Labor Unions and Organizational Change: a New Frontier for OD.

Pressures to improve the "quality of work" in the U.S. are opening up a new frontier for the OD field. The field, however, seems unprepared to cross this frontier, especially where labor unions are involved. In this paper, the authors explore some of the essential differences between organizational change situations involving only one organization and those in which labor unions play a major role. These differences revolve around four basic concepts: goal incompatibility, shared power, structurally-based conflict, and the multiple objectives and concerns of union leaders. Using these concepts as a base, implications for consulting strategy in unionized situations are drawn. These include the need to: (1) learn more about the nature of issues that are salient to management and union leaders; (2) adapt an instrumental, as opposed to an affective or interpersonal, style; (3) encourage and facilitate bargaining and compromise behavior as legitimate means of conflict resolution; and (4) coordinate and integrate programs of organizational change with the more traditional collective bargaining process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]