Employee Attitudes in a Downsizing, Highly- Unionized Public Sector Work Environment
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Authors
Jerome, Benjamin T.
Issue Date
2008
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This study explores the effects of union membership and employee residency on
employee understanding of organizational mission/goals and task significance. A survey
soliciting information concerning organizational mission/goals and task significance was
completed by a randomly selected group of 66 Lansing City Hall employees. Previous
research has shown that employee understanding of mission/goals is highly related to
numerous positive worker outcomes (e.g. productivity, motivation, and commitment).
Responses were analyzed based on union membership and residency. It was hypothesized
that union membership predicts lower organizational mission/goal understanding and task
significance when compared to non-union employees. It was also hypothesized that non-City
residents would also have lower measures of organizational mission/goal
understanding and task significance compared to City residents. The resulting data
indicate that union membership did predict lower organizational mission/goal
understanding. Living within or outside the city in which they worked was not a
significant predictor of employee understanding of mission/goals or task significance. It
is speculated that union membership may create disagreement and misunderstandings of
the missions/goals of the union compared to that of the organization. These differences
may be particularly evident when collected during a time of potential lay-offs. Direction
for future research of this difference and the difficulties collecting employee attitude data
during a contentious time of possible lay-offs is discussed.
Description
vii, 39 p.
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