XV. POSTER SESSION II

The Beneficial Role of Union Involvement in Dispute Resolution Systems Design

CORINNE BENDERSKY
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

      Preliminary evidence from an Integrated Conflict Management System (ICMS) is presented to demonstrate challenges and opportunities to bridge the divide between unionized and non-unionized dispute resolution approaches. Unions can legitimate the new processes to members, but the ICMS must coordinate with existing procedures and be designed without threat of union avoidance.

Labor Unions for Physicians: An Idea Whose Time Is Coming?

WEI-CHIAO HUANG
Western Michigan University

EDWIN W. LAI
University of California, Riverside

      Are labor unions for physicians an idea whose time is coming? What are the pros and cons of physician unionization? What motivates doctors to join unions, and what are the likely impacts of doctor unions on the American health care system? This paper provides an informational and exploratory analysis of physician unions, with special reference to the Physicians for Responsible Negotiations, a union recently created by and affiliated with the American Medical Association (AMA). In this article, we give a brief account of some physician unions formed in the United States and examine the development of AMA's decision to set up a national labor organization. We also present the divergent views on the rationales and impacts with respect to physician unions. We conclude by providing a pure economic perspective and assessment on the issue of organizing doctors for collective bargaining.

Women and Community Coalitions in Industrial Disputes

KARALEAH REICHART
California State University, Fullerton

      Research in industrial relations is progressively recognizing the complex interdependency of work, family and community spheres of social and economic activity within the context of a given labor dispute. This research project consists of a qualitative study of the local manifestations of the 1989 conflict between the Pittston Coal Group and the United Mine Workers of America in Logan County, West Virginia. Life history interviews with women community activists revealed how power relations were altered when traditional gender roles were shifted to build a community coalition that subsequently became an integral party in the strike.

Determinants of Mediation Success: A Survey of FMCS Mediators

PATRICE M. MARESCHAL
Rutgers University

      This research examines the mediation process in the labor relations context to identify the determinants of successful conflict resolution. In modeling the determinants of successful conflict resolution, fourteen hypotheses were generated. Three statistically significant relationships were found. Each of these relationships confirmed the hypotheses. Collaborative orientation and mediator skill base were positively related to the likelihood of reaching agreement, while relationship volatility was negatively related to the likelihood of reaching agreement. Interestingly, mediator tactics, which were captured in two independent variables, "the broad approach" and "the narrow approach", were unrelated to mediation success. This paper concludes by reviewing the implications of this study for research and practice, and provides suggestions for future research.

Collective Bargaining and Knowledge-Driven Work:
A Preliminary Look

BETTY J. BARRETT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

      Technology and globalization drive changes in markets, cultures, political movements, and institutions. These changes require new knowledge-driven responses in the workplace. Employers and labor organizations must identify and respond to these changes in their collective bargaining. What are the bargains to be struck over the increased demands for extra awareness, constant learning, adaptation to new tools, and unflagging resourcefulness facing workers each day? This paper begins to investigate the answer to this question using regression analysis to offer preliminary findings of survey results from over 600 clerical technical workers at a major university.

Contributions of Tangible and Intangible Factors in Creating Social Capital: Do Unions Make a Difference?

SHOBHA RAMANAND, MICHAEL L. MOORE, AND JOHN H. SCHWEITZER
Michigan State University

      Our paper explores the role of contextual work factors on organizational success. It attempts to link the constructs of social capital, knowledge creation, and human resources practices by postulating some dimensions that provide a foundation to these constructs. The social capital elements of bonding in the creation of denser network bonds within teams, bridging (i.e., the creation of brokered networks across teams and organizational units) and trust, the willingness to openly share tacit and explicit knowledge in a reciprocal relationship have been established as important for organizational success. We wished to learn whether and how tangibles and intangibles can create social capital in work settings and, specifically, whether unions made a difference in helping to create social capital. The study was conducted in two diverse industries: white-collar university support staff, and restaurant operations in a multistate chain of "upper-end" dining experiences (not fast food). A total of 856 employees were surveyed in the two organizations. A multiple regression method was used to test the relationship between tangible and intangible aspects of work, union support and social capital (trust, bridging, bonding). The study results concluded that both intangible and tangible factors of work are strongly related to the creation of social capital, with intangible factors of work systems playing a more significant role in the creation of social capital than tangible aspects of work. Union support is also positively related to the development of social capital in the workplace.