Masonry Magazine September 1968 Page. 31
Books...
Management's Right To Manage by George W. Torrence. Revised Edition. 130 pp. Indexed. The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Books, Washington, D. C. $12.50.
Faced with today's ever-spiralling costs and increasingly strenuous competition, American management is being forced to re-examine the serious limitations placed upon its right to manage by union demands, the collective bargaining process, labor arbitration awards, and court decisions.
Mr. Torrence explains what management rights are and why they are important. He shows how they can be eroded away or greatly circumscribed by thoughtlessness or inexperience on the part of management itself. He cites many instances of seemingly harmless union proposals for changes in collective bargaining agreements which turn out, upon close examination, to strike at the very heart of management's right to manage.
In a special chapter devoted to how management rights are lost, Mr. Torrence stresses the importance of management's foreseeing remote effects of present decisions. He urges that a contemplated concession in the collective bargaining contract be viewed as far as possible in the light of every conceivable contingency, and that emergency and temporary situations especially always be borne in mind. He warns against "careless language" in the contract, citing a notice of discharge provision that did not provide for the special situation of an assault on a supervisor, and that ultimately led to the assaulting employee's reinstatement with back pay.
In what is perhaps the most valuable part of his comprehensive study (and will certainly be given the closest scrutiny by the policy-makers of American top management) Mr. Torrence provides a sample inventory of 29 fundamental questions management should ask itself concerning its rights. He revealingly illustrates the importance of each question in the inventory by citing common work practices and situations relating to each that could give rise to dispute with a union if the right in question is not clear-cut.
Management's Right To Manage is available from the publisher, BNA Books, 1231 25th Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. 20037, at $12.50 per copy.
masonry September, 1968
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