Browsing by Author "Hoell, Robert Craig"

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    Determinants of Union Member Attitudes Towards Employee Involvement Programs
    Hoell, Robert Craig (Virginia Tech, 1998-04-22)
    This study investigates the role social information and personal dispositions play in the development of attitudes of unionized employees towards employee involvement programs. A theoretical model was developed in order to understand how social information and dispositions form union member attitudes towards employee involvement programs. This was designed from models of employee involvement and attitude formation. Data were collected from employees at electrical power generation facilities. Measures of organizational and union commitment, locus of control, participativeness, social information provided by the company, social information provided by the union, and employee involvement attitudes were gathered through a survey distributed at the facilities. General affect and satisfaction towards four types of employee involvement programs union members are most likely to encounter were measured. Specific hypotheses were developed in order to test and analyze parts of the theoretical model. While the results were at times contrary to the hypothesized relationships within the model, the data fit with the theorized model well enough to provide support for it. This model effectively demonstrated how employee involvement attitudes are formed from such data, and the relationships between the variables measured.
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    Factors inhibiting unionization of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association
    Hoell, Robert Craig (Virginia Tech, 1993-06-02)
    The study was an investigation into the motives, policies and practices of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association and the motivations, needs and desires of its membership. This was undertaken to determine the major forces which have prevented change in the operating practices or structure of the association. The research questions examined factors unique to the VGEA: the climate for public sector unionism in the state, the membership's needs and desires, and the practices and policies set forth by the VGEA. These areas represent the external environment, the perceptions of the membership, and the internal environment of the VGEA. A random sampling of the membership by survey was conducted to investigate the factors. Internal documents of the association were scrutinized in order to determine the factors that were specific to the association. Both qualitative and quantitative data was incorporated in the analysis. The study utilized empirical research into unions and associations, a descriptive study of the VGEA itself, and an analysis of the membership's responses to the survey instrument. The analysis concludes by identifying those factors most prevalent in preventing the association from becoming a union. The lack of collective bargaining, the prohibition of striking and right-to-work laws are major factors in the external environment. Internally, the past practices of the association, its reliance upon lobbying and its lack of political action all prevent change from occurring. The membership is not reflective of state employees overall, and the association continues to work only for the needs of its membership.