Re: Unions and Learning Orgs LO758

JOHN N. WARFIELD (jwarfiel@osf1.gmu.edu)
Thu, 13 Apr 1995 06:50:46 -0400 (EDT)

On Wed, 12 Apr 1995 mdarling@warren.med.harvard.edu wrote in LO744:

>
> In LO 686, Ivan Blanco wrote: "In one instance, they [HR] tried very
> unsuccessfully to control what and how much I interacted with the union
> officers (all employees in my own unit), because I 'could endanger the
> relationship between the company and the union.'"
>
> I have not had any experience in introducing LO concepts into unionized
> settings and am beginning conversations with a couple of clients who have
> active union relationships. I would be interested in hearing about such
> experiences of others on the list. What concerns have union
> representatives raised? Has the introduction of LO principles strengthened
> union-management relationships? How?
>
> Marilyn Darling
> mdarling@warren.med.harvard.edu
>
>

Three or four years ago, Dr. James T. C. Wright, Dept. of Administration,
Univ. of Sao Paulo, Brazil, conducted an Interactive Management project
with longshoremen at the Port of Santos. This port, critical to Brazil's
economy, was in very bad shape. Port management had been unable to cope
with it. Wright convinced the longshoremen to engage in a workshop to
redesign the port (as a system). The results of this project were
reported in the press in Brazil. The longshoremen's system design was
universally regarded as outstanding. Management could hardly believe that
those people could achieve such an outcome.

If you want to learn more about this project, you could fax Dr. Wright at
011-55-11-814-0439.

JOHN WARFIELD
Jwarfiel@osf1.gmu.edu