Union responses to quality improvement initiatives: factors shaping support and resistance

Article Abstract:

We analyze how, between 1989 and 1996, four unions in a Canadian hospital responded to a two-stage quality improvement (QI) initiative comprising a total quality management effort and a reengineering campaign. Results indicate that union leaders' responses to QI were a function of the extent to which the leaders perceived QI as a threat to their vested interests in union survival and protecting members' well being. The evolution of the relationship between QI and union responses, in turn, was shaped by the extent to which the unions and management accommodated each other's vested interests and by the parties' balance of power. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Canada, Hospitals, Quality control

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Employees, unions, and technological changes: a research agenda

Article Abstract:

Technological changes may disrupt labor-management relations. Understanding why some workers resist technologocal change, while others accept and facilitate it, can be crucial for the survival of many firms. Unfortunately, the industrial relations literature on employees and technological change suffers from a lack of common focus and the absence of a common theoretical framework. This article attempts to redress this problem by distilling the available knowledge into a model which describes the contexts in which employee reaction to technological change would likely be supportive of the change, and those where it would not. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Technological innovations, Workers

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The effects of workplace unionization on worker responses to HRM innovation

Article Abstract:

This study develops and empirically tests a theory which explains how workplace unionization affects worker responses to HRM innovation. We hypothesize that union support varies depending on whether the union perceives the innovation as a threat to its power base and institutional security or as an opportunity to increase its status and influence. This differential effect is expected to be curvilinear. Our hypothesis is generally supported by our sample of 230 organizations. Practical and research implications are discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Business Personnel Management, Human resource management, Influence, Business enterprises, Human resource management )

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