Month: March 2025

Upon researching the Pros and Cons of Unions, I found information that seemed to agree with much of what we learned in this week’s materials. Many of the pros and cons that were identified by the article I found (linked below) address much of the procedural information regarding unionizing and collective bargaining in this week’s learning materials (Lecture 1 and 2). One of my key takeaways has been that we are living in a much different environment now for forming unions, especially compared to the landscape for unionizing before the passing of the Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932. While it is a fictional book, the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was one of the most impactful books that I’ve read, and paints a visceral picture of what migrant worker camps were like and the violence and horrendous practices used by employers (“Management”) against Laborers trying to organize. I think this is important to keep in mind today, and not to take for granted all of the work put in to making it easier (and safer) to unionize today.

While not a member of a union myself, I spent the last two summers working around many union workers (on a construction site), and my sister is a member of her Fire Union. The main con against unions that I have heard and learned about it the additional bureaucracy and red tape that is involved, which can lead to more talented workers not receiving warranted promotions, and placing too heavy of an emphasis on seniority, and time spent in a union. While this is a considerable con, it is important to recognize that without many of the safeguards that unions provide, such as the power of collective bargaining to enforce safe working conditions, fair (and increased) pay and benefits, and systems for workers to file grievances. I would join a union if it made sense for the work that I was doing, but for the future it does not look like I will be joining one. However, this may change as white-collar unions are becoming more prevalent.

https://smartasset.com/career/the-pros-and-cons-of-unions

https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2020/ten-things-you-might-not-know-about-grapes-wrath

MGMT 453, Week 10, Lecture 1

MGMT 453, Week 10, Lecture 2

This week’s focus is on stress, and specifically the ways that I deal with stress now, and how I can work to mitigate the harmful effects of stress in the future. I took several tests to get my current benchmark level of stress. From the Holmes-Rahe “Life Stress Inventory” Rating system, I scored a 235. According to this test, that puts me at a 50% chance of having a major health breakdown in the next 2 years. This was very unsettling to discover. Additionally, I took the “Coping and Stress Management Skills Test”, and scored a 75, and was told that I do “problem-focused coping”. This made sense, and is generally helpful, as long as the problem that I am focusing on is something that I have the agency to change myself. I also took the “Type A Personality Test”, and scored a 41, characterized with “impatience and irritability”. This tracked for me as well, as I generally try to be as patient, tolerant, and warm, but when stressed I definitely can lash out. These results were somewhat troubling as well, as I was unaware of the connection between these traits and the increased risk of heart disease.

While these results are somewhat troubling, I would be foolish to say that they are surprising. Over the last term, I have slowly been taking inventory of my major habits that I need to change in order to have the best chance of success once I am “on my own” truly and working full-time. I am going to be starting work in the Construction industry soon, which is a notoriously stressful work environment, so it is paramount that I work hard how to start developing my habits so that once I start work I will already have a system in place that can help to mitigate the chronic stress of that environment.

As I understand it, the Latent, or Chronic Stress is the real killer, that leads to all of the long term health problems, whereas acute stress (fight or flight response) is actually somewhat beneficial as long as it doesn’t happen too often. I definitely have some chronic stress, and need to start developing my routine to mitigate the impact that it has on me. During my last summer working, I would bike for at least an hour every day after work, and that had a very positive impact on my stress levels during the day (especially when compared to the previous summer where I didn’t put effort into maintaining routine physical activity).

Currently I am reading the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, which is helping me come up with actionable steps that I can take to change my nonproductive habits, and develop positive new ones to create a system for myself which will allow me conquer my stress and get better everyday.

Sources:

https://www.apa.org/topics/healthy-workplaces/work-stress