The global workforce of today is changing and the diversity mix is changing as well in many industries as more and more people are emerging in response to globalization. The human resource management has always been challenged with managing the diversity. These challenges have varied over time. In earlier times, the main concern was to manage the class division, but now it has shifted to managing the diverse identity groups. Along with managing these vast changes, technological and organizational changes have also been seen taking place in the Canadian labour history. The further study demonstrates the workers’ response to management-led introductions of new information technology and workplace reorganization in Canada. It also includes the reaction of workers to the new pressure they face in their daily work due to the combination of welfare reforms. The workers have also played a critical role in reshaping the technology to meet their and the client’s needs.
The current restructuring of the Canadian economy is leading to a vast number of workplace changes that are designed specifically to increase the productivity and also to improve the work environment for the employees (Hiranandani, 2012). The change in the workplace is a general concept that is leading to a number of specific developments that are affecting the Canadian workplace. The changes include the change in the work organization, focus on customer orientation, product quality, including the technological changes.
The number of attempts of organizational changes in the workplace has increased in the last few years. These attempts largely come from the employers, but in some places, both the employer and the employee initiate the re-organization of the current structure. The main objective behind the re-organization is to improve the performance of the organization in terms of productivity, product quality and customer satisfaction.
Flexibility has become an important need for every business nowadays due to the increased competition and uncertainty from both the domestic and international sources. The economic downturn of the 1990s is responsible for pressurizing the firms to cut the costs and increase the productivity. The changes in the organization structure are necessary to remain competitive in the marketplace.
Changes in the organization structure are always hard for the workers and their unions. The Canadian economy is going under a tough time in response to the uncertain changes in the demand of the product and the increased globalization of production as well. The major changes in the market and technology have forced the employers to re-boost their production and management systems in order to improve productivity and flexibility. The management streamlines the work processes through a slight alteration in the work rules and practices. The employee compensation is also linked to the performance of the organization as a result of the reorganization. Another approach of reorganization is to develop an enterprise culture using self-management teams and labour-management relationships.
The initiatives taken in the reorganization have certain implications for the workers and the union. For a majority of workers in mass producing industries, these changes imply to fewer and insecure jobs as the workplaces become more selfish as they want to produce more with less. The workplace changes that are designed to cut the costs by workforce rationalization, using flexible work practices and job rosters are some of the serious challenges that the workers have to face as these changes pose a threat to their traditional role of defending the rights of the workers.
The public sector in Canada has displayed several ways in which it organizes the work, as and when compared to the private sector. The de-skilling of public sector social service delivery brought these two sectors together and in 1995, the Ontario government set a goal of creating effective and efficient programs that would help the taxpayers to save their money and also provide excellent customer service with advanced technology. A business transformation project is implemented that comprised of a public-private partnership between Accenture, the municipalities, the ministry of community and social services and front-line delivery staff in disability offices. An automated telephone system is provided in order to inform the clients about their cases and a database is designed to help detect the welfare fraud.
A new IT system called service delivery model technology (SDMT) was implemented in more than 200 sites across Ontario. It was the first in Canada and was centrally controlled as well. The implementation of this system frees around 7000 staff, so that they could spend more time serving the recipients. The workers and their unions in Canada have criticized the process. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) released a study that includes the workplace stress due to the extra working hours and lack of flexibility in the work processes.
Another example of the evolving management strategy and the response of the workers to workplace changes and reorganization can be seen in the auto industry. The industry has been involved in the processes of restructuring its production and management systems for the past decade due to the international competitive pressures. In the early 1980s, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler sought financial concessions in the form of flexible compensations in return for the employment security. They were able to win this concession by persuading the fact that security trade-off was necessary to regain the competition in the industry. The Canadian workers opposed the decision and refused to deviate from their current contractual agreements.
In the year 1980, the three big organizations (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) shifted to work reorganization following the approach that their competitive disadvantage was not related to the wage costs, but to the differences in the productivity and the quality of the product. The Japanese superiority revolves around the involvement of employees in workplace decision-making. The three big organizations started using the same methodology in order to reorganize the work methods and were also able to do a formal partnership with the union as well, but the Canadian union refused to accept the new strategy and believed that the partnership with management will not take them to long run. The management efforts to use the Japanese methodology could undermine the rights of the workers by creating intolerable conditions.
In conclusion, it is clear that the Canadian union’s goals of reorganization in the workplace have brought positive outcomes. This represents a clear and innovative vision of the Canadian workforce. Furthermore, in regard to the growing incidence of information sharing, the employers are not willing to discuss their issues with unions. But the workplace agenda of the union provides a structure for negotiation over flexibility and their role in the reorganization. It is true that the roles of the union and the employers not mutually exclusive, but the employers are able to address the issues of organization, productivity and worker well-being as they have an interest in a safe and healthy work environment as much as the employers want.
References
Hiranandani, V. (2012). Diversity Management in the Canadian Workplace: Towards an Antiracism Approach. Urban Studies Research, 2012, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/385806
