1. Line Manager Responsibilities in HR:

Line managers play a crucial role in effective human resource management. Here are three key areas:

• Recruitment and Selection:

  • Example: A restaurant manager might review resumes, conduct interviews, and recommend suitable candidates for waiter positions.

• Performance Management:

  • Example: A sales manager might conduct regular performance reviews with salespeople, setting goals, providing feedback, and recommending training opportunities.

• Employee Relations:

  • Example: A customer service manager might address customer complaints involving their employees, mediate any conflicts between team members, and ensure a positive work environment.

2. Five Basic Functions of Management:

Effective management involves five core functions:

• Planning: Setting goals, strategies, and action plans.

  • Example: A marketing manager might develop a marketing plan for a new product launch, outlining target audience, marketing channels, and budget allocation.

• Organizing: Structuring work activities, assigning tasks, and delegating responsibilities.

  • Example: A project manager might define project tasks, assign them to team members based on skills, and establish clear communication channels.

• Leading: Motivating and inspiring employees, fostering teamwork, and providing direction.

  • Example: A production manager might lead daily team meetings, address challenges, celebrate successes, and encourage collaboration amongst team members.

• Controlling: Monitoring performance, measuring results, and taking corrective actions.

  • Example: A finance manager might monitor financial reports, identify areas exceeding or falling short of budget, and propose adjustments to spending or revenue generation strategies.

• Staffing: Recruiting, selecting, training, and developing employees.

  • Example: An IT manager might participate in recruiting new software developers, select the best candidates based on technical skills and experience, and ensure they receive proper training on new technologies used within the company.

Part B

1. Types of Union Security Agreements:

Union security agreements define the extent to which a company can require employees to join or financially support a union. Here are five common types:

• Closed Shop: Requires membership in a specific union as a condition of employment. (**Rare in the US due to right-to-work laws) Example: A bygone practice in some printing industries where only union printers could get hired.

• Union Shop: Requires employees to join the union within a certain period of employment to keep their jobs. Example: Manufacturing plants where employees might be required to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) after 30 days.

• Agency Shop: Employees do not have to join the union but are required to pay a fee to cover collective bargaining costs. Example: Public sector workplaces where some employees might choose not to join the union but still contribute to its activities.

• Maintenance of Membership Shop: Employees who are already union members must remain members as a condition of employment (but new hires don’t have to join). Example: Airlines where pilots who were initially union members cannot leave the union during their employment.

• Open Shop: No requirement to join or pay dues to the union. Example: Many retail stores where employees have the choice to join a union or not.

2. Laws Governing Unions:

Three key laws govern union activity in the United States:

• National Labor Relations Act (NLRA): Protects the rights of employees to form unions, bargain collectively, and take part in protected activities like strikes. Example: A group of nurses at a hospital might decide to form a union to negotiate for better wages and working conditions. The NLRA protects their right to organize and bargain with the hospital administration.

• Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA): Sets standards for democratic practices within unions and ensures financial accountability. Example: Union elections must be conducted fairly and transparently under the LMRDA to ensure members have a voice in their union leadership.

• Taft-Hartley Act: Places some restrictions on union activity, such as prohibiting secondary boycotts and closed shops (except in narrow circumstances). Example: A union representing truck drivers at a company cannot strike another company (secondary boycott) to pressure them to stop doing business with the first company (primary employer).