Within the workplace setting, numerous comprises, bargains, and tensions characterize the relationship that prevails between employers and employees. Even when it comes to most motivated workforce, they face days that they feel they would rather undertake other duties. They might even dislike the manner in which their employers treat them. These points of tension might often go unnoticed. Nonetheless, these issues might grow to become bigger. For example, an industrial action serves as among the formal as well as collective manifestation of such kinds of tensions. A strike leads the compromises to serve as a sharp relief for the involved parties (Kweit & Kweit, 2013) . In the recent years, strikes are significantly less mostly because many workplaces do not recognize trade unions, while the ones that have them are disorganized. Nonetheless, strikes still take place, although not in massive extents (Boyce, 2018) . For instance, a strike surrounding a technical issue might establish its own momentum and serve as a catalyst for increased dissatisfaction expression concerning the changing bargains. In such a situation, emotions end up running high. While it is possible to strengthen most relationships, some end up becoming strained. Understandably, strikes are not considered business as usual. The major thing that becomes vital is the manner in which the involved parties negotiate compromises in an explicit manner to streamline the path back t to work (Rosenfeld, 2014) . Therefore, the paper is discusses the concept of employee strikes and the manner in which they relate to unions.
Literature Review
Status and Unionization Trends
In the viewpoint of experts, strikes might influence organizations in either of two ways. Firstly, an organization’s employees might result to a strike or undertake a collective action that resembles a strike. Secondly, an organization might experience challenges when it comes to undertaking normal duties when a different industry or company is facing labor disruptions, hence denying the enterprise crucial supplies and services (Boyce, 2018) . In this case, it is crucial to lay significant emphasis on the issue of strike to facilitate in determining the ideal way of approaching such a situation.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Research reveals that on matters related to labor or employee strikes, labor unions usually call them up after the members vote for a strike. The strike might target a single enterprise or might affect an entire industry. Two key trends apparent in unionization reveal that small businesses have minimal chances of unionizing, while they face direct threats from strikes (Brenner, Day, & Ness, 2015) . According to data by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of individuals belonging to unions reduced from 29.3 percent to around 12 percent of the workforce between 1964 and 2005. In this vein, it is crucial to not that even with the decline in the overall unionized workforce, the share of the private sector of the total union labor, has reduced, whereas the public sector’s share has risen (Kweit & Kweit, 2013) . For example, in 1983, the union employees affiliated to the private sector represented around 67.2 percent of union workers, while the share of the public sector accounted for 32.4 percent. During 2005, the private sector’s share was approximately 52.6 percent whereas the one of the public sector accounted for 47.4 percent (INC, 2018) . From the data, it is clear that this trend depicted a shifting trend in union membership.
With the overall reduction in unionized workforce, the labor stoppages have reduced as well. During 2005, union membership ranked highest in the utilities and transportation industries operating in the private sector. The lowest prevailed in the finance and associated industries as 2.3 percent. Concerning manufacturing and construction, union membership accounted for around 13 percent of the workforce. In retail and wholesale, an area where a tremendous number of small enterprises operate, the rate was approximately 5.2 percent. Furthermore, in the area of business and professional services, which also serves as a vital small business area of operation, the rate was about 2.7 percent (INC, 2018) . Additionally, unions usually target huge operations of organizations as opposed to small ones for cost-benefit purposes. Nevertheless, it is crucial to note that unions usually call strikes in the vent of long-standing and unresolved grievances (Sweeney & McFarlin, 2014) . Also, most strikes face big corporations as opposed to small enterprises.
Employee Strike Types
For the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) offers legal safeguards for economic strikes as well as strikes that revolve around unfair practices in the labor sector. For the initial category, employees seek realizing improvements in their benefits, wages, working conditions, and working hours. Strikes characterized by unfair labor practices emerge when employers fail to follow the NLRA requirements, which safeguard the workforce in the event of collective bargaining (INC, 2018) . Organizations experiencing an organizing action by laborers are required to consult with experienced labor lawyers to receive guidance on ways in which they can follow the regulations that the NLRA imposes. Firstly, the enterprise should ensure that it maintains good faith in the entire process. The U.S. law accords employees fundamental rights for organizing as well as bargaining collectively (Sweeney & McFarlin, 2014) . Secondly, the organization should make sure to offer the union all legal information. The U.S. labor law allows unions to request information pertaining to diverse operational areas of an organization in the event of a strike. Lastly, an enterprise is allowed to exercise its own rights. It can communicate its individual plays freely with the workforce, illustrate the areas they differ with the proposals of the union, and request the workforce to vote the final offer of the organization (Brenner, Day, & Ness, 2015) . For various striking instances, the organization might opt to utilize replacement employees without facing penalties.
Avoiding and Managing a Strike
In the event that a close relationship prevails between the workforce and the management, refraining from a strike serves as the ideal approach. If an enterprise were unionized during a particular ownership tenure, the existing facts would allow the management to realize that something is wrong. Unionization serves as an adversarial undertaking aimed at coercing a company to behave in a particular manner, while it threatens offering an organization vital resource. If an organization is acquired, the new owners can establish a new relationship with the workforce, especially when the employees know they can trust the management (Boyce, 2018) . When a strike seems unavoidable, it is vital to embark on early planning and efficient implementation to prevent the organization from experiencing harm.
Effective planning should target several approaches. For instance, a company should consider seeking legal advice to allow it determine whether hiring other employees would be possible, and commence the process if probable. Organizations also need to make sure that they establish effective communication with customers and suppliers to warn clients regarding upcoming challenges and tailor deliveries to the emerging situations. Additionally, companies should make sure they communicate in an effective manner with the non-striking workforce to sustain morale (Rosenfeld, 2014) . In case a strike poses major threats to a business, the enterprise should consider planning to terminate its operations.
Summary of Key Points from Literature Review
From the literature review, I have learned several things. For instance, I have realized that while incidences of employee strikes prevail in the present society, they are not as rampant as it was in the past, especially in the private sector. Union membership in the private sector has declined tremendously when compared to the public sector. I have also come across the different types of strikes that face organizations, including economic strikes and those revolving around unfair practices. Furthermore, I have realized that certain approaches prevail for avoiding and managing strikes. Nevertheless, even while strikes appear to be declining because of reduced union membership, I have noted that strikes have the ability of crippling the operations of organizations if not addressed adequately. Therefore, it would be crucial to devise means of avoiding and managing strikes to facilitate in coming to a compromise, which would ensure that both parties, including the employer and the workforce are satisfied with the working situation. Such measures would allow organizations to undertake their operations efficiently while making sure that employees remain motivated while working with their respective companies.
Lessons from Literature Review and Application to Current HR Leaders
From the literature review, the current HR leaders can learn various ways of dealing with industrial disputes. For instance, they should realize that compromise and negotiation are crucial to any employment relationship. In this case, establishing and recreating trust between the workforce and the employers is vital. In case the employer results to punitive actions, these kinds of approaches would ruin the business and risk the future of the business. Additionally, HR leaders should note that whereas strikes serve as platforms for discussing bigger issues, agreements aimed at ending a strike would facilitate in settling disputes that led to the strike action. Thus, managing the anticipations of striking employees concerning what a deal might address serves as a challenging process in the case of union representatives. Each party experiences challenges in reaching a compromise, although they can embark on certain trade-offs, which are sometimes essential when it comes to reaching an agreement (Sweeney & McFarlin, 2014) . Emphasizing on these issues would allow HR leaders to deal with strikes by understanding the needs of the workforce and unions effectively.
References
Boyce, M. (2018). Prepare for union strikes with effective policies and an action plan. Retrieved from https://www.xperthr.com/topics/labor-relations/unions/union-strikes/
Brenner, A., Day, B., & Ness, I. (2015). The encyclopedia of strikes in American history. Abingdon: Routledge.
INC. (2018). Employee strikes. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/employee-strikes.html
Kweit, R. W., & Kweit, M. G. (2013). People & politics in urban America. Abingdon: Routledge.
Rosenfeld, J. (2014). What unions no longer do. Boston: Harvard University Press.
Sweeney, P. D., & McFarlin, D. B. (2014). International management: strategic opportunities and cultural challenges. Abingdon: Routledge.
