ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT AND COLLECTIVE NEGOTIATIONS IN INDIANA PUBLIC EDUCATION
Abstract
The purpose of this study was two-fold: to determine (1) if a relationship exists between indicators of conflict in public school negotiations and indicators of organizational conflict in public schools, and (2) if conflict in negotiations can be affected by change in impasse procedure content as legislated by the state. Data were collected from a number of agencies of the State of Indiana, and 196 personnel directors of 289 Indiana public school corporations sampled. Zero, first and second-order correlations and inclusive stepwise regression were used to test hypotheses concerning relationships between bargaining and organizational conflict, while descriptive statistics were used to test hypotheses concerned with the effects of changes in impasse procedures. Indicators of bargaining conflict used were length of negotiations, number of bargaining sessions, number of requests for mediation and factfinding, job actions, board and teacher filed unfair labor practices and intensity of negotiations. Indicators of organizational conflict employed were: grievances per teacher, teacher use of sick leave, teacher turnover, superintendent turnover, and school board turnover. The change in impasse procedures examined was the change from voluntary mediation and factfinding to compulsory mediation and factfinding. Four hypotheses were tested in this study. The first tested the relationships between organizational and bargaining conflict. Of those tested, length of negotiations, the number of mediation and factfinding sessions, teacher-filed unfair labor practices and negotiations intensity were most often found to correlate significantly with indicators of organizational conflict. Test of the second hypothesis determined that the presence of teacher-board discussion groups consistently reduced the values of organizational conflict indicators. Hypotheses Three and Four examined the relationship between impasse procedures and bargaining conflict. Results of Hypothesis Three determined that the usage of voluntary conciliation waned with time, and those of the fourth hypothesis determined that conversion to compulsory procedures sharply reduced the length of time necessary for settlement. These conclusions were drawn: (1) Collective bargaining serves to reduce organizational conflict, unless the negotiations become protracted. In such cases, bargaining serves to increase organizational conflict. (2) Superintendent and board turnover are less responsive to indicators of bargaining conflict than are teacher-related variables, except with regard to certain indicators which may be indicative of heightened conflict. (3) Promotion of employee-employer communication through regularly scheduled discussion groups reduces organizational conflict and bargaining intensity. (4) With experience, participating parties prefer to negotiate a contract settlement without third party intervention, thus creating a related decline in use of voluntary conciliatory procedures over time. (5) Compulsory mediation and factfinding promote earlier contract settlements than voluntary mediation and factfinding, both by their use and their threat of use.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Education
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.