Labor-Management Problem-Solving Groups

Within the last five to eight years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of labor-management teams to increase productivity, safety, and the quality of working life. Much of the initial development has taken place in the manufacturing industry j where the focus has been on producing high quality products. In the last five years, however, the use of problem-solving teams has spread to many other industries, including the coal industry. Those of us involved in the Carnegie-Mellon University Coal Project feel that using labor-management problem-solving teams in the coal industry could provide benefits to all parties, and this paper gives an overview of this approach. By way of introduction, this paper begins with a general definition of labor-management problem-solving groups (LMPSG' s), followed by three different forms of problem-solving groups. The second section begins with questions that people often ask about LMPSG's, and the last section indicates how to begin setting up a problem- solving group