Activity 1.7 Essay Assignment
Nicholas G Smith
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

In many societies it is the role of government to enact laws, apportion resources and make policies. Public policy can be in general defined as “a system of laws, regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding priorities concerning a given topic promulgated by a governmental entity or its representatives” (Kilpatrick, 2000).
Kilpatrick (2000) goes on to say that individuals and groups often attempt to shape public policy through education, advocacy, or mobilization of interest groups. Shaping public policy is obviously different in Western-style democracies than in other forms of government. But it is reasonable to assume that the process always involves efforts by competing interest groups to influence policy makers in their favor.
Developmental policy initiatives are those that seek to develop a country, whether that be an initiative for the country of origin or a country overseas. Commonly these initiatives are focused on the wellbeing of a country or the economic stability. Other developmental policy initiatives sought to make work environments safer in third world countries in which the United States does business in manufacturing.
Regulatory policy initiatives are “Government policy based on government's ability to pass laws and enact regulations” (Economic Glossary, 2008). These initiatives are then put in place to protect the well-being of a country, economic stability, or in recent examples environmental stability. Initiatives like the Clean Air Act (CAA) are made into law to “develop standards for greenhouse gas emissions from mobile and stationary sources” (EPA, 2015). “For over 73 years labor-management relations in the U.S. airline industry have been governed by the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. §§151-188). In April of 1936 the Act was amended to add the airline industry to the jurisdiction of the statute. The Act previously had applied only to the nation's railroad industry under the original 1926 legislation” (Railwaylaboract.com, 2015).
The best definition for the Railway Labor Act (RLA) is done so in the summary provided by the Alexandra Hegji in her paper Federal Labor Relations Statutes (2012), it states the RLA was enacted in 1926, and its coverage extends to railway and airline carriers, unions, and employees of the carriers. The RLA guarantees employees the right to organize and collectively bargain with their employers over conditions of work and protects them against unfair employer and union practices. It lays out specific procedures for selecting employee representatives and provides a dispute resolution system that aims to efficiently resolve labor disputes between parties, with an emphasis on mediation and arbitration. The RLA provides multiple processes for dispute resolution, depending on whether the dispute is based on a collective bargaining issue or the application of an existing collective bargaining agreement. Impasse can be considered a stale mate. “At a point in negotiations, usually at the final stages, when neither party will make further movement and no agreement has been reached, either party may declare that an "impasse" has occurred” (1-888-nounion.com, 2015).
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines mediation as “an informal and confidential way for people to resolve disputes with the help of a neutral mediator who is trained to help people discuss their differences. The mediator does not decide who is right or wrong or issue a decision. Instead, the mediator helps the parties work out their own solutions to problems” (EEOC, 2015).
Fact-finding is “The process of utilizing an impartial third party, not employed by the organization, to examine all pertinent facts surrounding a