J. Malcolm Walker

Union campaign activities and voter preferences

The impact of campaign activity on voting preferences in union representation elections is investigated using a panel study approach. The context of this study is a four-year, multicampus, university system, in which two faculty unions competed vigorously for representation rights for several years. We propose a multivariate model of individual voting intentions which, we argue, depend on the precampaign expected consequences of collective bargaining, recent changes in institutional conditions, various normative and value constraints, and union campaign activity. Both self-reports of exposure to campaign activity and exogenous measures of campus-specific organizing efforts are used in the analysis. The use of exogenous indicators of campaign activity, which we argue is more appropriate, suggests that campaign activity exerts no appreciable effect on the manner in which individuals vote in such elections. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Limits of Strategic Management in Voluntary Organizations

The growing interest in the management of voluntary organizations is an important development. Management theorists and others argue that voluntary organizations are poorly managed and that improved management will help to resolve some of their basic problems. A notable aspect of their position is the recent rapid shift of attention from micro-organizational issues (e.g., selection, motivation, leadership styles) to the managerially much more significant macro issues of planning, policy, and strategy. Wortman (1981) has focused this shift by calling for, and predicting, the adoption of strategic management by voluntary organizations. As Wortman (1981) suggests, such a shift would involve a &dquo;radical&dquo; re-orientation of the operation of voluntary organizations. Given the paucity of theory and research on strategic management in voluntary organizations, Wortman (1979: 327) earlier suggested that examination of the strategic management concept for voluntary organizations &dquo;should start at the beginning with simple conceptual and theoretical papers&dquo; which suggest directions for research. Such efforts would help to identify the limits of strategic management in voluntary organizations, and suggest how strategic management might be applicable to such organizations. These are the purposes of this article.

Interaction of efficacy, commitment, and expectations in the formation of faculty attitudes toward collective bargaining

A model of the formation of faculty attitudes toward collective bargaining is developed which reflects recent developments in theory and research in organizational behavior. The model is an alternative to those grounded in need-satisfaction theories and takes into account interaction effects among variables. Hypotheses are formulated which explore how faculty members develop: (1) beliefs about, and effective responses toward, their work environment; and (2) propensities to wish to change that environment by implementating collective bargaining. Empirical data are analyzed to assess the main effects of, and interactions among, organizational commitment, perceived personal efficacy, and expectations with respect to the impact of bargaining.

Organizational Change, Citizen Participation, and Voluntary Action

In a complex society, change is effected mainly within organizations or through the interaction that takes place among organizations. In order to assess the approaches to system change inherent in citizen participation and voluntary action, it is necessary to identify the major dilemmas involved in organizational change efforts. We will then argue that citizen participation is oriented toward resolving these dilemmas, while voluntary action is not. Following Clark (1973:27), power is defined here as the potential ability to choose, to change, and to achieve the goals of a system. Such a definition includes, of course, the capacity to control the internal state of the system. Power is exercised through decisionmaking structures. The bases of power are such resources as money, legitimacy, knowledge, the right to vote, and so on. Organizational change, as the term is used here, refers to a combination of (1) power redistribution; (2) new decisionmaking structures; and (3) the reallocation of those resources which provide the bases of power, or the introduction of new types of such resour-

Representation elections in higher education: Occurrence and outcomes

This study examines factors related to the occurrence of union representation elections in four-year universities and colleges and the outcomes of those elections (i.e., whether or not faculty opt for collective bargaining). In general, the results indicate that the probability of union victory in an election depends on economic conditions, the structural characteristics of the institution, and union density in higher education. For the most part, however, such indicators of institutional vulnerability are not found to be significant determinants of election occurrences. A major implication of this study is that there is a need to investigate more thoroughly the intraorganizational processes of faculty unions with regard to the allocation of organizing resources in order to understand the spread of faculty unionism. It is also suggested that the findings of this study may cast light on the growth of unionism in other white-collar and professional sectors.

Faculty Participation as Voluntary Action: an Empirical Analysis

As Bode (1972) noted, voluntary behavior has been treated as a residual category of behavior and voluntary organizations as a residual category of organizationsDevelopment of voluntary action theory depends upon correcting these conditions. A series of chapters in Smith, Reddy and Baldwin (1972) provided a major contribution by generating a set of useful definitions and by delimiting the scope of voluntary action theory. Further development of voluntary action theory depends, in part, on (1) developing and utilizing concepts which are peculiarly appropriate to that theory and (2) testing voluntary action theory by using concepts from that theory in empirical investigations conducted in a variety of contexts, including those not usually thought to be encompassed by voluntary action.These are

Communications: Papers on The Science of Administration: Comment

The article reports the authors opinions regarding a paper written by Colonel Urwick. While the author found many of Urwicks statements about the work “Papers in the Science of Administration” to...