Please read the below scenario:

Your boss, a vice president in a not-for-profit, multihospital system in the Midwest, has requested your assistance with a thorny issue. This system comprises a metropolitan hospital and rural hospitals. These organizations are staffed by a diverse group of healthcare professionals that includes housekeepers, maintenance personnel, dietary staff, direct healthcare givers such as assistants and registered nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, and physicians. Employed nurses in your metropolitan hospital are represented by a union. Conversely, the registered nurses who are employed within the rural setting are not represented by a union.

Recently, you have learned that there may be an effort occurring to organize nurses within the rural hospital. These nurses have recently expressed dissatisfaction with wages and staffing levels. You have also noted a high turnover rate among your rural hospital supervisors and, due to that, supervisory staff is lacking or inexperienced. In addition, a recent employee engagement survey suggests most employees are dissatisfied with the level of input they have in decision making.

Your boss has asked you to quickly identify and implement a plan of action in collaboration with leadership staff in case a petition is handed in by the union to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He informs you to poll employees to determine the extent of their support for a union. He wants your opinion on creating activities that would convey the message that selecting a union would be futile.

In this plan, legal and regulatory criteria must be considered to ensure that the organization's interests are not determined to be an unfair labor act. You must also assess the organizational climate and culture to determine how satisfied or engaged your staff is within the rural setting and determine a vulnerability assessment of the organization. Finally, you must consider the impact of these actions on organizational relationships within the community. One thing to note is that in your state, staff who are represented by a union are required to join and to pay dues.

Prepare your action plan that is to be implemented. Be sure to include the following:

• Identify the legal/regulatory requirements for the union-organizing process.
• Describe which factors you will use to determine the level of satisfaction or engagement for your staff, as well as which factors you will use to determine a vulnerability assessment of the organization.
• Describe permissible leadership actions for each of the factors that you described.
• Identify interventions with key stakeholders within your healthcare system and community in this plan.
• Analyze how to avoid interference by management as defined by NLRB. Include any activities that should be avoided and provide a detailed example of at least one.