Human resource management:Labor unions - Essay Example

Human resource management: Labor unions Labor unions are legally recorgnized groups of employees who have come together with the aim of pursuing a common objective. Such an objective may involve protection of workers’ rights and interest with their employment scopes or ensuring integrity of workers within their duties. Existence of labor unions has however elicited diversified views over their effects on organizations and even effects on employees that may eventually affect organizations. argues that the unions offer advantages to organizations.

The scope of union’s interest ensures advantages and disadvantages to organizations that seeks to minimize their costs but at the same time maximize possible output from their employees. One of the effects of labor unions is their influence to ensure satisfactory working conditions in organizations. Even though this role may appear to challenge organizations’ objectives in the short run, it offers diversified advantages in the end and organizations that cooperate with labor unions towards good working conditions are entitled to effeciencies in costs and times.

Improved working conditions through union forces ensure employees safety in organizations and have further benefits. The good working conditions help organizations to avoid legal processes that employees and labor unions may institute following physical injuries and health complications that may arise from poor working conditions. Similarly, organizations that heed to unions calls for better working conditions save on the time and economc costs that could be used litigation processes in cases of employees complaints for regarding consequences of poor working conditions (Mooney, Knox and Schacht 248).

Unions also ensures employees needs that translate to employee satisfaction within their organizations. Established safety standards towards employees healthy conditions reduces safety concerns and facilitates focus on jobs. Other unions roles such as better wages and rewards also ensures employees utility and these identify diversified benefits to organization. A high level of satisfaction reduces employee mobility, a fact that benefits human resource processes. There is a reduced costs of recruiting and training new personnel to replace those that leave for better work environments.

Meeting employees’ needs through unionism also leads to higher productivity levels among the responsive organizations and employees’ utility is a factor. With an assumption of existing demand for the products, increased volumes leads to benefits of economies of scale and the organizations are able to benefit from increased marginal revenues. Higher total revenues and profitability are other benefits that organizations derive from effects of labor unions. In additions to higher productivity levels, employees’ satisfaction is likely to facilitate innovation among employees are they commit to their organizations.

Involved impacts of this condition is highly differentiated products and improved quality deliverables. This identifies the unions with an ultimate improvement of organizations’ competitive advantage (Roth 13). Some unions also play significant roles in developing employees’ potentials. They for example organize “training or apprenticeship programs” to their members with the aim of improving on skills in the members scopes of work (Temple 3). Organizations are however the sole beneficiary of such developed skills.

This also corresponds to measures towards professionalism as the unions trains employees on integrity issues. Another benefits of unions to organizations is the legal basis that it develops from which the organizations can recruit other employees to replace a striking group. This is because union laws allows for such dismisal and organizations may only call on the dismisses employees in case of availability of jobs that qualify for and this plays a significant role in preventing employees strikes from a technical perspective.

Employees will for example be afraid of engaging in a strike because they my lack a legal ground for reinstatement if their employer organization maintains that it lacks vacancies that satisfy the employees’ qualifications (Temple 1). Despite the identifiable advantages that unionism offer to organizations, it has a number of adverse impacts. The unions initiatives that advocate for employees’ interest is one of the identifiable advantages. The union can for example force an organization to offer wage rates that may be uneconomical to the organization’s financial capacity.

This leads to increased operation costs and consequently reduces profit margins. This effect is realized when productivity remains constant and may even force an organization out of business because of financial infeasibility. The union’s advocacy for better working conditions have similar effects as establishing desirable conditions may be too expensive for an organization (Mooney, Knox and Schacht 248). Unions can also advocate for labor laws that are not favorable employers such as minimum wage bill or laws for limiting working hours (Temple 1).

Even though actions of unions towards ensuring employees’ interest may offer disadvantages to organizations, these disadvantages occur in the short run and induces long term benefits to the organizations. The unions therefore offer benefits that are more significant to organizations than their disadvantages are. Works cited Mooney, Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht, Caroline. Understanding social problems. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Roth, Ingrid. Labor unions: Have labor unions outlived their usefulness in the modern business working environment?

Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2010. Print. Temple. “Compare the advantages and disadvantages of unions and other employee organizations.” Temple University. n.d. Web. May 2, 2013. < http://www.temple.edu/cte/research/DOCAPS/DOCAPS_04_Part_2_of_3.pdf>.