The Roles of Supervisors, Employees, and Stewards in Grievance Initiation

Abstract

The authors develop a model of grievance initiation that incorporates the grievance-related behaviors of supervisors, employees, and shop stewards, such as the frequency of employee complaints to stewards and the frequency of steward attempts to resolve potential grievances informally. The model is estimated with 1989 survey data on 231 work groups. The grievance-related behavior patterns of the actors are found to be better predictors of grievance rates than the demographic characteristics, attitudes, personality, or other characteristics of employees, stewards, and the workplace, which have been the focus of previous research on grievance initiation.

Grievance Procedure Research: A Review and Theoretical Recommendations

“…Other studies have attempted to control for grievable events indirectly. Bemmels, Reshef and Stratton-Devine (1991) and Bemmels (1994a) included measures of supervisors' behaviors and the stewards' assessment of the supervisors' knowledge of the collective agreement. The rationale for their inclusion is that the occurrence of grievable events will be related to the behavior patterns of the supervisors and their knowledge of the collective agreement.…”

“…Although these early studies did not include quantitative analysis, the authors concluded that various aspects of technology were related to grievance filing rates. Bemmels, Reshef and Stratton-Devine (1991) included six measures of technology based on the results of these early studies. They found, however, little empirical support for the notion that differences in technology would explain variation in grievance rates across work groups.…”

Research on unionized grievance procedures: Management issues and recommendations

“…2 have been done by psychologists who attempted to identify and explain individual differences in grievant behavior (e.g., Eckerman 1948;Fleishman & Harris 1962;Sulkin & Pranis 1967). These researchers focused their attention on three major issues: (1) differences in demographic and job-related characteristics of grievance filers and non-filers; (2) personality Younger, male, more educated more skilled employees most likely to file grievances; democratic supervision associated with lower grievance rates; frequency of employee complaints to shop stewards positively related to grievance filing Weiss (1957), Sayles (1958), Kuhn (1961), Ronan (1963) Peach & Livernash (1974), Nelson (1979), Muchinsky & Maassarani (1980, 1981, Bemmels, Reshef, & Stratton-Devine (1991) Work groups of semi-skilled employees performing specialized work who undergo frequent changes in work methods have high grievance rates and use the grievance process to influence collective bargaining A. Rees (1977), Freeman & Medoff (1984), Katz, Kochan, & Gobeille (1983), Katz, Kochan, & Weber (1985), Norsworthy & Zabala (1985), Ichniowski & Lewin (1987), Cappelli & Chauvin (1991), Ichniowski (1986Ichniowski ( , 1992, Kleiner, Nickelsburg & Pilarski (1995) Presence of a grievance procedure associated with lower turnover, longer job tenure, greater human capital and higher productivity; use of the grievance procedure negatively associated with organizational performance Slichter, Healy & Livernash (1960), Knight (1986), Clark & Gallagher (1988), Gordon (1988), Fryxell & Gordon (1989), Klass & DeNisi (1989), …”

“…Unfortunately, the research instrument used by these researchers does not allow direct comparison with the Ohio State Leadership Questionnaire used earlier by Fleishman & Harris (1962). Studies by Bemmels (1994) and Bemmels, Reshef, & Stratton-Devine (1991), however, drew directly on Fleishman and Harris' (1962) work to construct empirical measures of supervisors' "consideration" and "structure". Consideration had a negative relationship with grievance filing rates in both of these studies, but structure was positively related to grievance filing rates only in Bemmels' (1994) study.…”

“…The research by Bemmels (1994) and Bemmels, Reshef, & Stratton-Devine (1991) is especially notable for the inclusion of shop stewards' assessment of how frequently employees approach them with complaints. The researchers propose that "employees' complaining to their steward is a precursor to grievance filing" (p. 368).…”