Michael Duane – författare

In this ground-breaking book, Duane argues that companies of the 1990s will derive their real competitive advantage from labor-management cooperation. To this end, he notes that labor-management relations, as defined by grievance activity at the shop level, determines to a large degree whether joint ventures between labor and management will be successful. Accordingly, Duane offers a comprehensive discussion of how the grievance process affects labor-management cooperation and firm performance. He also identifies those factors that contribute to effective grievance resolution.Competitive threats have forced unionized firms to consider alternative industrial relations systems, including labor-management cooperation. In the first part of the book, Duane reviews the cooperative options that are available to labor and management. He begins by evaluating the effectiveness of various labor-management programs and presents practical examples of how to properly implement and maintain them. Cooperative contract negotiation is then offered as a possible labor-management strategy to enhance the competitiveness of the firm. Several suggestions are offered, aimed at ensuring that cooperation at the bargaining table will be successful. Throughout the book, a compelling case is made that the grievance process plays a critical role in promoting labor-management cooperation. Over 40 practical propositions concerning the determinants of forward-looking grievance resolution are identified and thoroughly discussed.

Dr. Duane argues that there is no universal approach to human resource (HR) planning and that each organization must develop its own policies and practices, based on its own special needs and characteristics. Indeed, this is the only way an organization can stay competitive. This, then, is the first work to present a comprehensive discussion of how to match an organization's design parameters to its HR planning efforts, and to provide specific hands-on examples as guidelines. An important guide for HR professionals at the executive level and a useful agenda for academics in their own research.In this exhaustively researched and definitive book, Duane argues that the key to an organization's competitive advantage is through effective human resource (HR) planning. Specifically, he notes that HR planning must move beyond simply matching individuals with immediate job requirements, to a point where it matches individuals with the organization's environmental and design parameters. Accordingly, this book offers a comprehensive discourse on how different types of organizations should engage in HR planning.The book begins with a discussion of the basic steps in HR planning as well as a review of the various HR planning practices that are available to managers. Before he specifies how different organizations should conduct HR planning, Duane addresses the hotly contested debate over the legitimacy of organizational typologies. The preponderance of evidence examined supports the use of typologies in examining organizational operations, including HR planning. Two excellent examples of configurational theories that have enjoyed widespread popularity—Henry Mintzberg's theory of organizational structure and R. E. Miles and C. C. Snow's theory of strategy, structure, and process—are then investigated. For a variety of reasons, the Miles and Snow typology emerges as the more powerful predictor of organizational effectiveness, and thus it is used to illustrate how different types of organizations should approach human resource planning. In particular, separate chapters are dedicated to HR planning within each of the organizational configurations defined by the Miles and Snow typology. Duane concludes by presenting several propositions regarding how different types of organizations should approach HR planning. These propositions can serve as guidelines for practioners or as research agenda items for scholars.