Question: etween the Boston Ballet and the Boston Musicians Association. According to Barbara Owens, president of the Boston Musicians Union, and Jonathan McPhee, music director for the Boston Ballet, the reason they work well together is because there is an element of trust with both of them knowing that both sides are in this together. They share the same goals: desire for an excellent entertainment product, a healthy organization, and artists that are taken care of and well compensated. Because of these shared goals, when the music director comes up with an idea and needs union support, the union listens to the idea with an open mind. Both organizations may have different responsibilities, but they both want the same result: Success! The relationship between the union and management wasn't always that way. According to Barbara Owens, her first conversations with Jonathan McPhee were quite adversarial. She concluded that his relationship with previous union officers had been quite contentious. As Barbara recalled: "When we first started working with each other, we weren't working together at all.
We were really sparring with each other. It took us awhile to get used to each others' communications style and to realize that we had the same philosophy about the health of the organization and the health of the musicians union. We both wanted a premier ballet company and to keep the musicians working as much as possible." Jonathan's position is rather unique because he wears two hats. He is fully responsible for the administrative side of music operations for the Boston Ballet. He has to put together a music budget, manage it, and answer to the board for how his budget is managed. He also is a musician and has artistic responsibility for arranging and conducting the music. Jonathan is comfortable wearing two hats. However, it gets difficult when mandates come down from above to cut the budget. This has significant people and union ramifications since 96 percent of his budget is musicians' salaries and benefits. Such a mandate occurred when the management of the ballet's performance venue chose not to renew the ballet company's contract, citing financial difficulties. Management's decision placed the jobs of the entire orchestra in jeopardy as well. Jonathan fought the decision, arguing that the company just couldn't shut down the Boston Ballet. The dancers would leave the area, and it would be difficult and extremely expensive to ever restart the program. Also, what do you do with your subscribers?
These would be lost revenues that would never be replaced. If they were absent from the marketplace, it would open the door for a competitive ballet company to enter the market. After long discussions and looking at a myriad of alternatives, the company made the decision to renew the contract. Over the last few years, the musicians have become absolutely convinced that Jonathan (who remember is management) is their best friend. He thinks about their interests as well as his own and has proven in this most recent contract crisis that he is their advocate. When asked about his relationship with the musicians, Jonathan replied that the orchestra was his instrument. He said, "My instrument is made up of 50-90 people who have their own lives, their own problems, and there own instruments. I have the most expensive instrument in classical music. It's one that needs a lot of maintenance too because there are things that constantly change in peoples lives. It is my job to maintain my instrument. Just like you would take your flute to get it overhauled every year, I have to make sure I'm constantly overhauling my instrument to insure that everyone in the orchestra is OK. Their whole life is wrapped up in what they do and frequently they need someone to take care of the surrounding parts of their lives. That's why the musicians union was created to protect them from things they shouldn't have to be dealing with." Now this is a company relationship of which any union would be proud!13
1. Describe the three most common characteristics that the Boston Ballet and the Boston Musicians Union employed to maintain their strategic partnership.
2. As described in the case, what were the sources of union power?
3. What is the greatest threat to the Boston Musicians Union in its relationship with the Boston Ballet?