Chapter 5 - Management strategies and structures for collective bargaining. The main contents of the chapter consist of the following: Management's strategic choices - theoretical considerations, alternative industrial relations systems, management attitudes toward unionization, management structures for collective bargaining. | Chapter 5 Management Strategies and Structures for Collective Bargaining McGraw Hill Irwin An Introduction to Collective Bargaining amp Industrial Relations 4e Copyright 2008 The McGraw Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved. 1 3 5 3 Management s Strategic Choices Theoretical Considerations Management considers the linkages between human resource issues and business strategies If labor becomes organized management will attempt to shape the bargaining process within the context of its bilateral relationship with the union Management may alter the product mix or operate nonunion plants 1 4 5 4 Alternative Industrial Relations Systems Nonunion Industrial Relations Patterns Nonunion industrial relations systems exhibit three basic patterns The common element across the three nonunion patterns is that management policy is influenced by a desire to stay nonunion Policies are also guided by the firm s desire to pursue objectives that have little to do with union status Many firms policies contain elements of one of more of these patterns 1 5 5 5 The Paternalistic Pattern Personnel policies tend to be informally administered and involve substantial discretion by operating managers For example they may not have a formal leave policy but grant leaves on a case by case basis Mangers would exercise a high degree of discretion over discipline and pay policies This pattern is common among small retail stores and small manufacturing plants The firms are often family owned and do not want to lose control and union avoidance is a key reason for paternalism 1 6 5 6 The Bureaucratic Pattern Larger firms may find the diversity in personnel practices of paternalistic firms too unsettling and costly They find it necessary to standardize and bureaucratize policies They realize that variation of policy can cause unionization if some employees feel disadvantaged The bureaucratic pattern is characterized by highly formalized procedures on policies such as pay leaves promotion and .
