« Home

Home » Business & Economics » Business » Banfield and Kay: An Introduction to Human Resource Management » Student resources » Insights and Outcomes » Chapter 04

Banfield and Kay: An Introduction to Human Resource Management

Chapter 04

Case Study: Union Representation (pg. 116)


An account of the developments that followed the final ballot


This case study highlights the consequences for management when they begin to lose touch with their employees, or in this particular case, shop floor operatives. Maintaining relationships and ‘knowing’ what employees feel about their jobs and employment has to be worked at; if little is done, either formally or informally to listen to what they have to say and, wherever possible, take appropriate action, then the two parties can become ‘estranged.’

The case also illustrates that when this happens, workers can look to elsewhere for protection and representation, which represents a kind of security in respect to their employment interests.  The situation presented shows that an interest in trade union representation is often explicable in terms of ‘push’ rather than ‘pull’ factors, which are often to do with a perception that management is in some way neglecting the employees. Negative experiences over pay, working conditions, representation and management style etc. are often the reasons why workers seek union membership, unless they are ideologically motivated.

Essentially, the Managing Director had assumed that his two production managers were engaged with the shop floor operatives and were listening to what they had to say, which was not the case generally and less so with the night shift. One of them who prior to joining the company had been a union member and activist in another organisation, began to talk to his colleagues about how the company was paying below market rates and that the absence of formal representation rights prevented them from talking to senior managers about matters that were important to them.  Once the ‘seeds of doubt are sown’ perceptions can be manipulated and a momentum to challenge the status quo can gain strength.

In this case, the managing director, through his determination to look at the views of all his employees, and because he challenged many of the claims being made by the union in support of their recognition claim, was able to diffuse the situation and prove that the majority of his employees were not in favour of union membership and representation.

What he had to do though, was to get to the bottom of why the shop floor wanted to join the union, and this led him to meet with his two production managers and discuss what had happened. From these discussions, it became clear that more needed to be done to keep the employees engaged and involved in what the company was doing.

He decided to offer his employees two options.  Firstly, he was prepared to set up a form of works council that would meet periodically and to which all staff would be invited, but given the shift patterns and different levels of interest, this perhaps was not considered the best option. The second was an offer to meet informally but regularly with representatives of the production operatives to listen to what they had to say and share information about the company and its finances. It was the second option that was chosen. Office staff had no strong views on this and did not wish to participate.

One final point: The union activist left the company shortly after the recognition case was decided in favour of the company position.