Results

H1 was supported. Paired samples t-tests revealed statistically significant (p < .05) differences for 9 of 12 culture indexes.

The largest differences were observed on indexes from the Involvement and Consistency traits, where benchmarked scores were lower on average by 25 percentile points for union segments.

H2 was also supported. On average, the positive growth of non-union employee segments exceeded union segments by approximately 10 times!

The Differentiation and Inertia Cultural Effects of UnionizationLevi R. G. Nieminen1, Lindsey Kotrba1, Daniel Denison1, Chelsea Lange2

Denison Consulting1, University of Michigan2

Discussion & Future Research

Initial support was found for the differentiation and inertia effects of unions within organizations. These results highlight mainly negative cultural effects of unionization.

•Organizations with more positive cultures, as assessed by the DOCS, have better performance.

Future research should focus on understanding: (a) the role of industry/union type (e.g., professional versus labor) on differentiation and inertia processes, and (b) variability across unionized work groups.

Background

Employee unions impact workplace dynamics and have unique consequences for individual and organizational outcomes. In general, unionized employees tend to report:

•Lower job satisfaction.

•Less favorable job characteristics.

•Mixed findings regarding job performance and productivity.

Only two studies have explicitly examined the cultural consequences of unions:

•Hofstede et al. (1990) found negative effects of unions on culturally reinforced work practices.

•Tang et al. (2000) reported less favorable cultural norms around communication and teams among unionized groups.

Study Objectives

Build on prior studies examining how union work cultures differ from non-union work cultures.

Develop and test a conceptual model of the cultural processes by which unions impact the overall organization’s culture and effectiveness.

Hypotheses

H1: Cultural Differentiation - Unionization facilitates differentiation of the overall culture into union and non-union subcultures, with unionized employee segments having less positive cultural characteristics.

H2: Cultural Inertia - In comparison to non-unionized employee segments, unionized segments of the organization demonstrate resistance to culture change over time.

Figure 1. Process model of cultural consequences of unions within organizations.

Research Design

Within-organization comparison of union vs. non-union work culture and change over time.

Sample: 13 organizations with matched union and non-union employee segments, including a diverse array of industry and union types. Change over time data was available for 6 of these organizations.

Measures: The Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS) is a 60-item measure of 12 cultural indexes related to organizational effectiveness. The DOCS is externally benchmarked against 931 organizations from a variety of industries, geographic locations, etc.

•In total, 7,113 employees completed the DOCS, including 3,324 union employees and 3,789 non-union employees.

•ICC(1) and ICC(2) supported aggregation of culture index ratings based on union membership.

Figure 2. DOCS results for unionized vs. non-unionized employee segments.

Figure 3. Change over time for union vs. non-union employee segments.

The average growth for union was +.01 (raw), +.67 (pts.); the average growth for non-union was +.10 (raw), + 13.17 (pts.).

Figure 4. Pilot data on industry and work group effects.

At left, union vs. non-union comparisons within four companies in the utilities industry. The average culture gap was -32 pts. as compared to -11 pts. for three public administration organizations.

•Is the union gap smaller among professional occupations?

At right, a scatterplot showing the relationship between the proportion of union employees in a work group and ratings of Involvement (r = -.32, p < .01). Despite this general trend, there are a number of heavily unionized work groups with strong cultures of Involvement.

•What factors contribute to positive union cultures?