While the material refers to both union campaigns and union avoidance, we will combine the study of the two. To this end:
1. When elections for unions occur, the process can be very adversarial and contentious, as many elections can be. Put yourself in the position working on a union election. Which of these 3 roles would suit you best and why, knowing the information you now are learning about labor relations:
• Running the campaign of a union candidate
• Monitoring election outcomes
• Informing all parting of legal rules regarding campaign organization and the election process.
Explain your answer and tell us a bit about yourself and your personality.
2. Read the GMFC case on 189 and state your answer to the problem, as listed in the last sentence on 190.
3. What is your opinion of the philosophy-laden approach to employee relations?
Any papers/assignments must at a minimum contain 2-3 pages of content (double spaced), include a properly formatted cover page, and a reference listing page with at least three (3) NEW references properly listed at the end of your work. Providing additional references to your assignments demonstrate your desire to conduct additional research on the topic area and can improve your research skills.
With all assignments, include properly formatted in-text citations within the body of your work for each of your listed references so the reader can ascertain what is your original thought or ideas and what portion of your work is taken from credible sources to support your work. It is really important to identify work from other sources to ensure that proper credit is provided to researchers in the field.
Assignment Instructions
HR Headline: Pay for Performance in Public Schools Remains Controversial
"Pay for Performance" has made inroads in business, but has remained a hard sell in public school systems. There are some successful examples where teacher pay has been linked to student test scores. In Minnesota some districts have stopped giving automatic raises for seniority and base 60% of all pay increases on performance. In Denver, unions and school districts designed an incentive program where teachers receive bonuses for student achievement and for earning national teaching certificates. However, some plans have not worked. For example, Cincinnati teachers voted against a merit pay proposal and Philadelphia teachers gave their bonus checks to charity rather than cashing them. It appears that having teachers involved in planning the incentive system is one key factor to success. The same can be said for all incentive plans - if employees don't buy into them, they will not work.
Questions to Research:
1. How could an organization measure the effectiveness of their pay-for-performance plans?
2. From an employee's perspective, what are the disadvantages of using a pay-for-performance plan?
3. From an employer's perspective, what are the disadvantages of using a pay-for-performance plan?