Human Resources Today Essay Example

1. Free Speech

First Amendment rights of employees at work are protected under the constitution of the United States. Workplace is allowed to stifle free speech under certain circumstances. While the constitution therefore provides all citizens the freedom for expression, this is not absolute. Defamatory comments and obscenity for example is prohibited in the workplace and the first amendment right of the person will not be helpful to protect the employee from possible workplace consequences ("How Free is Free Speech"). Central today is how free employees should be in expressing their opinion about their jobs.

Bruce emphasized that one aspect that should be considered is the increasing consciousness of companies to what he called "stewardship of brand image." Views of employees that may depart from this projected brand image can be problematic on the part of the employees (Bruce). With the advent of blogs and web networks, free speech has expanded and has become more complicated. The interest of the employer is to protect the brand image of their company and when free speech of employees starts to threaten this important interest, this can cause problems on the employees. The law provides latitude to companies in order to secure this image. And thus, efforts to curtail speech against the interest of the company are permissible (Bruce).

The problem now lies on how much this affects the rights of the individual to express his or her opinion. If an employee expresses a valid concern over workplace conditions in a blog, the employee will be in danger of possible sanction from their employees. There is a need to define the extent through which companies could protect their image through restriction of speech. In government agencies, this is clear. For as long as the person in question does not raise any issue against the interest of the public, this will not be an issue. This cannot be applied to private companies. There is a need to define the balance between the employees' interest and the interest of the employer such as the protection of "image."

2. Union

Any management that gets a union deserves it. This is the philosophy that surged as controversial in the face of declining union membership in the United States. Employers have gained sufficient power in the last decades as liberal markets made capital mobility more possible than ever. Despite the declining power of employees in the work place, there is a need to consider the incentives why unionizing becomes an option for employees. Charles L. Hughes philosophy that creating a union free workplace is possible sets forth what is actually obvious, if management will be able to provide a good relationship with its employees, then there is no incentive for them to organize (Wellington).

Management of companies faces union organizing threats because of certain factors. First is the fact that threat in the workplace has increased. Mobility of companies to other regions where labor is cheaper entailed a new form of job insecurity. Secondly, employees feel that they don’t get a fair share of the company’s success and thus organize themselves to avail of these shares. At the core, union organizing can be avoided if the company can assess themselves of their vulnerability to unions and provide a workplace environment that builds trust and confidence from the employees to the company.

Involvement of the employee and making them stewards of the organization is one way to build this trust. Objectivity of assessments and minimizing performance favoritism can be seen as first step in instilling the element of fairness. Making the employees involve in the objectives of the organization and helping them to become responsible of their performance will help in minimizing the insecurities that prevail in the course of union organizing. In the process of building this trust, the company will lower the risks of employees organizing against the company. Employees join union because they think that it is the most viable channel to express their needs. If companies cannot provide a relationship built on mutual trust, then they deserve unions.

Works Cited

• Bruce, Barry. "Fear vs. Free Speech at Work." 14 June 2007. 4 August 2003 <http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jun2007/bs20070614_312732.htm>.
• "How Free is Free Speech at Work." 4 August 2008 <http://www.maricopa.edu/legal/dp/inbrief/freespeech.htm>.
• Wellington, Beth. "Commentary: Labor Protections and the Role of Card Check Agreements." 18 March 2007. 4 August 2008 <http://www.llrx.com/extras/cardcheck.htm>.