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Assume you are an external consultant hired to provide executive level management a concise report about labor relations in an organization. Choose one current organization in the private or public sector. You will likely need to choose a large, visible organization in order for material to be available. There is usually a sufficient amount of material for retail giants, supermarkets chains, clothing manufacturers, prominent hotels, key airlines, automotive manufacturers, hospitals, mining companies, and large government agencies. In order to keep an objective mindset, do not select an organization for which you work or did work. Perhaps you’d like to choose an organization that provides a product or service that you use. Just be sure there is enough accessible information. You will need to consult publicly-available material, such as reputable news reports, journal articles, and government documents. Confidential information internal to the organization should not be used, but public material provided by the organization and/or a union can be used as long as its credibility is given appropriate weight.
Once the organization is selected, discuss: How well does it manage its labor/employee relations? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Tip: One way to think about the content is through a series of questions:
–Definition: For purposes of your analysis, who is the organization? Is it only part of a larger enterprise? For instance, is it only the U.S. locations or specific operations within the U.S.? What role does labor have in its operations? For instance, how large is the labor force? Who are the employees? Is labor a critical piece of production or does technology do most of the work?