Demanda

This chapter is primarily devoted to the development of an

analytical framework for the study of workplace organization amongst local authority manual workers. The previous two chapters gave a clear indication of the particular aspects of workplace organization upon which previous researchers had concentrated, their various research methods, and some of the theoretical models presented. Chapter Two directed attention to changes in the context and structure of local authority industrial relations which may have influenced the emergence of workplace organization and noted some of the unusual features of the local authority employment context which needed to be taken into account in the analysis.

This chapter comprises four sections. The first maps out the broad areas of interest upon which research work undertaken for this study focused. The second seeks to develop a series of classifications which facilitate the characterization of workplace organization amongst local authority manual workers. Attempts are made to classify types of stewards, types of steward organization, and the role played by stewards. The third section identifies a range of variables and factors which may influence

workplace organization classifications. Factors related to three main

variables, in particular, are discussedi types of authority, management

structure and behaviour, and trade union structure and behaviour. In the

final section, the research methods adopted for^fieldwork are presented.

The Focus of Research

The limited information available on workplace organization amongst local authority manual 'Yorkers dictated the need for research work to

commence on the basis of broad areas of interest rather than on the basis

of tightly drawn hypotheses. It was only when research was well under

way, and the stock of knowledge available had increased, that it became possible to derive testable hypotheses of any value. The broad areas of interest which initially governed the research had to be drawn from previous work into workplace organization and from the very limited work undertaken into the local authority sector. Thus research was initially directed towards the three areas of study identified in the first chapter, namely the origins of workplace organization, steward organization and steward behaviour.

In considering the original development of workplace organization within local government, an opportunity was provided to question further the importance attached to the 'work group' as the building block of such organization. As already stressed, this study was not primarily concerned with group formation and activity outside of union structures but there was interest in the significance of the work group as a basis for steward representation. The occupational diversity of manual workforces within individual authorities suggested different processes by which steward representation developed and a clear need to distinguish between them. However, it was also apparent that for certain occupational groups, such as home helps, toilet attendants, housing estate cleaners, meals-on-wheels workers, the work situation did not inevitably lead to the formation of any kind of group. The research therefore provides an opportunity to ask how steward representation developed amongst dispersed and isolated workers, if indeed it did, and upon what criteria could constituencies be based.

raised a range of particularly interesting questions related to the potential emergence of an integrated and unified workplace organization. Attention was drawn in Chapter One to the preoccupation of past researchers with the strong, well established and unified steward organizations within private manufacturing plants. Organizations within such plants developed within limited geographical areas and amongst a workforce which, although not necessarily homegeneous, were relatively undifferentiated occupationally. Within any given local authority, the workforce will be scattered over a wide geographical area and be fragmented occupationally. These features of the workforce had significant implications for the possible development of a unified local authority steward organization.

Clearly, the processes needed to create a unified organization differed drastically from those found in a private manufacturing plant. Apart from the sheer physical effort needed to create a unified organization across a large geographical area, attempts had to be made to identify or generate common aims and objectives amongst very different occupational groupings of workers. The inevitability or indeed the likelihood of an integrated steward organization forming at authority

level had to be called into question. What kinds of processes were needed

to create it? Had the changes in union structure and policy in any way facilitated it? Had management played an important sponsorship role

(Terry:1982)? Once formed, what functions could the organization perform for such a diversified workforce? Was there a greater likelihood of steward organization developing at lower levels in the authority such as specific geographical areas or specific establishments or around particular occupational or union groups? Furthermore, given the variation in the character of steward organization identified by Terry, would steward organization vary in different types of authority and if so could patterns

be distinguished in such variation?

So far as steward behaviour was concerned, attention concentrated primarily upon the role of the steward. The initial task was to identify the character of steward activity within the local authority employment context. Two interrelated themes drawn- from previous research structured this analysis. These were the importance of direct management encourage­ ment or sponsorship in the developmentof the steward's role and the influence of a changing scope for bargaining upon that role. The two themes had been linked by Terry who argued that a broadening in the scope for bargaining, allowing the negotiation of bonus schemes, had prompted management encouragement. This is a relationship which needed to be

explored further. Was steward activity solely dependent upon direct

management encouragement or were stewards in any way capable of enhancing their role through their own_efforts? How many stewards were actually involved in the negotiation of bonus schemes? Was this a 'once and for all' involvement? Did the steward have a role outside of bonus

negotiations? What of the steward's role in the case of workers not covered by bonus schemes?

Classification of Workplace Organization

In pursuing these questions, it became apparent that a series of classifications were needed to help characterize steward organization. These classifications would facilitate analysis and, in particular, highlight differences between organizations in various authorities.

Three distinct classifications were made. The first sought to distinguish different types of steward on the basis of the criteria used to determine steward constituencies. The second identified different types of steward organization, again using the criteria upon which such organization was

62.

based. The third classification, using more familiar categories, noted the different aspects of the steward's role.

Types of Shop Steward

If the central importance of the self-regulating work group as a basis of steward representation is being denied there is a need to

identify alternative criteria determining such representation. Distinguishing

criteria is, however, no simple task within the local government context. The complexity of the workforce within any given authority, with a range of occupational groups working in very different conditions, suggests the possibility of significant variation in the basis of representation.

Every worker within an authority will carry out his or her work

task within or at a given place. However, the nature of these workplaces

will vary significantly for different groups of workers and may be

defined in various ways. Within the authority a number of alternative

workplaces can be identified. For certain workers the workplace will be

an 'establishment' such as an old people's home (OPH) or a school.

Other workers will not carry out their tasks in any given 'establishment'

but within and across particular geographical areas. For example, home

helps and refuse workers service homes within specific parts of the authority. These workers usually operate from depots or area offices to which they will see themselves as attached but to which they return only at intervals. Moving to a level of greater generality, the geographical area representing the local authority may itself also be viewed as a workplace. This is a qualitively different workplace from the others in that it does not correspond to the literal place of work, but it does

represent ai alternative point of reference and identity for workers. In

exclusive, locations, within which work tasks are carried out or from which work tasks are carried out. These locations are henceforth referred to as entities . This is an unfortunate and slightly clumsy expression but it is the only term sufficiently all embracing.

The picture is further complicated by the fact that within these entities it is possible to distinguish specific occupational, organizational and functional groupings of workers. Within any given 'entity', distinct

occupational groupings are liable to be found. In an OPH, for example,

domestics and care assistants can be distinguished; in a school, caretakers, cleaners, and school meals workers; in a cleansing depot,

refuse workers, roadsweepers and gully machinists. It may also be

possible to identify more broadly defined overlapping groupings embracing a range of occupations. Such groupings may be based upon management defined organizational and functional categories: sections, divisions or departments. For example, although occupationally distinct, school caretakers and cleaners may well belong to the same management

defined section. Furthermore, groupings may also be based on

characteristics other than those defined by management; for instance, union groupings composed of all workers from the same union.

The classification of steward types within authorities was based

upon these two dimensions: the entity and the grouping. Any given

steward's constituency will be based upon a particular entity and embrace workers from a specific grouping within that entity. The task of empirical research was to identify exactly which entities and groupings had come to form the basis of steward representation. Table 3.1, however, provides some indication of certain entities and groupings liable to be of some significance.

Table 3.1 Classification of Steward Types

Entity Grouping

Establishment Occupation, Section, Onion

Depot Occupation, Section, Division, Union

Authority Occupation, Section, Division,

Department, Union

Type of Steward Organization

A broad distinction in the classification of steward organization

was made between formal and informal interaction amongst stewards. Formal

interaction was defined along the lines adopted by Drown et al (1978), who stressed the regularity of such interaction, the existence of a

constitution structuring it, and minute taking. Informal interaction

was defined by the absence of the three characteristics of formal interaction. Although informa], however, such interactions could be well-structured and organized. Attempts were also made to distinguish individualistic lines of contact between stewards which corresponded with Batstone et al's (1977) ’networks of contact*.

The classification built upon this broad distinction between different patterns of interaction followed similar principles to those adopted to distinguish steward types. Concentrations of stewards will, in all probability, be found within a range of differing 'entities' such as the establishment, the depot or the authority itself. Additionally

stewards within such 'entities' will come from specific groupings. For

example, within a depot a number of stewards might come from the same section or the same union. The option remains open for stewards within that entity to meet regardless of grouping, but they may choose to interact only with stewards from the same grouping.

The Role of the Steward

Classifying the different aspects of the steward's role involved drawing upon familiar distinctions identified in the literature reviewed in Chapter One. Four aspects of the steward's role were distinguished!

( a ) bargaining and consultation;

(b) resolution of grievances, disputes, problems and misunderstandings; (c) communication of information between various parties;

(d) constituency maintenance.

Of these different aspects, the fourth requires some elaboration. As Batstone et al (1977) have highlighted, most stewards have to strive

to maintain their constituencies as viable and meaningful entities. However, where stewards have members scattered across large geographical areas, the effort needed to fulfil this task assumes qualitatively different proportions. Certainly, the ability of stewards to maintain their constituencies is significantly related to the other three aspects

of their role (Goodman and Whittingham, 1973i90-94). Yet within the

local government context, constituency maintenance remains an analytically distinct function worth careful consideration.

Influential Variables

Authority type . A number of structural features associated with different types of authority were identified as having an influence upon the character of workplace organization. Three major variables were identified! the functions performed by the authority, the geographical size of the authority, and the urban-rural concentrations within the

authority. Some consideration has already been given to these structural

features, which were radically altered as a consequence of local government

suggests the need for some further elucidation.

The functions performed by an authority have a significant impact upon the occupational composition of the workforce. Table 2.1 noted the distribution of functions between the two tiers of local government and gave an indication of the likely variation in the occupational

composition of workforces in different authority types The

distribution of functions is likely to influence local authority manual workforces in two ways. Firstly, the number and range of functions performed will determine the occupational diversity of the workforce. Thus metropolitan districts, non-metropolitan counties and London Borough workforces are likely to be characterized by greater occupational diversity than workforces in other types of authority. Secondly, the exact nature

of functions performed will influence the kinds of workers employed. For

example, only the lower tier authorities employ refuse collector*. (For

a comprehensive list of occupations see Appendix III.)

Variation in the character of the authority workforces may have an influence upon the development and nature of steward organization.

For example, is a unified authority level workplace organization, integrating all occupational groups, less likely to develop where the workforce is more diversified? Does the employment of certain kinds of workers facilitate or hinder the creation of workplace organization?

The structure of local government dictates that authorities will vary significantly in geographical size. At the crudest and most basic of levels, it is self-evident that upper-tier authorities will cover wider geographical areas than lower-tier authorities. This simple dichotomy

about the size of non-metropolitan districts, but metropolitan districts (2)

tend to be between

20,000

and 40,000 acres . This makes the average

metropolitan district larger than the average London Borough. Of the lower tier authorities, London Boroughs tend to be less than 10,000 acres in size, which makes them smaller than most metropolitan districts

and many non-metropolitan districts. It is also possible to distinguish

between the size of non-metropolitan and metropolitan counties. The overwhelming majority of non-metropolitan counties are over 400,000 acres, whilst at least three of the six metropolitan counties are below that

The geographical size of authorities may indirectly influence the character of workplace organization through its possible effect upon both management and union structure and behaviour. Such a possibility will be considered further below. The size of the authority may, however, have a more direct effect upon workplace organization} it may influence, for example, the practicalities of organizing over different sized areas. This raises a number of questions. Are unified and integrated authority level steward organizations more likely to develop in smaller than larger authorities? Will the processes needed to create steward organization in different size authorities vary?

The effect of geographical size upon the development and operation of workplace organization must be considered in association with the third structural feature identified} namely, the urban and rural

concentrations within authorities. As previously noted, the rural/urban balance within authorities was to some extent determined by the geography of the country, although the government took less interest in minimizing the urban/rural division than was perhaps possible. The nomenclature

The urban-rural balance within an authority may directly

influence workplace organization in two ways. Firstly, the infrastructure

of urban authorities, particularly the system of roads and public transport, is likely to be more developed than in rural authorities. Clearly, this will influence the ease of worker and steward mobility and communication

by lessening or reinforcing isolation and dispersion. Secondly, although

less tangibly, attitudes, values and traditions related to union organization and action may vary between urban and rural authorities. It may be suggested that traditions of union organization and action are liable to be stronger in metropolitan authorities than non-metropolitan authorities. These traditions may well have penetrated the local government sector and influenced workers' perceptions.

The urban-rural make-up of authorities may influence workplace organization in a number of less direct ways. Concentrations of

population and the services which need to be provided for them are liable to vary between authorities. The 'problems' of the inner city

metropolitan district, for example, will differ from those of the rural non-metropolitan district. Variation in services performed may influence numbers and types of workers employed, with implication for the development and character of workplace organization.

The party political allegiances of councillors may also vary between urban and rural authorities. Although care is needed in

generalizing, party political fortunes being rather erratic, patterns of political representation are identifiable. Metropolitan counties, for example, are more likely to be under Labour than Conservative control and

vice versa in the case of non-metropolitan counties . Focusing upon the political complexion of the council opens up a significant area of analysis which seeks to consider the relationship between party control and the development and character of workplace organization within an authority.

Management- As stressed above, one of the constant themes running through recent research has been the importance attached to management as

an influence upon the development of workplace organization. In the local

government sector, however, the party political dimension of the management process suggests the need for care in analysing this particular influence. In particular, it is important to distinguish between the roles and the influence of councillors and council officers, whilst also elucidating the relationship between these two sets of actors.

The influence of three features of management upon workplace organization were included within the analytical framework. The first of these was management structure and the organization of work. Consideration of these features was based upon the possibility that they might play some

part in shaping steward organization. In analysing this particular

influence, however, note should be made of the possible relationship

In document Proyecto de Factibilidad para la creación de una sucursal de la Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito “Sol de Los Andes” en el cantón Otavalo provincia Imbabura (página 46-55)