Running and managing a sizeable organization can be a challenging task regardless of whether it is union or not. Organizations mostly want to remain union free, and for good reason. The cost of running an organization that is union based is estimated to be 25-30 percent more than a non-union run company, not including the higher salary that is typical with union employees (Adams, n.d.); that is a significant more cost to a company. Another disadvantage pointed out by Adams (n.d.), is the loss of being flexible to changes in industry; union contracts, such as work rules, can slow down the processes when an organization is trying to keep up with rapid changes in the market. There are clear advantages to keeping an organization …show more content…
One of the most important tasks in structuring organizations is determining what the span of control of the managers/supervisors will be (Hattrup & Kleiner, 1993). Span of control, according to the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM, 2013) is defined as the number of people who report to a manager. A smaller number of reports means a narrow span of control and a wide span of control means a bigger number of reports supervised by a single manager. If I am the HR manager for the new GMFC plant in Smallsville, KY, I would recommend a wider span of control for managers, I would therefore recommend approximately eight managers for the line personnel. While there is no hard set number in this regard, I feel this is a number that is not too high and would therefore not narrow the span of control too much. According to SHRM (2013), one of the key factors in determining span of control is the workforce skill level; routine work that involves repetition, allows for a wider span of control. More importantly than skill level as a factor, a wider span means more responsibility to the employees, this makes the job more fulfilling (Hattrup & Kleiner, 1993). Furthermore, Hattrup and Kleiner (1993) argue there are positive effects on personal attitudes when there is a large span of control due to employee morale improving because of less direct …show more content…
Since unions have been in a steady decline over the years, human resource departments have taken on additional roles in the way of labor management. As Raper (2014) points out, the human resources department is often the administrator of the management-labor relationship. Additionally, modern day human resource management (HRM) strategies lessen the role of unions by focusing on a commitment by employees to the organization (Pyman, Holland, & Teicher, 2004). This new relationship that HRM strives to build, is more directly between employer and employee, thus eliminating the need of unions in the workplace (Pyman, Holland, & Teicher, 2004). Being the HR manager, I would recommend an HR staff of three total. Just like above, there are no hard-fast numbers for this, but according to HR Specialist (2010), the average ratio is