The Impact of Federal Sector Unions on Supervisors' Use of Personnel Policies

Abstract

This study investigates whether supervisors' use of management-initiated policies - in this case, alcoholism and EEO policies - is related to the presence of a union, the power of any union present (measured, among other ways, by certain bargaining outcomes), and the supervisors' awareness of the union's position on the policies in question. An analysis of interview data from supervisors in seventy-one federal installations, and from both national and local union officials, indicates that the supervisors' awareness of a union's position on the policies was positively related to use of both policies, as were certain aspects of union power. The presence of a union was also associated with greater use of the alcoholism policy, but not of the EEO policy. In addition, the authors analyze the reasons for the various compromises that occur in the use of each policy.