Factors differentiating union and nonunion organizations: Some evidence from Canada

Labor Studies Journal

Volumn 22, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 20-36

  Wagar, Terry H ^a  

^a SAINT MARY S UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

Canada; Organizing; Work organization and process; Worker attitudes

Indexed keywords

EID: 0042127368     PISSN: 0160449X     EISSN: 15389758     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0160449X9702200102     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. P.B. Beaumont and R.I.D. Harris, "Opposition to Unions in the Non-Union Sector in Britain," International Journal of Human Resource Management," Vol. 5, No. 2 (1994), 457-471;
2. Casey Ichniowski, John T. Delaney and David Lewin, "The New Human Resource Management in US Workplaces," Relations Industrielles, Vol. 44, No. 1 (1989), 97-119.
3. William N. Cooke, "Product Quality Improvement Through Employee Participation: The Effects of Unionization and Joint Union-Management Administration," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 46, No. 1 (1992), 119-134.
4. William N. Cooke, "Employee Participation Programs, Group-Based Incentives, and Company Performance: A Union-Nonunion Comparison," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 47, No. 4 (1994), 594-609.
5. Yonatan Reshef, "Union Decline: A View from Canada," Journal of Labor Research, Vol. 11, No. 1 (1990), 25-39.
6. A review of the early work from the United States is provided in Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff, What Do Unions Do?, New York: Basic Books, 1984.
7. For an example of a study in the United Kingdom, see P.B. Beaumont and R.I.D. Harris, "The North-Side Divide in Britain: The Case of Trade Union Recognition," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 51, No. 4 (1989), 413-428.
8. John H. Godard, Industrial Relations: The Economy and Society, Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1994.
9. See, for instance, Ron Bean and Ken Holden, "Cross-national Differences in Trade Union Membership in OECD Countries," Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1 (1992), 52-59
10. and Henry S. Farber and Alan B. Krueger, "Union Membership in the United States: The Decline Continues." In Bruce Kaufman and Morris Kleiner (eds.), Employee Representation: Alternatives and Future Directions, Madison, WI: IRRA, 1993, 105-134.
11. Joseph B. Rose and Gary N. Chaison, "Convergence in International Unionism, etc.: The Case of Canada and the USA: A Comment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 31, No. 2 (1993), 293-297;
12. Pradeep Kumar, From Uniformity to Divergence: Industrial Relations in Canada and the United States, Kingston: IRC Press, 1993.
13. Leo Troy, "Convergence in International Unionism, etc.: The Case of Canada and the USA," British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1992), 1-43.
14. One recent exception is Brian Abbott, "Small Firms and Trade Unions in Services in the 1990s," Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 24, No. 4 (1993), 308-317.
15. Freeman and Medoff, 1984, op. cit., note 5.
16. John T. Delaney, "Unions and Human Resource Policies." In Gerald Ferris and Kendrith Rowland (eds.), Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, Vol. 9, 1991, 39-71.
17. Ignace Ng and Dennis Maki, "Human Resource Management in the Canadian Manufacturing Sector," International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 4, No. 4 (1993), 897-916.
18. Delaney, 1991, op. cit., note 12.
19. For example, see Ichniowski, Delaney and Lewin, 1989, op. cit., note ;
20. P.B. Beaumont, "Trade Unions and HRM," Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 22, No. 4 (1991), 300-308.
21. Ignace Ng and Dennis Maki, "Trade Union Influence on Human Resource Management Practices," Industrial Relations, Vol. 33, No. 1 (1994), 121-135.
22. Gordon Betcherman, "The Effect of Unions on the Innovative Behaviour of Firms in Canada," Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2 (1991), 142-151.
23. Reshef, 1990, op. cit., note 4.
24. See, for example, John H. Godard, "The Progressive HRM Paradigm: A Theoretical and Empirical Re-Examination," Relations Industrielles, Vol. 46, No. 2 (1991), 378-400
25. and Anthony Smith, "Canadian Industrial Relations in Transition," Relations Industrielles, Vol. 48, No. 3 (1993), 641-660.
26. Charles Heckscher, The New Unionism: Employee Involvement in Changing Corporations, New York: Basic Books, 1988.
27. Andy Banks and Jack Metzger, "Participation in Management: Union Organizing on a New Terrain," U.S. Labor Research Review, Vol. 8 (1989), 1-55;
28. Guillermo Grenier and Raymond Hogler, "Labor Law and Managerial Ideology: Employee Participation as a Social Control System," Work and Occupations, Vol. 18, No. 3 (1991), 313-333.
29. Yonatan Reshef, Brian Bemmels and Roger Wolfe, "The Effect of Unionization on Workplace Innovation," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1993), 109-131.
30. Alton Craig and Norman Soloman, The System of Industrial Relations in Canada, 4th ed., Scarborough: Prentice-Hall, 1993.
31. Thomas A. Kochan, Harry C. Katz and Robert B. McKersie, The Transformation of American Industrial Relations, New York: Basic Books, 1986;
32. Betcherman, 1991, op. cit., note 18.
33. For recent Canadian evidence, see Ng and Maki, 1994, op. cit., note 17.
34. See Thomas Turner, "Unionisation and Human Resource Management in Irish Companies," Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1 (1994), 39-51 for a study investigating the relationship between HRM practices and union density.
35. When considering the relationship between HR practices and performance, there is growing evidence of the importance of examining "bundles" or systems of practices. See, for instance, John Paul MacDuffie, "Human Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 48, No. 2 (1995), 197-221.
36. Adrienne E. Eaton and Paula B. Voos, "Productivity-Enhancing Innovations in Work Organization, Compensation, and Employee Participation in the Union Versus the Nonunion Sectors," In David Lewin and Donna Sockell (eds.), Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, Vol. 6, Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1994, 63-109.
37. Susan E. Jackson, Randall S. Schuler and J. Carlos Rivero, "Organizational Characteristics as Predictors of Personnel Practices," Personnel Psychology, Vol. 42, Winter (1989), 727-786.
38. For a study on profit sharing in Canada, see Richard J. Long, "The Incidence and Nature of Employee Profit Sharing in Canada," Relations Industrielles, Vol. 47, No. 3 (1992), 467-488.
39. Irene Goll, "Environment, Corporate Ideology, and Involvement Programs," Industrial Relations, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1991), 138-149.
40. Paul Osterman, "How Common is Workplace Transformation and Who Adopts It?" Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 47, No. 2 (1994), 173-188.
41. Goll, 1991, op. cit., note 38.
42. For further discussion on this point, see Cooke, 1992, op. cit., note 2;
43. Adrienne E. Eaton and Paula B. Voos, "Unions and Contemporary Innovations in Work Organization, Compensation and Employee Participation." In Lawrence Mishel and Paula B. Voos (eds.), Unions and Economic Competitiveness, Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 1992, 173-215.
44. Long, 1992, op. cit., note 37;
45. Louis R. Gomez-Mejia and David B. Balkin, Compensation, Organizational Strategy, and Firm Performance, Cincinnati: South-Western, 1992.
46. Abbott, 1993, op. cit., note 10.