Union employee perceptions of the effectiveness of trade unions

© 2000 Dr. Rosaria BurchielliThe study of organisational effectiveness in trade unions, an underdeveloped field of academic inquiry, is important as it contributes to the understanding of organisational effectiveness, trade unions and union decline. This work analyses organisational effectiveness in the Victorian State branches of three Australian unions. The major aim is to develop existing knowledge on what constitutes union effectiveness, especially to define appropriate indicators for its measurement and thus contribute to theories of effectiveness. A secondary aim is to determine the importance of issues in the management of union employees to effectiveness. These have policy implications for labour unions. Analysis of existing theory is carried out in an investigation of the organisational and the union effectiveness literatures. This establishes that there are important limitations in current explanatory models of union effectiveness. Organisational and union theories are used to propose a new explanatory framework. Furthermore, using qualitative research techniques, ninety-eight in-depth interviews conducted with union officers and staff are analysed, and three case studies developed for the empirical investigation. Results indicate that the three union branches have different levels of effectiveness. Findings indicate that the measurement of union effectiveness reflects dimensions of union structure and of union values, previously ignored as indicators of effectiveness. Results additionally confirm existing knowledge that there are historical, environmental and organisational determinants that influence union effectiveness. In the light of these findings, it is concluded that although political and industrial environments have a major influence on union effectiveness, trade unions are not simply helpless victims of it. They can, and do shape their own fates. As unions are distinguished by their ideological dimensions, which are reflected in their structures and processes, these may be used to fully harness the potential in their employees.Union employees are important constituents within trade union structures; they expect to be managed in ways which reflect the values of a procedural democracy