here - ERIM - Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

A validation Study of House of Quality key performance indicators
Communication about the online union to the outside is based on free publicity through
communication channels of De Unie itself like the internet site of the “traditional” Unie, newsletters,
magazines etc. In the near future De Unie will focus on communication options on the internet, for
example search engines or cooperation with other communities.
As mentioned above, the online union started in 2006. The spin off resulted in almost 2500
members. Due to the absence of a formulated strategy and communication plan it is difficult to
retain these members. As a result the number of members of the online union is already decreased
to +/- 2000. In terms of acceptation, all interviewed persons agreed that there is an already a certain
level of acceptation of the online labor union. This acceptation is still insufficient due to the fact that
the online labor union is still not completely developed and is still unknown for most people. At the
moment it is unclear which sectors are most present in the member population; different sectors are
represented.
Critical advantage of the online union above the traditional union is the customized identity of the
online union. The contribution price for the online union is stated at 10 euro for a one year
membership including one possibility to ask information of a union expert. After this, members will
have to pay for each question separately. For the traditional union the contribution price is stated at
15 euro a month without knowing which services you will use. A member of the online union pays for
what he needs.
The participation of the recent members is sufficient. For example members have the possibility to
actively participate in the decision process for their shared promotion of interests. This works out to
be a prosperous element of the online union. The participation of members on the development of
the online labor union is very small. At the start of the online union members had the possibility to
participate as an ambassador to assist in the development process. Unfortunately De Unie never
looked at these advices and decided to stop with this ambassador function.
Interviewed employees perceive the members feeling of solidarity to De Unie as low. This is mainly
due to the absence of “follow up actions”. At this moment there is only a monthly newsletter. In the
future this feeling of solidarity will have to grow as a result of more involvement of the members in
the development of the online union. One possibility to achieve this is to set up different forums in a
way like the Hyves network works.
At this moment there are not many other organizations participating in the online union. One
organization that participates is Stageplaza. The current platform for internships is facilitated in
cooperation with Stageplaza. In the future other organizations that will link their network to the
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