Grievance initiation in an ethnically diverse organization
Creators: name: Au, Kevin Y.
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2009

description: The demographic composition of the North American workforce is changing due to the increase in non-European immigrants and different reproductive rates among ethnic groups. This trend has created the need for managers and academics to rethink traditional ways of management and derive new ways to integrate minority workers for better performance. Guided by a social psychological framework of multiculturalism, this project examined the use of the grievance procedure in an ethnically diverse organization. It tested various hypotheses concerning how ethnic belonging, perceived atmosphere of multiculturalism, and individualism-collectivism value affected job satisfaction, complaint behaviours of workers, the number of grievances filed, and workers' evaluations of the grievance procedure. A study was conducted in the Vancouver plant of a Crown Corporation. Through the cooperation of management and the union, labour officers, shop stewards, and supervisors of the plant were first interviewed. After that, 650 questionnaires were distributed to in-house, blue-collar workers who voluntarily participated in the study. Of the 139 questionnaires returned (21%), 130 of them were completed and analyzed by regression. Many of the hypotheses are supported. English ability is positively associated with ethnic belonging for majority workers, but not for minority workers (Linguistic Vitality Hypothesis). It is also positively associated with complaints to supervisors and the number of grievances filed, but not with complaints to coworkers of same ethnic background (Linguistic Accommodation Hypothesis). For minority workers, a stronger ethnic belonging is related to perceiving a positive atmosphere of multiculturalism (Ethnic Confidence Hypothesis). This relationship, however, does not exist for majority workers. Moreover, Ethnic Status Hypothesis is also supported, as ethnic status is positively associated with perceiving a more positive atmosphere of multiculturalism. Contrary to the general beliefs concerning multiculturalism, perceived atmosphere of multiculturalism has little direct effect on grievance behaviours in a multicultural workplace (Primary Multiculturalism Hypothesis). However, in line with the literature of situational ethnicity, the interaction of perceived atmosphere of multiculturalism and ethnic belonging exerts significant effects on grievance behaviours (Secondary Multiculturalism Hypothesis). In particular, when atmosphere of multiculturalism is perceived as high, ethnic belonging is positively related to job satisfaction, but is negatively related to complaints to supervisors. On the other hand, when the atmosphere is perceived as low, ethnic belonging is positively related to the number of grievances filed. In addition to findings concerning multiculturalism, different kinds of individualismcollectivism values were found to influence grievance behaviours in different ways. Coworker collectivism is positively related to complaints to supervisors, complaints to coworkers of same ethnic backgrounds, and the number of grievances filed. On the other hand, general collectivism is negatively associated with complaints to shop stewards, the number of grievances filed, but is positively associated with feelings of animosity and worry of reprisal after grievances were filed. These findings were discussed in light of research implications for individualismcollectivism, Canadian multiculturalism policy, and diversity management. Furthermore, it is recommended that alternative dispute resolution procedures, which allow disputants to structure the process with freedom, be implemented in multicultural workplaces.