Union ‐ Management Cooperation:Different Relationships, Different Forms

A model is proposed that regards cooperative relationships between union and management as having three distinct forms. Problem‐Solving is the most basic with employee problem‐solving groups appended to existing union and management structures and processes. In the Team Concept the organization’s work system is redesigned around work teams, more flexible work rules and significantly altered individual roles. The Partnership appears similar to the Team Concept but the fundamental, traditional roles of union and management are changed so that both organizations become jointly responsible for running the organization and attending to the welfare of employees. Each of the three forms reflects a more intimate level of relating with a more advanced form becoming possible only after the requisite knowledge and skills of the preceding form have been mastered. Viewing cooperation as having three distinct forms has important implications for understanding, implementing and maintaining cooperative efforts.