Team Building: Stalled at Georgian Industries
The experts advise a team on how to get through “the muck in the middle” to become a high-functioning work group.
January 2000
Skill-Based Pay in a Unionized Environment: A Case Study
Skill-based pay plans (SBPs) in unionized companies is the subject of this paper. It focuses on a unionized mining company, detailing problems and successes, and also provides guidelines for implementing skill-based pay plans.
Performance Management: A New Light through Old Windows?
The case study of Maple Leaf Concrete Products is examined in this paper. The experts weigh in on how Maple Leaf Concrete Products can improve their performance management systems.
Grievance Mediation: The Impact of the Process and Outcomes on the Interests of the Parties
The revival of grievance mediation can be traced to an experiment in mediating workplace disputes in the coal industry of the United States in 1980, which resulted in a very high success rate of 80 to 90 percent. The decades that followed, researchers comparing the effectiveness of grievance mediation and arbitration concluded that grievance mediation is a faster process with lower costs that can produce a ‘win-win’ outcome and a positive long-term impact on the relationship between the parties.
Good Faith in Wrongful Dismissal: Canadian Employment Law after Wallace v. United Grain Growers Ltd.
In an examination of this case, in which the Supreme Court of Canada revised Canada's traditional approach to assessing damages for wrongful dismissal, the author explores law and legislation governing the dismissal of employees before and after the decision.
Forging New Families: An Overview of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Context of Organizational Change
Mergers and acquisitions often don't result in positive organizational change. In this current issues paper, the Dean of Science and Health from the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Technology discusses the four stages of the M & A process, human resource management issues such as retention, and essential cultural considerations for a successful merger.
Employee Performance and Discipline Problems: A New Approach
This study provides a detailed guide to managing employee performance and discipline problems within the context of new high performance systems.
E-Mail in the Workplace: The Potential for Increased Employee Participation
This current issues paper studies the benefits and drawbacks of email in the workplace – and its potential for increasing employee participation by enabling more democratic communication.
A Conversation on Industrial Relations
In this interview Professor Voos discusses trends in the world of work; what unions offer workers today; IR in Canada and the United States; the health of collective bargaining systems; and future issues and challenges in industrial relations.
Cross-Training at Peace River Pulp: A Case Study
To maintain competitiveness, many companies are turning to cross-training so that employees are skilled in multiple jobs. This case study looks at a Peace River Pulp of Alberta, which provides a successful example of cross-training in practice.
Contextual Negotiations
Three approaches to negotiation are examined in this essay – competitive, collaborative and contextual – by looking at Bell Canada and the Communications, Energy and Paper Workers’ Union of Canada to see how their approaches changed depending on the context.
Coalition Building: A Progressive Strategy for Canadian Unions
Drawing on interviews with key players in coalition-building in Canada, the author looks at current trends, difficulties and the advantages for unions and their members, and the probable direction of future coalition-building efforts.
Canadian Labour Law at the Millennium: The Growing Influence of Human Rights Requirements
Human rights laws have become the most dynamic force shaping the Canadian labour law system. This paper identifies some of the more important changes brought about by their growing impact and the application of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the workplace.
Canadian Industrial Relations Today: And the Prognosis Is?
In this Q & A with Emeritus Professor of Political Economy and Industrial Relations John Crispo of University of Toronto, the conversation ranges from the greatest pressures on the Canadian IR system to how Canada fared after a decade of free trade, what’s happening to workers, and the future of unions in Canada.
A Lesson in Customer Service
This customer service case study looks at change at a large telecomm and telephone company in the process of being privatized.
Mergers and Acquisitions: The Role of HRM in Success
This study of the strategies of 44 Canadian companies with active merger and acquisition programs provides clear understanding of common “people problems” related to failed mergers.
Med-Arb: A Viable Dispute Resolution Alternative
Drawing on detailed interviews with experienced med-arbiters from the Grievance Settlement Board, this study looks at the advantages of “med-arb”, in which parties attempt to reach voluntary agreements before proceeding to arbitration.
Workplace Change in Canada: Union Perceptions of Impacts, Responses and Support Systems
This paper examines change management and labour organizations. Specifically, the research surveys the impacts of workplace changes such as downsizing and restructuring on unions and the work-life quality of employees.
Work and Family: Programs that Help to Balance the Dual Role
Work-life conflict causes stress and burnout for increasing numbers of Canadians. From a detailed study of a leading biotech company, the author identifies key components of effective work/family programs.