Making Partnership Work: Inside the Black Box of Labor-Management Participation

Douglas M. Mahony

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DOI: 10.2190/CN.31.3.c

Abstract

This study tests how variations in labor-management partnership functioning affects employees. The data are from multiple facilities within one federal agency over a five-year period. Data for employee-level outcomes are from the Organizational Assessment Survey implemented each year from 1994 through 1998. Partnership council data are from participant interviews with union leaders and facility management. The results suggest that differences in partnership councils' functioning affects supervisor-employee relations, perceptions of training and employee-involvement opportunities, and perceived collaborative opportunities. In turn, these intermediary outcomes affect employee attitudes and perceptions regarding job-related stress, job satisfaction, job and employment security, and feelings of alienation.

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