The Revitalization of the CWA: Integrating Collective Bargaining, Political Action, and Organizing

This case study of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) demonstrates the value of resource dependence and contingency organizational theories-two branches of organization theory, which has most commonly been used to interpret firm behavior-for analyzing union revitalization. Consistent with p...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Industrial & labor relations review 2003-07, Vol.56 (4), p.573-589
Main Authors: Katz, Harry C., Batt, Rosemary, Keefe, Jeffrey H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collective Bargaining
Dependency theory
Environmental legislation
Industrial relations
Innovation
Labor management relations
Labor regulations
Labor union representation
Labor unions
Labour force
Labour market
Labour movements
Labour relations
Organization Theory
Organizational change
Organizational Development
Political Action
Political behavior
Political integration
Political regulation
Regulatory legislation
Subsidiary companies
Trade unions
Union organizing
Unionization
Unions
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This case study of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) demonstrates the value of resource dependence and contingency organizational theories-two branches of organization theory, which has most commonly been used to interpret firm behavior-for analyzing union revitalization. Consistent with predictions of those theories, the CWA responded to a changed environment by abandoning strategies that no longer achieved organizational objectives, but retaining and bolstering strategies that continued to be effective. Furthermore, like the organizations analyzed in Jeffrey Pfeffer and Gerald Salancik's classic exposition of resource dependency theory, in the face of heightened environmental complexity and uncertainty the CWA used political action, growth strategies, and inter-organizational linkages to gain advantage. The CWA conformed to another prediction of contingency theory by using an integration strategy-specifically, by making simultaneous and interactive use of activities in collective bargaining, politics, and organizing-to spur innovation and respond to environmental complexity and uncertainty.
ISSN:0019-7939
2162-271X
DOI:10.1177/001979390305600402