Assume you are an external consultant hired to provide executive level management a concise report about labor relations in an organization. American Airlines is the company. Be sure there is enough accessible information. You will need to consult publicly$-$available material, such as reputable news reports, journal articles, and government documents. Confidential information internal to the organization should not be used, but public material provided by the organization and$/$or a union can be used as long as its credibility is given appropriate weight.

Discuss: How well does American Airlines manage its labor$/$employee relations? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Tip: One way to think about the content is through a series of questions:

$--$Definition: For purposes of your analysis, who is the organization? Is it only part of a larger enterprise? For instance, is it only the U$.$S$.$ locations or specific operations within the U$.$S$.?$ What role does labor have in its operations? For instance, how large is the labor force? Who are the employees? Is labor a critical piece of production or does technology do most of the work?

$--$Management's view: How well does it think its employee$/$labor relations is going? Is it meeting its own criteria for "good"? Does it do what it claims in its strategic plan and public professions? What is the evidence that it is or is not? What would it continue or change if it could?

$--$Labor's view: How do employees think they are treated? What is the evidence? What role have unions had$/$tried to have in this relationship between employees and management? What would employees$/$the union continue or change?

Tip: To obtain needed evidence, also consider other points of view: How does the government, industry, and other facets of society view the organization$$s labor relations? For instance, has the NLRB ruled against the organization consistently for the same reason? Did the organization win any industry awards for managing its people?