The Experience of Taking Responsibility in Leadership Roles Among Selected Labor Union Women.

The purpose of this study was to discover the common elements, if any, of the experiences of a group of labor union women each of whom became increasingly active in their unions in recent years. The techniques employed were lengthy, in-depth interviews, followed by careful analysis of the interview transcriptions. Six women were interviewed for periods up to three hours. Every interviewee described in detail her sense of gross inequity in her employment as well as her real fear of losing that employment. The conflict generated by the discrepancy between each women's abilities and interests and the actual use of those abilities in her position was enormous. Each woman related strongly to the image of all who share a common fate needing to struggle together for more equitable conditions and it was in this association that all the women described their sense of receiving strong social approval from other union members. The women described themselves as being involved, participating and fighting intolerable conditions by their own personal actions within a larger collective action. Each woman identified the steps through which each sought advancement within the structure of the union and experienced varying degrees of success. Having gained access to the organization of the union by demonstrating their abilities and skills, the women discovered that the social system of the union closely reflected the attitudes and discriminatory practices of the larger social system and did not continue to reward and use these abilities. In much the same manner that previously each woman sought assistance and support from the union in struggles against employers, each now sought those same things from other union and non-union women while continuing her union involvement. Several women experienced defeat in an election while coming to underst and the shift in frameworks. These defeats, however, were not defeating but were described as growth experiences which acted as a spur to increased, diversified efforts. The phenomenological explication procedure used to analyze the interviews separates the reality of the interviews by breaking down their natural unity into a series of psychological statements. The explication reifies that which in reality is a process. One who has not had the experience cannot know its subjective meaning from description alone but can still know the objectified meanings that it represents for others through listening with objectivity and warmth, through attempting to underst and the essence of the experience and the perceptions of the other person. The analysis produced the following concise statement summarizing the common elements discovered from the interviews. Elements Description Inequity When working conditions are marked by inequityVariability and a lack of stability, women who describe Self description themselves as being involved and outraged takePersonal action personal action, seek advancement in their unionsAdvancement and involve themselves further in attempts to Change effect changes in unions as well as otherOther activities organizations. A brief examination of literature on the psychological dimensions of the social change process showed both consistencies and inconsistencies with the analysis. Suggestions were made, both for utilizing these findings in program planning for labor union women as well as for exploring some unanswered question in more depth.PhDEducational psychologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/157809/1/8017341.pd