Catching Fire: Institutional Interdependencies in Union‐Facilitated Knowledge Diffusion
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12417 |
| Author | John E. McCarthy |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
British Journal of Industrial Relations doi: 10.1111/bjir.12417
57:1 March 2019 0007–1080 pp. 182–201
Catching Fire: Institutional
Interdependencies in Union-Facilitated
Knowledge Diffusion
John E. McCarthy
Abstract
I find that school union representatives’ ‘boundary spanning’ communications
throughout the school district predict the diusion of knowledge between
schools. Hence, my data reveal school union representatives as critical conduits
for improvement-related knowledge transfer and innovation. Yet, I also find
that these external networks interact strongly with the level of workforce
participation characterizing each school: The eects of external networks on
internal knowledge diusion are considerably stronger in more participative
schools compared to less participative schools. This research contributes to
industrial relations scholarship by demonstrating how union-related institutions
can foster unique social structures that directly strengthen innovation-related
capabilities, as well as howthe ecacy of these networks depends on managerial
norms at dierent areas of the organization.This study is also of timely practical
relevance at a time when labour unions are increasingly painted as obstacles to,
rather than potential facilitators of, improvement and innovation.
1. Introduction
Industrial relations scholars have long proposed that unions can improve
organizational outcomes (i.e.‘add value’) by taking ownership of professional
issues beyond traditional bargaining and grievances (Addison et al. 2004;
Avgar and Kuruvilla 2011; Kochan et al. 1986; Kochan and Osterman 1994).
One popular mechanism evoked in this literatureis the idea of ‘adding value’
through unions’ abilities to enhance employees’ roles in planning, decision-
making and problem-solving, thereby shifting physical and intellectual
resources towards product and process improvements (Freeman and Rogers
1999; Levine and Tyson 1990; MacDue 1995). A related but less researched
John E. McCarthyis at Cornell University.
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2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Catching Fire 183
mechanism, which motivates this study, concerns the union’s infrastructure,
specifically the potential for adding value through social processes that
emerge from the union’s leadership (e.g. Kaufman and Levine 2000;
Rubinstein 2001). Arguments concerning union-facilitated social processes
build on the premise that unions createunique communication opportunities,
maintained by elected union leaders, which can accommodate a broad
range of performance-relevant interactions and contribute to organizational
outcomes. These union networks have the potential to ‘produce the flexibility
and responsiveness required of today’s high-performance organizations’
(Rubinstein 2001: 585). For example, Kaufman and Levine (2000) argued
that labour leaders understand how to facilitate lateral communication and
coordination, particularly during times of imperfect information. Similarly,
Rubinstein (2000) reported that union leadership at Saturn created a dense
lateral coordination network that targeted product quality.
Despite this conceptual promise,little research to date has examined union-
facilitated social structures or their implications for improvement-related
outcomes. We know very little in terms of how and when these networks
confer value.To address this gap,this study examines the ‘boundary-spanning’
activities of site union leaders (SULs) and the conditions under which union
social structures create value through knowledge exchange. Popularized by
organizational studies scholars, boundary spanning refers to a social process
whereby intermediaries build and maintain diverse external relationships to
the benefit of their broader work-group(Ancona 1990; Ancona and Caldwell
1992; Marrone et al. 2007). These external relationships provide exposure to
external information and perspectivesand can,thus, improve a group’s ability
to adapt and renew itself (Chesbrough 2003). In the context of publicschools,
the setting in which I conducted this research, education scholars have urged
school districts to foster relationships among schools, to bring ‘together the
knowledge, skills, and dispositions of teachers in a school or across schools
to promote shared learning and improvement’ (Hargreaves and Giles 2003:
134). I use data from a social network analysis to investigate how the content
and structure of SULs’ external ties aect the knowledge resourcesavailable to
and used by colleagues atthe leaders’ schools. Thus, a core contribution of this
study is to help clarify how SULs’ boundary-spanning activities can facilitate
broad knowledge diusion among worksites and expand the performance-
related resources available to front-line employees.
Beyond investigating the direct eects of SULs’ boundary-spanning
activities, this study also aims to develop a more refined theoretical
argument by considering contextual factors of their worksites: Do well-
connected SULs’ external networks have more influence in certain worksites
compared to others? In attempting to answer this question, I explore the
contrast between autocratic site-level managers (school principals), who
limit employee and union involvement in workplace decision-making,
and those who encourage high levels of employee participation. Large,
decentralized organizational settings are institutionally complex, with wide
variations in managerial norms and values across establishments and levels
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2018 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.
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