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ADVANCED
MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
VOLUME 63
NUMBER 2 SPRING 1998
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to AMJ Contents
Redefining the Rights of Union Organizers and Strategic
Responsibilities of Employers in Union Organizing Drives
A recent Supreme Court ruling dramatically changed the ground
rules for union efforts to organize employees. The ruling affected the extent to which
employers may bar union organizers' access to employees during union organizing campaigns.
Previously, a Court of Appeals had ruled that the National Labor Relations Board's
definition of "employee " did not cover union members who took jobs in a
nonunion company to attempt to organize a union, a process known as "salting. "
The Supreme mission. Court reversed that decision, so that job applicants who are union
members enjoy the protection of the National Labor Relations Act as "employees.
" Businesses need to become familiar with all the ramifications of this decision.
Jeffrey A. Mello
Doing Business on the Internet
Despite the explosion of Internet users, the number of
businesses with a home page is still relatively small. One reason may be that shopping
currently ranks fairly low among reasons people use the Internet. But this is likely to
change. In addition to promoting goods and services, companies can use the Internet to
improve customer service by encouraging feedback, to gather information about competitors,
to communicate with employees, and to conduct business transactions. The number of
businesses with Websites will increase as well as the number of potential customers, and
few businesses can afford to ignore the advantages that can flow from Internet
participation.
Fahri Karakaya and Fera Karakaya
Toward a Learning Organization: The Building Blocks
Like people, organizations are unlikely to be successful
unless they can learn from experience and their environment, transmit that knowledge
throughout the organization, and modify their behavior as needed in response to the
knowledge gained. To be an effective learning organization, clear and practical guidelines
are needed to build a culture that supports the dissemination of knowledge, the teamwork,
and the total commitment by managers and staff members to achieve the organization's
missions.
Swee C. Goh
ISO 9000 Myth and Reality: A Reasonable Approach to users,
the number of IS0 9000
Is ISO 9000 certification a nice-to-have or need-to have
designation for a company? ISO 9000, which sets standards for systems and paperwork (not
products), may be beneficial and necessary for some, but not all, companies. Companies
should use their own sales departments and top management to decide whether the time and
dollar cost of certification makes sense. However, all companies could probably benefit
from using the ISO model as a benchmark for their quality programs.
Frank C. Barnes
Meeting the Expectations of Key Stakeholders: Stakeholder
Management in the Health Care Industry
Management, trustees, staff, patients, and other
"stakeholders" are all vitally interested in the functioning of a hospital, but
each group has its own priorities and standards of success. Moreover, priorities and
standards differ between for-profit not-for-profit institutions. A survey covering both
types found that while hospital executives are aware of the various stakeholder priorities
and demands, they generally lack effective strategies for meeting them. Lack of customer
(patient) focus was a prime deficiency.
Kamalesh Kuman and Ram Subramanian
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