Introduction
Nowadays, the role of unions in society is great indeed. People want to gather their opportunities and skills in order to create appropriate groups and promote their ideas to improve the quality of life. Each union is a kind of democratic organization the members of which support an idea of improving the working conditions by means of a number of voices which should have certain power.
It is hard to define why one particular union is powerful and another group of people is not able to organize the work accordingly. The point is that administrative changes which take place in unions, organizational activities, and impediments may be of different nature, and each union has to consider its own possibilities to overcome the challenges and create appropriate conditions for development.
In this paper, the conditions under which the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union has to be developed will be evaluated. The chosen local union, IBEW-1250, serves South Dakota and some parts of Nebraska from 1941 (“Local # 1250”, n.d.) and has a number of positive and negative aspects.
Its strengths lie in the abilities to create good leadership, introduce appropriate financial practices, make use of growth strategies, and organize constructive membership meetings. However, there are also some weaknesses which show that company’s administration has a number of goals to strive for. They are as follows: involvement of members to union’s activities and promotion of the required union’s culture among its members.
The current administration of the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers 1250 shows how it is possible to improve the conditions under which the union may exist; still, the evident weaknesses prove that the union has a number of steps to be taken to achieve better results and create the atmosphere under which the impediments such as poor control of members’ involvement or wrong attitude to union’s culture may be overcome by means of proper placement of local resources as well as communication methods and meetings’ organization.
About the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
According to Clark (2009), union effectiveness is considered to be rather complex and highly dynamic concept by means of which three aspects of the union are evaluated: the possibility to organize new members, evaluate the outcomes of the collective efforts, and consider the effects of the union on society (p. 6). The IBEW is the union that strives for effectiveness and tries to attract the attention of society by a variety of means.
The peculiar feature of the union is that it is still considered to be one of the oldest electrical unions in the whole world those purpose is to make uses of the skills of each member in order to create better life for every citizen (“History of IBEW”, n.d.).
The company takes into consideration a variety of spheres such as telecommunications, manufacturing, government, constructions, and even railroads to admit the problems and do everything possible to improve the situation. Taking into account the variety of purposes and attempts, it is not a surprise to observe some problems within the administration of the company.
However, it is not the reason to start thinking that the success of the company is under some doubts. What is actually required to be done is the evaluation of the administrative activities and introduction of the strategies which may be implemented by the company.
Strong Aspects of the Union
The IBEW is the union with strong financial practices: within a short period of time, the company tries to organize annual budget meetings and define the weaknesses of the system. The revision of previous budgets allows the union to identify the spheres in which the company is good enough.
According to Lund (2005), “every private or federal government sector labor union, as well as public employee local unions with one of more private sector union members, must file a financial report with the U.S. Department of Labor” (p. 9). This is why in regard to Lund’s management of finances, the union under analysis does right to promote the improvement of the system.
Talking about the communication system, Clark (2009) defines that each union is free to share information in a variety of ways. The IBEW 1250 chooses the following ideas to engage the citizens to their activities: newsletters aim at informing people about coming events, development of the local website where all the necessary contact information, service description, and helpful tips are offered.
Formal and information socialization is defined by Clark (2009) as the necessary orientation programs which are conducted by the members of the union in order to introduce new members. However, some challenges in the orientation programs still take place as not all members are able to participate in discussions and share their opinions.
In other words, members’ involvement is not as bright as the union wants it to be, this is why it seems to be useful to consider the ideas offered by Clark or other researchers and implement some of them on practice.
The point is that the union should organize the orientation program earlier than the members will know about it. The quality of the program depends on how the members understand their rights and duties, and the union under consideration fails to organize the necessary preparatory steps beforehand.
The importance of the public image has to be also discussed in the chosen context. The point is that the IBEW tries to use different methods to promote the chosen image. First of all, it is the participation in different events by means of which people are free to know more about the activities developed by the union.
For example, the Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is the competition under the conditions of which some innovative eco-friendly designs are offered. Local 1250 finds it interesting to participate in such activities as students get a chance to learn more about the conditions under which the union is organized. The name of the union is mentioned on boars, T-shirts, and flyers.
Clark (2009) admits that the role of media is huge indeed for the company that tries to improve its public image. However, it is not always possible to use media and avoid some unpleasant situations.
This is why even too frequent usage of media does not prevent the union from the threat of lower rates of members’ involvement into union’s activities. Even promotion of union’s culture suffers from media involvement as the union is not able to create one particular image and meet the criteria set.
The grievance procedures inherent to the union are also crucial as they define the attitude of the union’s members to the conditions under which they have to cooperate and the outcomes which may be observed at the end of the process. The role of the grievance procedure is integral in case the necessity to change the circumstances or to understand the essence of unforeseen situations comes (Clark, 2009).
Not all people are ready to accept the reality as it is, this is why some people want to be sure that the union may organize the activities and solve misunderstandings which take place.
Such careful attitude to the conditions makes society believe that the union evaluates each point in its work, still, the evident inability to involve as many members as possible to the discussion is a serious weakness, and in this paper, the attempt to introduce various strategies and improvements for the chosen local union will be made.
Aspects to be improved
There are two main aspects which have to be improved in the union administration. First, certain attention should be paid to members’ involvement that remains to be poor in the union. Though it is not a disadvantage of the union, still, it is its evident weakness that has to be improved by the leadership, overall attitude to the problem, and possibilities which are available for the union.
The vast majority of the unite members truly believe that no changes are necessary for the system. People do not want to be involved into improvements which are required, this is why it could be too late to change something as the factor of human confidence in personal correctness is a serious aspect to be considered.
There is a burning need to explain the importance of changes in the union, and the leadership should think about the ways of how the members may be encouraged to participate in various activities of the union.
Another important problem of the union that has to be solved is based on weak promotion of the union’s culture. Clark (2009) informs that union culture becomes a very important issue in people’s attraction to the union. The fact is that people should have a chance to learn better about the local union, and union culture is an effective means to be used.
Unfortunately, the IBEW union does not find it necessary to focus on personal interests and promote their power within the frames of the union. What the union tries to create is the public image that will be interesting to society neglecting the demands of the current members. This is why it seems to be crucial to address this aspect and create strategies which will be effective.
Administrative changes to be adopted to enhance the organization’s future effectiveness
It is obvious that efficiency of union practices and activities is closely associated with the level and quality and frequency of participation of union members. In this regard, the major emphasis should be placed on union leaders who should be encouraged to increase the membership participation.
In fact, taking into account the union involvement in telecommunications, it is imperative to introduce specific types of participation, such as supportive, informal and unstructured. All these types of participation can contribute greatly to encouraging the union members to engage in disputes and discussions and provide viable solutions to existing problems.
While evaluating the types of participations, particular attention deserves union citizenship behaviors of OCB. Such kind of engagement is aimed to get a better idea of the approaches employees choose beyond their job obligations as well as informal behavior that contribute to the success of the organization.
In other words, each member of organization should be always informed about the major events happened within the union (Clark, 2009, p. 15).
With regard to the information presented above, it is necessary to introduce an advanced model for increasing the union participation that involves a number of stages to be implemented. In order to construct a successful model, it is necessary to understand the main individual and environmental issues that shape a union behavior.
While considering individual characteristics, it is necessary to evaluate knowledge, abilities, skills; believes and outlooks, and, finally, personally traits. Demographic factors should also be taken into deepest considerations and, therefore, such aspects as gender, age, and educational background are also of great importance (Clark, 2009, p. 16).
The consideration of individual preferences and interest are more important because they construct the common standards of the union behavior. Lack of interest in personality traits can worsen the union participation.
While considering the union’s culture, the major problem that comes to the forth is lack of efficient training programs and consistent education background because of inaccurate information presentation. Disrespect for history, traditions, and rituals can generate more ignorance and indifference to the role of the union in lives of employees (Clark, 2009, p. 213).
The problems of organization’s cultural myopia can be solved with the implementation more consistent cultural principles of communication that will be separated from the public images and media, but based more on personal interests, concerns, historical and cultural background.
The recognition of the organization’s uniqueness and “authenticity” can be achieved only when each event and extract of culture is known by each member of the community.
Second, the existence of subcultures should also be encouraged because they play a significant role in forming beliefs and ideals of the organizations. If organization’s culture is weak, the marginal cultures can compete with the general, or core culture, which negatively contribute to developing a strong cultural platform.
Impediments while implementing the changes
In order to re-construct the participation management system and the IBEW culture, it is possible to face certain challenges and constraints on the way to implementing the changes. First of all, lack of involvement is premised on lack of effective leadership and communicative strategies that are not that easy to implement in a timely manner.
Here the major problem lies in spreading common laws and regulation among the members to initiate them into the participation in specific activities, which unveils the drawbacks of leadership and motivations among the union members.
What is more problematic is that the process lacks consistent parliamentary rules and procedures that will make IBEW members be engaged in voting, motions, and other important meetings (Casey and Daniels, 2009, p. 23). In particular, there is no a clear structure of meeting arrangements as well as agendas that would discuss the most critical problems.
Second problem to building a consistent model of member participation and meeting management is closely associated with lack of members’ awareness of the existing adversities within the organization.
The organization’s leaders fail to inform people about the most challenging problems as well as the way they can threaten the employees’ welfare. As a result, such a situation creates even more grounds for ignorance and indifferent of the union members.
The changes that should be introduced to the union culture improvement are also under the threat of specific limitations. In particular, the IBEW culture can face significant problems while facing the idea of change itself. Being one of the oldest unions, its laws and regulations are not sufficiently adapted to the contemporary social, political, and economical settings.
Need for change, therefore, is not fully recognized by the union, which is the major obstacle for further development. In addition, just like policies and strategies are evolving outside the union, corresponding values and positions should also be taken into consideration by the union leaders.
Second hindrance for introducing changes to cultural policies is lack of understanding of existing marginal cultures that, in fact, significantly influence the overall cultural atmosphere within the organization.
Failure to understand diverse ideas and discuss them equally along with the majority opinion can prevent the organization from introducing democratic tendencies in conducting activities and involving more people in debating.
The case presented by Straus and Blum (2003) proves that the consequences of ignorance and reluctance to be involved in problem solving and decision-making for the union are significant and can lead to legal complications.
Strategies for the leadership to considered addressing the impediments
In order to meet the above-described challenges and threats, effective strategies should be implemented. Particular focus will be made on the analysis of communication and leadership strategies, discussion of legal and regulatory issues, ethical considerations, and implementing more focus on marginal groups within the union.
While considering communicational and leadership strategies, it is essential to pay attention to such aspects as transparency, clarity, identification of needs, and analysis of communicational models (Shelley and Calveley, 2007, p. 40).
Effectiveness of involvement management will also largely depend on leaders and their attitude toward the necessity to implement more strategies into the development and enhancement of the IBEW local infrastructure. Beside website organization and electronic newsletters, the union’s administrative staff should take care of website design and options to attract more members of the organization.
Discussion of legal and regulatory issues should be prioritized within the union for the member to recognize their rights as well as benefits they may take advantage of. Abundance of choices and options can make IBEW employees think over their professional perspectives and engage them into the optimization of the working environment.
In such a manner, they will be more interested in participating in specific events and enriching the union with cultural and spiritual resources (Shelley and Calveley, 2007, p. 66). Knowledge of laws can also invest in their welfare and the leaders’ task is to explain all that issues to the union members.
Ethical considerations and analysis of margin culture related problems should also be tackled more carefully. In particular, the union members should encourage practice and experience sharing activities to be aware of each other needs. Backgrounds and personal concerns will be, then, incorporated and analyzed to fill in the gaps of cultural changes (Shelley and Calveley, 2007, p. 138).
More importantly, although cultural changes should be implemented, they should be more related to historical and traditional background of the organization to fit the best future employees’ needs and preferences.
Finally, margin culture itself should not be ignored and in order to cope with the problem of cultural diversity, the union should organize more meeting dedicated to discussion of individual problems. At the same time, there should a strategy allowing members to have wider opportunities for expressing their opinion.
According to Shelley and Calveley (2007), “union education… is more than an understanding of roles; instead, it has to do with coming to inhabit a certain socio-economic realm defined by a particular objective hierarchy…” (p. 138). In this respect, sensibilities are often developed within a social construct.
In this respect, social, moral, and ideological frames should be carefully considered while analyzing the role of marginal culture, and therefore, it should be taken into consideration what influence it has on the common cultural approaches within the union.
Conclusion
In general, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is the union that helps a number of people create better conditions for living. There are a number of strategies and changes which may be implemented into the system, however, there are also several steps which may be taken beforehand to improve the effectiveness of the union itself. In this paper, two aspects of the organization have been analyzed.
The point is that the union has good leadership, still, it is evident that some problems influence the development of the union in a variety of ways. This is why it is necessary to introduce the strategies and try to solve the impediments by means of properly chosen steps and ideas which will be announced to all members of a particular union.
Reference List
Casey, L. and Daniels G. (2009). Parliamentary Procedure and Effective Union Meetings. Union Communication Services, Inc.
Clark, P. F. (2009). Building More Effective Unions. US: Cornell University Press.
History of IBEW (n.d.) Retrieved from <http://www.ibewlocal1288.com/historyofibew.htm>.
Local # 1250 (n.d.). Smart Wire. Web.
Lund, J. (2005). Auditing Local Union Financial Records: A Guide for Local Union Trustees. US: Library of Congress.
Shelley, S., and Calveley, M. (2007). Learning with Trade Unions: A Contemporary Agenda in Employment Relations. US: Ashgate Publishing.
Straus, V., and Blum, K. (2003). Apathy and Secrecy Filled Teachers Union, Many Say. The Washington Post.