Human Resources Labor Relations the

Human Resources Labor Relations The objective of this paper is to demonstrate an understanding of a major employee or labor relation concept that was either accepted to turned into a 'best practice'.

Described will be an approach by an organization or union that demonstrates an innovative, creative, cutting edge or unique method of working with employee and labor relations framework The State of Maine employs what is termed "Interest-Based Bargaining" as its' chosen form of "Preventative Mediation" (Alfano, 1997) This is a shift form traditional confrontational and positional style bargaining to that of bargaining through 'solutions of problems through identification of issues, exploration of the solutions. In this type of bargaining the parties are encouraged to work together in seeking a solution.

The characteristics of "interest-based bargaining" are that each party submits their proposals and the parties develop and then submit "clearly defined problems that they will solve together. The process in traditional bargaining is the submission of proposals based on their solutions to problems that will be solved together between the two of them. In interest-based bargaining the investigation of problems needing resolution are presented and a mutually acceptable solution for each problem is chosen.

The solution will in essence give each party at least 'part' of what they want or need. In working collaboratively to solve their problems. Key Concepts in Interest-Based Bargaining The focus of the approach is the presentation of the problems as questions and then refines those questions to a representation of a solution. Interests: The motivational factors in this type of bargaining are the interests of each party and their reasons for seeking a solution to the problem.

While each party may have a different reason for wanting g to solve the problem, the fact is that they all desire to find a solution and thus they are motivated to take action. Options: Options are the solutions which are possible for each individual problem. Standards: Standards are the guidelines or rules when measuring the acceptable quality of each option. The option that satisfies most of the standards is the one which will be chosen. Objective standards are somewhat difficult to develop in relation to labor relations.

The reason stated for this difficulty is the inability to measure such things as equity and fairness objectively. This means the participants must share their view of each standard on an individual basis. Those utilizing the bargaining referred to as interest-based should use the procedures following for ensuring the process effectiveness. 1. Initial IBB Preparations. 2. Preparing with constituents. 3. Opening statements. 4. Identifying issues. 5. Developing a list of standards. 6. Identifying interests on each issue. 7. Identifying options for each issue. 6. Identifying the acceptable option. 8. Accepting the option as a tentative agreement.

(Alfano, 1997) During initial IBB Preparations the parties should choose a facilitators and the sharing of costs should be discussed. A plan should be laid out should an impasse occur and a schedule for meeting should be set as to time, place, and choosing someone to keep the minutes or record of the meetings. A list of standards needs to be developed for evaluation of proposed solutions for elimination of the unacceptable and toward finding the acceptable solution.

The development of this list allows for the sharing of beliefs and better understanding each other IBB Preparation Checklist 1. Employer and Union representatives meet to agree to use IBB. 2. They meet with their members to inform them about IBB. 3. They meet to select a facilitator. 4. They each obtain training from their advocacy organizations or from the facilitator if none is available otherwise. 5. They meet with their members to discuss issues for bargaining. 6. They mutually prepare the statistical data they anticipate they will need. 7.

They select a meeting place, and schedule meeting dates. 8. They arrange for refreshments.