Abstract
Turbulent changes in the American business landscape over the past several years present a potentially ominous future for our society. The confluence of corporate downsizing, declining unionism and the surging preference for hiring part-time/temporary workers poses a threat to the very existence of our blue-collar middle class. Furthermore, when these conditions are juxtaposed against prevailing corporate rhapsodies to employee participation programs and a teamwork approach to quality improvement, the scenario becomes absurd.
Solutions to the societal and workplace problems we face require both ethical and practical attention. This paper examines current labor-management hostilities from the Mutual Trust perspective on morality. Furthermore, I propose a strategic internal marketing framework as one mechanism for trust-building at the labor-management frontier. The premise for the study is that as a society we will be better off with the system of checks and balances which labor unions can provide; that positive business performance will result from cooperative rather than adversarial relations; and that to be a premier player in the global economy, we must replace worker cynicism and detachment with hope.
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Susan Higgins is an Associate Professor of Marketing at John Carroll University. She has published articles in the Journal of Consumer Marketing and International Journal of Advertising. This research was funded by a grant from the Wasmer Research Fund, John Carroll University.
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Higgins, S.H. Towards taming the labor-management frontier: A strategic marketing framework. Journal of Business Ethics 15, 475–485 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00380367
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00380367