Situational and Procedural Factors Essay Example for Free

Situational and Procedural Factors Essay The Local 190 members are the long time workers at the Deloitte plant of ABC. They have been in a long-term relationship with ABC Company and believed to continue and prosper for a more extended period of time. The Local 190 bargaining team (representing 1700 members, all working at the Deloitte plant of ABC) should consider preserving this long-term relationship between ABC Company and members of Local 190 particularly when planning strategies for negotiation with the ABC management team over new clauses or changes in the work agreement. The following must be considered in the negotiation table when the parties have a long-term relationship: i. Representatives should refrain from using unnecessary tactics that will hurt the labor and management relations in the future. ii. Representatives should not only settle for good relationships. They must also try to make trade-offs. Based on the fair agreement reached by Local 190 and ABC management during the previous negotiation, we predict that the ABC representative will act fairly in the upcoming negotiation. There have been evidence of trust and fairness on the side of the ABC management team but we are also aware that bargaining for a new contract could become tougher like never before. Time Pressure Since the time given for negotiation is not sufficient (2 hours) to tackle all four issues in detail, team members need to familiarize themselves with these issues. We have assigned time limits for each of the following four issues: ? Introduction (10 min) ? Location of the new plant (30 min) ? Transfer of workers to the new plant (30 min) ? Operation of the new plant (20min) ? Conclusion (10min ) Team vs. Solos: This negotiation involves a three-person union bargaining team and a three-person ABC management team whose goal is to resolve multiple issues regarding the work contract. Union representatives will negotiate as a team against ABC management. The following are the detailed plans for the negotiation team: ? Leader: Since there is no chairperson to control over the group process, we will have one member lead our team to facilitate the bargaining process. Our team leader’s roles are the following: ? Introduce members of the team ? Introduce the group’s issues, interests, etc. ? Make sure all voices of the team members are heard during the negotiation. ? Summarize what has been negotiated and the plan of actions. ? Suggest private time for discussions within the team when two members are in disagreement or in conflict. On the bargaining table, all three of the Local 190 team members will take an active role in the discussion. Each of the team members should have a sufficient knowledge about the four issues on the work contract. While encouraging all three members to participate in the discussion, each member should have one issue to focus on to prevent the common knowledge effect. Each member should have specialized information in at least one issue in the following: ? Location of the new plant (Emi, Pavel, Choi) Since this is top concern for members of Local 190, all three members will actively make arguments that the plant stays in Deloitte. ? Transfer of workers into the new plant: (Emi) Emi will dispute that if the relocation of the new plant is unavoidable, all current workers must be guaranteed with jobs at the new facility and help them with the transportation cost in the new location. ? Operation of the new plant: (Pavel) Pavevl will take role in eliciting an agreement on â€Å"Continued high level of worker autonomy with a strong group incentive program based on reasonable team targets†. ? Wages and benefits: (Choi) Choi’s role is to ensure that ABC management would pay the â€Å"increased wages and benefits which are better than ABC’s unionized competitor† to members of Local 190. Cultural Differences: Without proper understanding on the opponent’s situation, position, interests, and culture, it is unlikely to produce good quality outputs from negotiating with the opponent. Before, ABC Deloitte has always been fair and reasonable in contract negotiations before. However, due to the emergence of growing non-union competitors, ABC had created a wall between workers and the ABC management team. As a result, workers focused on wages and benefits while the management team focused on how to make more profit and at the same time reducing wage costs. This situation showed how the interests of the two parties have become inconsistent. The following demonstrated the cultural differences of the Local 190 and the ABC management team: Things that members of Local 190 consider ? Most of union members are satisfied with the high standard of living in Deloitte because they earn adequate wages and receive bonuses they through working at the ABC plant. ? There will be no work opportunities in Deloitte if the ABC plant moves to a new location. ? Compare ABC’s unionized competitors when demanding changes in the workers’ contract ? Receiving reasonable compensation as reasonable. Things that ABC management team consider ? Non-union competitors cut labor costs, production costs which threaten to get rid of union in ABC’s plants to remain competitive ? Inability to compete with non-unionized competitor if the ABC plant stays in Deloitte. ? Compare the union workers’ contract with those non-unionized competitors when changes are deemed necessary to keep ABC competitive in market. ? Strive to generate more profit as much as possible. Factors favorable to Local 190 ? The charter of the ABC Company states that the headquarter office must remain in Deloitte: Since ABC’s major facility is located at the ABC’s headquarter in Deloitte, the team management’s decision of relocating its major plant outside of Deloitte is a violation of the charter. ? The charter of Adam Baxter foundation: ABF owns 40% of ABC’s stock and its charter ensures that the control of the foundation and the corporation will always stay with residents of Deloitte.