The book begins with a call for changing the social and political barriers existing in unionized work settings and emphasizes the critical need for union-management cooperation in the present context of international competition. The authors discuss the deterioration of U.S. industry in such fields as automobiles, heavy equipment, steel, and air transportation and illustrate how internal cooperative relations may ultimately fail because of overemphasis on communication problems, the reactive nature of the OD process, and the inability to achieve a true partnership.
While explaining the practical process for establishing a genuine cooperative partnership, the book lays down the basic philosophy,values, goals, objectives, and guidelines for the new system. It also shows how to create a parallel union-management organization that will ensure a successful partnership. The authors' main objective throughout the text is to help the reader understand the recommendations they have made concerning labor-management partnerships and the critical steps involved in starting and maintaining a successful partnership.
1. A Call for Change: The Critical Need for Labor- Management Cooperation
2. Labor-Management partnerships: Reform Versus New Start-Ups
3. The Evolution of Approaches to Labor-Management Cooperation
4. Initiating a True Partnership: Building Upon the Strengths of the Traditional Collective-Bargaining Relationship
5. Rules, Roles, and Procedures: Structuring the Cooperative Partnership
6. Important Considerations When Getting Started: The Political Realities of Project Implementation
7. The Nuts and Bolts of Project Implementation and Management
8. Dissecting Two Cases: An Analysis of Success and Failure
9. The Future of Labor-Management Partnerships