Building More Effective Unions

Book excerpt: Employers have long turned to behavioral science for guidance on making their organizations more effective. Labor scholar Paul F. Clark believes union leaders should also take advantage of the valuable discoveries made in this field, and he offers a straightforward account of how they can do so. Much of the behavioral science research relevant to unions relies on complex statistical analyses and is disseminated through scholarly journals. This clearly written book makes the findings of behavioral science accessible to those committed to building a stronger labor movement. It describes behavioral science's understanding of such topics as organizational commitment and member participation and suggests how this knowledge can best be applied to unions. Building More Effective Unions offers practical strategies unions can use to their advantage in a number of areas, including: -Union participation -Organization and retention -Union orientation and socialization -Political action -Grievance procedures -Information and communications -Union image-building -Union culture -Union leadership The book features examples of how unions and their leaders have benefited from putting the principles of behavioral science into practice.