Mutual Gains or Zero Sum

Article Critique
Name
Institution
Article Critique
This article by Gittell, Nordenflycht, and Kochan (2004) titled Mutual Gains or Zero Sum? Labor Relations and Firm Performance in the Airline Industry takes a deeper look at the competing theoretical arguments on if being a union member, shared governance, salary levels, as well as workplace culture and disagreement in negotiations have any real impact on the performance of airlines. The authors conclude that conflict and workplace culture are more significant pointers of performance as compared to the issue of unionization and remuneration. The article concludes that the current efforts by airlines to emerge from the present crisis in the airline industry that rely mostly on wage reduction and union power will help airlines to emerge from their immediate financial crisis (Gittell, Nordenflycht, & Kochan, 2004). This view is however wrong in that reducing wages and union representation will lead to low productivity.
In the article, the authors note that an organization has the possibility of having better performance if it avoids having unions. The authors give the case of Delta Airlines that has for long managed to survive without having unions as its profitability has been soaring. The authors note that Delta Airlines only allows its pilots and dispatchers to join unions and not the other employees. To ensure that the employees remain satisfied, the airline ensures that its employees are well paid to ensure that there is no dissatisfaction that might lead to the clamor for unions. The authors note that even though this strategy seemed to be working, the airline underwent a period of economic crisis in 1994 leading to the layoff of 15,000 employees. The airline was however able to bounce back from the huge losses and went back to making profits in 2002.
The problem with implementing the suggestions given by the authors in the article is that employees are the main driving force for organizations. Apart from helping the orga...