Chapter 5. Employee Relations

The Point: The dynamic created in the workplace between employees and upper management and between business owners and labor unions frequently causes friction and, on occasion, negatively impacts organizations' bottom lines. This dynamic is even more intriguing in sports, where a segment of the employees, the athletes, are also the product. Because of this, the sports industry's handling of employee relations provides a fascinating backdrop against which businesses can learn how to handle delicate issues involving employees.

The sports industry's relationship with some of its employees, most notably its athletes, might not always closely resemble the structure of employee employer relations, especially the role of unions, witnessed throughout other industries. Nonetheless, examining employee relations in big-time sports provides many compelling examples and constructive lessons about managing people in the more traditional workplace.

Where would business be without the co-dependent relationship between labor and management? Most employees would be unable to function without commiserating with peers about their abysmal treatment (unassigned parking), unacceptable working conditions (just how long has that broccoli beef been sitting in the department's refrigerator anyway?), and overall lack of motivation.

According to nuclear power plant technician and animated worker bee Homer Simpson, if you don't like your job, there's no need to strike. You just show up everyday and do a half-assed job. Simpson is under the impression that's the American way.

Let's not forget about management, though. Management would be equally hamstrung without underachieving and self-absorbed employees to boss around, intimidate, and generally annoy.

The curmudgeon C. Montgomery Burns, who owns the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is Simpson's boss, has a slightly different perspective on business. Burns' philosophy is short and sweet; he believes that family, religion, and friendship are the three demons that must be slain if one wishes to succeed in business.

The often adversarial relationship between workers and their superiors is fundamental in business and has been memorialized in sports and business through the ages.

The back-and-forth relationship between New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and two of his employees, slugger Reggie Jackson and feisty manager Billy Martin who would be hired to become the skipper of the Yankees an amazing five different times over 13 years is one of the best examples of management versus employee quarrels in the history of sport.

The former Yankees second baseman made his debut as manager when he led the team through its last 56 games of the 1975 season. In 1976 and 1977, Martin managed the team to two World Series, losing to the Reds, but beating the Dodgers. However, in the 1976 offseason, Steinbrenner, in a move Martin did not approve of, acquired Oakland A's outfielder Reggie Jackson and signed him to a five-year, $2.9 million contract.

Throughout the 1977 championship season, Martin and Jackson were clearly at odds, with tension coming to a head in a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. After Martin took Jackson out of the game for not hustling on a fly ball, the two almost knocked each other out in the dugout, all while the TV cameras rolled. They were two employees who simply couldn't get along, but they were too talented for Steinbrenner to jettison. Martin was one of the best in the game and Jackson became the only player to hit five home runs in a single World Series and eventually became the first living Yankees legend to receive a plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium in 2002.

Martin's first managerial stint ended in July 1978 when Martin exploded, telling reporters that the two Jackson and Steinbrenner deserved each other because one was a born liar (Jackson), and the other had been convicted (Steinbrenner). Martin's reference to Steinbrenner related to his 1974 fine of $15,000 for funding illegal contributions to President Richard Nixon's reelection efforts.

Steinbrenner knew that Martin had talent, which is why he continually brought him back to manage the team after the relationship appeared to have soured. Martin went on to manage the Yankees in 1979, 1983, 1985, and 1988, and later became a consultant with the team before he was killed in a car accident in 1989.

While Martin was enjoying a good second season managing the Oakland A's in 1981, more than 13,000 of the nation's 17,500 air traffic controllers went on strike to argue for higher wages, shorter hours, and better pension benefits, in what would become one of the most massive employee strikes of all time. Within hours of the strike's first day, President Ronald Reagan announced that if the strikers, who were not contractually allowed to strike per their agreement with the federal government, didn't return to work within two days they would lose their jobs.

Nonstriking and replacement air traffic controllers came in while the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the air traffic controller's union (PATCO) attempted to negotiate a settlement. These controllers remained on the job once it became clear a resolution would not be reached. At the beginning of the strike, during the busiest flying days of the year, many airlines reported losses of up to $30 million a day due to the large number of delayed and cancelled flights. Business eventually returned to normal, although the FAA enjoyed the freedom of not having a union to oppose for six years following PATCO's decertification.

Bitterly fought and highly contentious labor negotiations between management and employees have not been limited to the public sector or big business. For decades, professional sports has provided numerous textbook examples of how not to handle employee relations.

Although every major sports league has incurred highly publicized labor strife, MLB is in a class by itself. In fact, in baseball, there had a been a work stoppage at every renegotiation of a collective bargaining agreement (1972, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990, and 1994 95) until 2002.

In September 1994 an already strained relationship between then acting MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and the Major League Players Association (MLBPA) reached an all-time low as Selig announced the cancellation of the remainder of the season, including the World Series. Selig's decision came a month after the players decided to strike following months of unproductive negotiations.

Analysts were quick to note that the sport's labor discord had managed to do what the World Wars and the Great Depression could not namely bring the national pastime to a disgraceful and grinding halt.

The impact of the cancellation resonated throughout the sports, business, and political worlds. In addition to the projected $442 million loss of revenue to MLB, the strike wreaked havoc on broadcasters, local businesses, merchandisers, and even charities.

Disillusioned fans, believing that both sides in the dispute were consumed by greed and unconcerned about them, switched allegiances to other sports during and perhaps well after the work stoppage. This caused sponsors and advertisers to rethink their allocation of marketing dollars, further comprising the economic viability of MLB.

In April 1995, the players returned to work without a new collective bargaining agreement, but with an injunction that barred MLB from imposing many of the demands it had placed on the MLBPA. As discussed later in this chapter, the decision to return to play without resolving the sport's most pressing business and labor issues came back to haunt MLB during the 2001 2002 season.

The high-profile nature of sports, the structure and organizations of sports leagues, and the passion with which sports is followed are the factors that separate it from other industries embroiled in acrimonious employee relations.



On the Ball. What You Can Learn About Business from America's Sports Leaders
On the Ball: What You Can Learn About Business From Americas Sports Leaders
ISBN: 013100963X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 93

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