Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Why Don't Unions Ask for Better Management?

I'm always surprised that management and labour negotiations focus so narrow-mindedly on the countable things like wages, overtime, vacation, raises, retroactive pay, hours of work. So often, the real issues in an organization emerge from non-countable things. The real frustrations and pain for workers arise most often from management philosophy, management techniques, management direction (or lack of direction), from the measurement and reward systems themselves, and from the leadership's lack of understanding of the day-to-day work. Everyone would be better served if labour negotiators put management training on the negotiating table, and made "improved management" a higher priority. Shifting management thinking from the archaic Command and Control to the world-class Support, Engage and Facilitate has huge potential upside for the workers and the workplace, and even more upside for management and shareholders. Both sides are always fighting about the money. This seems trivial and counterproductive in light of the deeper, more impactful issues.

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