Putting Principles into Practice

Once joint efforts are underway, the following measures can help workers and management put the principles of worker empowerment and quality improvement into practice:

• develop a vision and a mission statement - a vision statement describes what the organization would like to be in the future (for example, "the acknowledged leader in providing quality services"), while a mission statement describes what the organization does (for example, "maintain roads"). The vision and the mission of the organization must be clear to all parties; 
  
  
• establish quality improvement teams to study how work is done and to recommend improvements. These teams are usually composed of front-line workers and supervisors, who will need adequate training and sufficient time to conduct their analyses. Team members should be drawn from all functional areas relevant to the work process being studied so that all aspects of the process can be understood; 
  
  
• identify "barriers" to successful performance - front-line workers may identify excessive layers of middle management, lack of timely information, purchasing procedures, or reporting and reviewing procedures as major contributors to organizational inefficiency. Employers may identify contract provisions or work rules as impediments to successful performance. Both parties must seriously consider these barriers while also recognizing political realities. A strong move by either party to extract high profile concessions in the early stages of the process may provide ammunition to critics of labor-management cooperation and may serve to derail the process.

The tough issues likely will not disappear permanently, however. As delicate topics like work rules or civil service provisions are discussed, it is important to remember the reasons that they were originally adopted and to consider them in the context of today's workplace. Some long-standing and fiercely guarded practices may have become outmoded or irrelevant;

• develop performance "benchmarks" or other measures of organizational performance. Benchmarks are performance standards designed to measure results. These are set by identifying model employers and then achieved by adopting "best practices." They help employees understand, in very specific terms, organizational goals and direct their work accordingly. For example, a school bus maintenance shop may establish as a performance benchmark that less than 3% of the fleet is in the garage for repairs or inspection at any one time and that specific repairs are completed, on average, in 95% or less of the standard amount of time according to repair manuals. Meeting or exceeding a benchmark can be a source of pride for the participants and the union, and would result in cost savings and/or quality improvements for the service being delivered. If a benchmark is not met, further improvements might be identified or the reasonableness of the goal may be subject to review; and 
  
  
• train the workforce in all skills necessary to achieve organizational goals. This includes both job-related and problem-solving skills. For example, front-line employees of the bus garage might be trained in how to use the latest diagnostic and repair equipment in order to meet their benchmarks. They might also receive training in statistical and work-flow analysis so that they can study data on the flow of work through their shop in order to identify inefficiencies in the work process.