The New Trade Union – The Enterprise 2.0 Way
I have never agreed in the way unions do collective bargaining and conduct strikes and all. Its bad for the economy, the employees and the company. There are better ways to get to a similar end point many other ways.
In many industries nowadays, a job is no longer a job, its a career. The economy has become so dynamic that employees come and go easily. Internet has made it easy for people to search and hunt for jobs with tools like LinkedIn and Online job boards with RSS feeds. To stay competitive, companies must work to retain staff and keep them happy. Employees on the other hand should constantly upgrade and update themselves to keep themselves valuable in the workplace and the industry. Its the survival of the fittest and forceful fighting doesn’t work anymore. If one doesn’t want a job, in such times, the employer will have a queue of others waiting to take on the position.
However, there are some characteristics of a workers union we can learn from. Collective bargaining, in its true ideal form, collects and aggregates the wants and needs of their members and negotiate with the employer on those terms. However, the information is filtered and aggregated before it reaches the management of the company and its done in the self interest of the aggregators.
In the Enterprise 2.0 world, this can be better managed by having a live discussion with the senior management and understanding each others point of view. Open and transparent information exchange will put all interested employees on the same plate. Argument is based purely on logic, business benefits, personal benefits and reasoning. Other users can also “vote” or support either parties. Employers also understand that they need to keep valued employees happy and employees can have an open communication platform with employers and raise concerns.
I feel that Enterprise 2.0 in this sense not only improves the personal benefits of an individual employee but also provides one of the most valuable feedback channel for senior management to help understand other than from statistics and reports – the softer side of the organisation. This is a win win situation for both employees and employers.
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