We must ensure that services provided in the labor-management relations field meet a certain standard of quality if we are to successfully serve employers and employees. Again, the primary service providers for this information are consultants, area labor-management committees, colleges, and universities. State governments that provide economic development and other state departments of labor also offer training programs for labor-management cooperation. Many small and mid-sized companies have difficulty accessing these services. Most employers, and even groups of small employers working with an area committee or local economic development department, have limited resources.
Many companies are also unsure about who the quality service providers are.
They can't distinguish between the providers that can give them usable information and those that will just offer a lot of theory. In addition, once a consultant comes in and provides a picture of the process change needed in a company, both the employer and the employees realize that other areas beyond labor-management relations also need to be changed, and they may be faced with having to find additional consultants. In fact, it is a very inexact art. It is much easier to conduct research on new technology, and take that technology and apply it to the development of machinery and equipment, than it is to conduct research on work systems and new relationships between employers and employees. The difficulty in conducting labor-management relations research stems from researchers' inability to quantify the problems with work systems, the relationships between employers and employees, and the methods companies can employ to become more efficient organizations.