During the past decade, researchers in the field of Industrial RelationsPsychology have attempted to find a scientific explanation for the unionization of workers through the identification of psychological variables related to behaviour patterns during certification. Workers appeared to favour entry of a union into their organization, and to demonstrate their support for it, insofar as they understood the Personal advantage of unionization in its role of reducing work-related problems. Unionization can thus be seen in an instrumental perspective. Work environment constitutes an important determinant in the behaviour of the employee according to Lewin's formula (1951), which stipulates that human behaviour is based on the personality of an individual as well as on his environment. Work environment, or organizational climate, can play a role in the desire for unionism of workers who experience it, because of the structure it imposes on work and the possibility of participation it provides for employees. This is particularly so with regard to its influence on the perception of employees concerning unions as instruments for realizing demands in defense of their interests. The purpose of this article is to present the results of a research project based on the empirical verification of the relationship between organizational climate and perception of the usefulness of unions. As a result, we formulated the hypothesis that organizational climate is linked negatively to perception of the usefulness of unions. In addition, the effect of job satisfaction on the relations between these two variables is also examined. The subjects of this study are lower management personnel employed by a firm specialized in telecommunications. The sample includes 625 people. Of them, 92,5% are drawn from this specifie managerial group, 64,6% are male, 73,8% have less than 15 years' experience in the firm, and 54,9% are less than 30 years of age. The questionnaires used include the Job Description Index (J.D.I.), the Likert organizational Profile (L.O.P., abridged version), and the Lorrain questionnaire (1979) on the perception of unions among management personnel. Results indicate that organizational climate correlated with perception of the usefulness of the union among management personnel in this firm. Thus, the more management personnel in this case consider the work climate as cold, rigid and bureaucratie, the more they will have a tendency to see unionism as an attractive means of voicing demands to solve the problems facing them. It is also clear that, if lower management have the impression that their superiors have little confidence in them and are not concerned with their opinions or ideas, they will tend to view very favourably the role of a union in improving their working conditions. The study also reveals that the concept of work satisfaction does not play an important role in the perception of a union as an instrument for managers in this organization, as well as that there is no significant relationship between job satisfaction and organizational climate. Finally, the present research demonstrates the pertinence of studying the influence of the characteristics of the organization on phenomena linked to the unionization.

Les auteurs tentent de vérifier empiriquement la relation entre le climat organisationnel et la perception de l'instrumentation des syndicats tout en considérant l'effet de la satisfaction au travail sur la relation entre ces deux variables.

Climat organisationnel, satisfaction au travail et perception du syndicalisme

Organisational climate, job satisfaction and perception of trade union

Abstract