Question: You are the first-line supervisor of a small department in a large health facility. You have a good relationship with your employees. Three of them came to you and volunteer the fact that they had been approached by some other employees about interest in organizing a union. They also tell you that secret outside meetings are being held by union organizers. You take this information to your manager who says that he will relay it to top management and human resources. More than a week later, you ask your manager what has been done with your information. You are told that it was passed up the chain of command.
After more time, during which you hear more reports about union activities, you again approach your manager. This time you are told that as far as top management is concerned, any activity you might hear about is likely to be insignificant and that there is no basis for your concern. Several weeks later, when the organization is petitioned for a union election, top management puts forth only token effort in opposition. When you ask your manager how you can help management, you are told to stay out of it, that this is too legally sensitive to permit supervisors to become involved. The CEO addressed the facility's management group before the election, "No doubt there are a few malcontents, but I've heard few complaints and I'm confident that most employees are content and will overwhelmingly reject the union." The union swept to victory by a five-to-one margin.
Identify the biggest mistakes made by management and describe why these were extremely critical errors.