In 2010 there were 60% of workers involved with the union, and 40% that were not involved with the union. In 2015, there were only 40% of workers involved with the union, and the other 60% were not involved. This is a huge difference in the just the time span of 5 years. The union has had some problems in the past couple years, which have caused the number of unionized workers to drop.

When I saw this topic on the schedule, I honestly was not sure what it was about and that intrigued me. The title “organizing and winning” had me very interested, so I decided to attend this event, not knowing what exactly I would be learning. Because there were so few who attended this specific event, this presentation was more of a discussion. There were 3 students and a few other staff members. The man who was in charge of this event was a younger male with a “Unite Here!” sweatshirt on and when I walked in I was interested as to what that meant; I soon realized what it stood for. This presentation was about the unionization of workers in the workplace. Being more of a discussion, he opened with introductions and then asked us who we were

In this webinar video, Andrea Simon, CEO of SAMC discusses the steps needed to build an innovated healthcare culture system. Mrs. Simons discusses five steps to change the cultural organization. First step is diagnose culture, second step is engage your team , third step is craft and create your new story to make desirable from undesirable, fourth step is change your structure, symbols and support, and fifth step is celebrate wins regardless of how small or big they are. She also discussed types of innovations; sustaining innovations and disruptive innovations. Many people don’t respond to change well, and it can be challenging to accept at times. Change is good and it can open new doors for better solutions to problems that haven’t been

At what organization/company did you work with union members, what position you held, and what was the name of the union?

Within organizations, large and small, there exists a sense of identity among its members that separates it from other organizations. This sense of identity is known as organizational culture. All over, managers seek to influence and change this into something that can be beneficial for the organization. In his article, “The Six Levers for Managing Organizational Culture”, Professor David W. Young defines the different elements that can influence and change the culture within the organization and how the reader can use these “levers” to their advantage. While the author does present a decent explanation for changing the culture of an organization, he leaves many questions unanswered that leaves his argument incomplete.

Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t feel safe in an environment due to its working conditions? I have. Many times people in jobs feel the need to stay quiet and not defend their opinions because they are afraid of possibly losing their jobs if they speak their mind. However, what many people don’t know is that as a human being, we have rights and with those rights you are allowed to be a part of a union in search of better opportunities. A union is when a group of employees gather together to “use their strength to have a voice in their workplace.” (L.A. Union, What is a Union?) Yes, that is correct, a voice that needs to be heard is what we all want. Of course, not all unions are good, but many have done well for the employees they have represented.

It is important to change various aspects of organization culture when trying to institute change in organizations (Kavita, 2005). The aspects that such changes should target include the balance of power in the organizations, the organization structure that supports the framework, leadership and management styles. Organizational history is also very critical, especially if it has a progressive track record success. However, if the culture despite the changes remains aligned to the organization goals and mission the employees will adopt it and embrace change.

Culture-shaping is a methodological and comprehensive approach in helping an organization transform from top to bottom. According to Delaney (2011), a transformation starts individually. It will become the foundation in building a healthy high-performance organization. After which, the team is the middle group that needs behavioral changed. These two, individuals and team, once aligned with the company’s mission and vision have now understand the thriving purpose of culture-shaping for high-performance organization.

In today’s dynamic business environment leadership must understand the value and importance of their organizations’ culture. While it may never be formally defined, leadership must have a vision of their intended culture and a plan for creating and maintaining it. This vision will serve as the potter’s clay that determines everything from the dress code to the organizational structure. This paper examines two methods organizations can choose to create and maintain a healthy culture.

Organizational culture has been described as shared values and beliefs that underline a company’s identity. A strong culture that encourages employees from the top to the bottom in adaptation and change can increase organizational performance by energizing and motivating employees, shape behaviors, unify personnel in the goals / objectives and align employee’s actions with the priorities of the company (Daft, R., 2013). Creating a constructive culture should be a manager’s top priority because the right culture will propel a company into a top performer in its industry.

Existing culture can in times be very hard to continue with because of the change in the growth or in the strategic change in the organisation. At such appropriate web of culture is important to be identified or that can be a problem in the progress of the organisation. These identified elements will give organisation a bigger picture of what was going wrong and how can they change it towards betterment of the organisation.