Restoring Dialogue: Keys to Effective Labor-Management Relationships

Restoring Dialogue: Keys to Effective Labor-Management Relationships

I

ssues between labor and management have an impact

on more than just an organization or company itself.

Ineffective labor-management relationships can lead

to poor quality products or services provided and, ultimately, poor customer satisfaction. Recently, Dr. Keith

Levick sat down with Edgell Turnquist, executive director for the Michigan Labor-Management Association (MLMA), to

address

labor-management

issues

and

the attempts to “restore dialogue” between workers and managers.

CCN: Ed, what is the MLMA organization?

ET:

Well, the organization is the Michigan Labor-

Spring 2011

Management Association. Actually, its roots went back to

the Michigan Quality of Work Life Council back in the

’70s. I got involved with them in 1985 when the City of

20

Southfield was in the early stages of its labor-management program. Then, in 1998 I was asked if I would become the support person for the organization under a grant with the federal government to rebuild the Michigan Labor-

Management Association. I took over as director in 2001

and have been playing that role since then. Our organization

has two functions. We do training on an as-needed basis.

But our main function is doing our annual conference once

a year at the Kellogg Center at Michigan State University; and that’s usually held in April of every year.

Customer Care News

CCN: What would you say is the primary mission of the

and creating a conference. What is the theme for this year’s

ET: Our mission is promoting labor-management coopera-

ET: This year is going to be “Restoring Dialog.” This was

it’s a product from the private sector or a service that’s pro-

state mediators in conversation at their mediation jobs that

organization?

tion — dialogue between labor and management…whether vided in the public sector…to create awareness and to create

dialogue that’s going to help improve the product and help improve the quality. It’s been said that you have to learn how to do more with less. In the workplace, when you have a solid

labor-management organization that’s working together and they are exchanging dialogue and looking for new, creative

ways, it was not hard for us to put together programs that

would actually create better quality, more quantity, yet at a reduced cost.

I could give you a simple example of snowplowing where I worked, for the City of Southfield. That was one of our pri-

mary functions during the winter, to keep the streets clear.

Back when I first started, whenever

conference?

something that was brought up to us by our federal and our they have, both in the public sector and private sector. They are finding themselves challenged. When they’re called to

come in and mediate a contract or dispute within an organization they’re finding that when they get in there they are

actually being asked to come up with a decision that’s going to work for both parties because there has been no dialogue.

Both parties are not even communicating or even putting together a solid effort to try to work out their differences.

So, with that in mind, with our theme…we put together

nine workshops. They are all based on skills — communication skills, brainstorming skills, teaching folks how to work

together and giving them the tools that they need to go back and show their constituents — whether it’s the labor

we had six inches of snow or more, it

would take us about four days to clean the streets. If you’re sitting behind a

plow truck, working 12 on and 12 off for four days, it becomes very, very

hard to do. It’s tiring and it wears on you. We actually developed, through

the labor-management program, a pro-

gram where we could do the streets in two-and-a-half days. …If everything

went well, and you didn’t get blasted with any secondary snows, we could

actually get it done in two days. From a standpoint of cost to the citizens,

that was about a 40 percent reduction in cost. And the way it was done was to listen to the guys actually doing the work. They told us the equipment

equipment to do the job. So we looked into their complaints and issues, put

together a plan, gave it to the city council, and they provided the tools they needed.

CCN: You mentioned earlier that one

of your primary functions is running

www.customercarenews.com

Spring 2011

Photo courtesy of Edgell Turnquist

they were using was not the proper

Edgell Turnquist

21

group or the management group. Our trainers are primar-

ily from Michigan. We have folks from Eastern Michigan University;

we

have corporations in Michigan that provide

train-

ers. And we ask

the trainers to

focus on providing tools that the

only what they’re doing when they’re at the workplace, but what they talk about when they leave the workplace and how they promote their company. They need to be proud. They need to have an avenue where they feel as though they’re part

of the organization and they represent that organization all

the time. They need to stand up and be proud of what they do, no matter what that job is.

Again, I’ll always go back to my roots. I remember the

in a booklet and

world. But through our labor-management programs, in

take back with them to apply in the workplace.

CCN:

As

you

know, I recently interviewed General Holiefield, vice president of the UAW-Chrysler, and Joe Ashton, vice president

of the UAW-GM, and the essence of those interviews was

custodial staff felt like they were the lowest people in the

developing the dialogue and putting them in charge of their day-to-day jobs, we really made them stand up and feel good

about their jobs. And they weren’t called janitors anymore; they were called custodians. By giving them a different title they felt more important. They felt more empowered to look

at and openly voice their concerns about the work they were doing.

on rebranding the UAW. For many years there has been a

CCN: Are you saying that in order for people to feel better

they talked about the importance of understanding that we

to open the door of communication more? And that’s the

negative perception of the old UAW. In those interviews, are each other’s customers. It sounds like there’s a link to your theme of restoring dialogue. What do you think?

ET:

Everybody is going to be faced with this phenomenon of doing more with less. So we all need to understand, no matter what you’re doing, no matter how much money we make for doing our jobs, no matter how long we work at our jobs, everybody’s going to be affected by this.

I

totally

agree. One of the

things that we’ve

been doing now for 10 to 12 years at our conference

about what they do and have a different perception, we need essence of your theme this year?

ET: Yes, right…. “Restoring Dialog” is a form of redesign-

ing and/or rebranding oneself. People have to feel as though they’re part of an organization if they’re going to move

forward. But the perception of workers needs to change as

well and workers need to take responsibility for how they are seen.

is hosting forums

CCN: With that being said, and as a union leader and execu-

conference

of management and labor? I know this is a difficult question,

at the end of the

for

feedback…. The feedback we often

receive is about things that happened years ago, things that

tive director of the MLMA, why do you think there is a split but in your opinion, what do you think is the main cause?

And what do you think we need to do to remove that gap?

were in the news media, and the negative perception that

ET: That’s really a good question and an interesting topic

go to work, they punch in, they leave for the day, come back

the city that part of the problem was that if I’m the manage-

autoworkers are just lazy. There’s been stories that people

and they still get paid for not doing much of anything. There are many negatives stories out there. However, we promote

that there are good people that work in all industries. It

Spring 2011

importance of the image that they project on their jobs, not

people can actually put together

could be auto, the public sector, for cities, for counties; it could be in the Coca Cola factories. There are many good

22

and dedicated employees. And they need to understand the

to think about. I used to think back when I was working for

ment, then it’s my job to manage, and if you’re the worker, it’s your job to just go out and do what I tell you to do. And that’s kind of how it seems to be. I’ve heard this statement many a time, “If you don’t like what I’m asking you to do,

then there’s nothing stopping you from letting the door hit

Customer Care News

you in the rear as you’re leaving.” And you’re welcome to

ET: Agree. …And to teach them that it’s OK to look at

and more dialogue, it’s almost like there’s no relationship

into work with a fresh thought in your mind and communi-

just go ahead and leave. But you know, as we created more

between the two: that managers view themselves as being one family and this is the way we do our business. And

workers are another family. And in reality, without two-way

communication, it’s very hard to do a job exactly the way they want you to do it.

CCN: Because you’re not communicating.

ET: Yes, because of the communication breakdown, you have no idea what they want you to do or not do. So you

need that dialogue. I’ve seen huge strides [once the dialogue was created] where, all of a sudden, groups weren’t fighting

anymore. They were having good, open communication;

and the jobs were being done the way everyone wanted them

to be done. As a worker, there’s nothing worse than doing something and having to be told to do it again.

CCN: It comes down to the communication. So the vehicle

in which to remove that gap is to get people (labor, management, it doesn’t matter who you are) to start communicat-

ing and have that dialogue. Hence the theme of the 2011 MLMA conference.

ET: As the director of

this organization, and

having 30 years here,

what I did see when I started in 1980 was the lack of communication.

I saw the ’90s as the start of building com-

munication. We kept

things differently; it really is OK. It’s OK to wake up and go

cate it. And we need to give [workers] the tools to communicate constructively.

CCN: And remem-

ber, we’re talking about years of dysfunctional

habits

of communicating,

speaking and listen-

Now that organizations are leaner than ever before and workers are working harder with less people power, we need to communicate and work together. The old ways of doing business are just not going to cut it any longer.

ing to one another. And, as you know, if you’re a smoker or

a drinker, or whatever it is, trying to change a habit is a real

challenge. But that’s what the Michigan Labor-Management Association is about.

ET: …It’s one of the things we do — to help labor-management work together more effectively. Now that organizations are leaner than ever before and workers are working harder with less people power, we need to communicate and

work together. The old ways of doing business are just not going to cut it any longer.

It’s been said that you have to learn how to do more with less. In the workplace, when you have a solid labor-management organization that’s working together and they are exchanging dialogue and looking for new, creative ways, it was not hard for us to put together programs that would actually create better quality, more quantity, yet at a reduced cost.

stressing to folks that

CCN: That’s a reality of today’s world. In

every organization, private and public, workers are doing a whole lot

more

resources.

with

less

There’s

no question about it.

Any final thoughts or message you want to

share with our readers regarding

either

the

there are going to be times you have an issue that you cannot

conference, the organization, or anything else?

that is where we are today. We need to come together and

ET: Everybody is going to be faced with this phenomenon

agree on. So you need to work together to resolve them. And communicate clearly with one another.

CCN: We have certainly developed some poor communica-

tion habits in the past 100 years. I think we can agree that

an organization’s survival depends on all employees (labor with one another — sounds like the makings for a good conference.

www.customercarenews.com

no matter what you’re doing, no matter how much money we make for doing our jobs, no matter how long we work at our jobs, everybody’s going to be affected by this. So

we need to open the door of communication and work together as opposed to working against one another

Spring 2011

and management) communicating openly and honestly

of doing more with less. So we all need to understand,

to create a successful work environment for all people to prosper. CCN

23