AN ANALYSIS OF ROLE CHANGE IN A FACTORY SITUATION. Seymour Lieberman. Earlier studies in the Human Relations Program have examined the

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1 u AN ANALYSIS OF ROLE CHANGE IN A FACTORY SITUATION Seymour Lieberman Earlier studies in the Human Relations Program have examined the supervisor-supervised relationship, using the attitudes and behavior of the the supervised as dependent variables. In the present study, attitudes of supervisor are examined as dependent variables. An attempt is made to cull out some of the experiential and situational determinants of attitudes that are held be first-line supervisors in a factory situation The study focused on a group of people ocoupying a rather unique position in industry today: company foremen who were once union stewards* The subjects, through a natural selective process in a real-life situation, had undergone a change in roles from that of surrogate of one organization to that of surrogate of another. The change, moreover, involved a shift between two organizations which, traditionally at least, are usually depicted as being at odds with each other. In a complex society characterized by a high degree of role structuration, the problem of changing roles would seem to be an important one* Among the questions involved i n this problem area are: How does the individual who undergoes the change view his old role? How does he react to his new role? Does his new role place him in a conflict situation? The over-all problem of role change has received considerable attention in role theory, and has been a focal point in many anthropological studies, but l i t t l e has been done to systematize the collection of empirical data from the individuals who themselves have undergone the role changes. I t is partly with this

2 -2- in mind that the present study examines the attitudinal and perceptual characteristics of union stewards who have changed to the role of company foremen* Background of the Study This study was part of a larger study made in a unionized automobile plant* The data in this larger study were based mainly on openended interviews taken from almost all of the foremen in the plant, almost all of the union stewards, and a five per cent random sample of the rank-and-file workers* The over-all objective of the larger study was to examine various facets of union-management relations, as seen through the eyes of three groups of respondents* The present report deals with the foreman population, of whom there are about 300. Specifically, i t centers around a comparison between "foremen who have been stewards" and "foremen who have not been stewards*" The foremen who were never stewards constitute a majority of the foremen in the plant, but nevertheless wholly a quarter of the foremen had once been stewards in the union there. The relatively large proportion of foremen falling into this category of ex-stewards was one of the factors that prompted making the study* The plant in which the study was made was originally unionized i n Over the years, r e l a t i o n s between the union and management remained on a fairly friendly par. This history is reflected in the attitudes and perceptions of the majority of employees, who report that the union and management get along w e l l together and t h a t t h e i r goals are compatible with each other. In such a situation, how do the characteristics

3 -3- of "foremen who have been stewards" differ from those of "foremen who have not been stewards?" Some of the Findings The findings i n two areas w i l l be presented here. One area i s "taking sides", or the foreman's pattern of identification with the union and management. The other area is "role conflict", or the foreman's report of whether or not the necessity to satisfy both men and management at the same time places him in a conflict situation. In the area of "taking sides", the general finding seems to be that, while "foremen who have not been stewards" tend to express more fa vorable attitudes toward the company than toward the union, "foremen who have been stewards" tend to be favorably inclined toward both organizations. Relatively few in either group are more favorable toward the union than toward the company. In other words, the split seems to be between "foremen who have not been stewards" tending to take the company's side and "foremen who have been stewards" tending to side equally with both organizations. In the area of "role conflict", the finding seems to be that the two groups do not differ from each other. A slight tendency exists for "foremen who have been stewards" to express less "role conflict" than "foremen who have not been stewards", but substantially the same proportion of each foreman group reports that i t is in conflict. In oth*»r words, when there are good relations between the union and management, having been a steward does not make a foreman particularly prone to feel he is in a conflict situation

4 A Further Analysis of the Data I t should be kept in mind that the findings presented here were obtained in a single situation. The question might be asked whether these findings will hold in other situations? A further analysis of the data was designed to provide a partial answer to this question. The thesis could be proposed that the situation in which a steward becomes a foreman will have an important bearing on the characteristics of "foremen who have been stewards". Take two situations one in which the union and situation, a steward who becomes a foreman might be more apt to find himself in a conflict situation and might find i t less easy to retain his loyalty to both organizations at the same time* Perhaps the best way to find out whether the characteristics of "foremen who have been stewards" are, in fact, determined by the management are seen as compatible with each other, and another in which they are not seen as compatible with each other. In the foraor situation, we might expect a steward who becomes a foreman to experience relatively little role conflict in his new role, and he should not find i t too difficult to retain his loyalty to both the company and the union. In the latter situation, would be to examine a variety of situations* At the time this analysis was made, however, data of this kind were not available. In lieu of this, use was made of a "control procedure", from which certain inferences might be made from the data currently available. Although the majority of foremen see the union and management as compatible, i t was possible to dichotomize them into those who tend to see them as compatible and into those who tend to see them as incompatible. The inference might be made that the findings among the sub-grouj -,rho tend to see them as incompatible will be suggestive of the findings that will

5 -5- hold in actual situations where the majority of respondents see the two organizations as incompatible. Similarly, the inference might be made that the findings among the sub-group who tend to see them as compatible will be suggestive of the difference that will hold in situations where the perception of compatibility is even more widespread than i t is in this one. Figure One indicates the findings in the area of "role conflict". Among those who see compatibility, a larger proportion of "foramen who have been stewards" than of "foremen who have not been stewards" indicate they feel "no role conflict". This finding is in the same direction as the finding for the total group of foremen, which might be expected since the current situation as a whole seems to be characterized by perceived compatibility between the union and management. Among those who see incompatibility, the opposite situation holds. A larger proportion of "foremen. who have not been stewards" than of "foremen who have been stewards" indicate they feel "no role conflict". These findings tend to corroborate the hypothesis that the relationship between past experience in the steward role and present conflict in the foreman role will vary depending on the situation. (Cf«The "cross-over" in the slopes in Figure One.) In situations where the two organizations are seen as compatible, those who hare been stewards will be the ones who more often report "no role conflict 1 1. In situations where the two organizations are seen as incompatible, those who have not been stewards will be the ones who more often report "no role conflict". Figure Two contains the findings in the area of "taking sides"* In the figure* taking sides equally with both the union and management i s l a-

6 FIGURE ONE UNION - MANAGEMENT COMPATIBILITY BX "ROIE CONFLICT" PER CENT WHO FEEL "NO RQIE- CONFLICT" FOR THE TOTAL GROUP OF FOREMAN AMONG THOSE WHO SEE COMPATIBILITY AiftNG THOSE WHO SEE COMPATIBILITY i i - FOREMEN WHO HAVE BEEN STEWARDS (Fs) - FOREMEN WHO HAVE NOT BEEN STEWARDS (Fn)

7 FIGURE TWO UNION - MANAGEMENT COMPATIBILITY BY "TAKING SIDES" m TOR CENT WHO TAKE A "NQN-POIAR" POSITION 50 l»o \ \ \ \ \ 30 Fn Fn to Fs T<5 - - FOR THE AMONG THOSE AMONG THOSE TOTAL CKOUP WHO SEE WHO SEE OF FOREMEN COMPATIBILITY INCOMPATIBILITY ai - FOREMEN WHO HAVE BEEN STEWARDS (Fs) 0 - FOREMEN WHO HAVE NOT BEEN STEWARDS (Fn)

8 beled as taking a "non-polar" position* Among those who see compatibility, a larger proportion of "foremen who have been stewards" than of "foremen who have not been stewards" side equally with both the union and management. Among those who see incompatibility, this difference does not hold up. Here, "foremen who have been stewards" are no more likely than "foremen who have not been stewards" to take a "non-polar" position, and are even slightly less likely to take such a position* Again, these findings suggest that the relationship between past experience in the steward role and present tendency to "take sides" will vary with the situation. In situations where compatibility is the keynote, those who have been stewards will be more likely to take a "non-polar" position than those who have not been stewards 0 In situations where incompatibility is the keynote, those who have been stewards will not be more likely than the others to take a "non-polar" position* the hypothesis that the characteristics of "foremen who have been stewards" will vary from situation to situation, has been tested by the use of perceptual or phenomenological data obtained within the confines of a single situation* An opportunity to test these hypotheses in objectively different situations seems to be available in another study currently under way in the Human Relations Program. This second study is being done in another factory which is divided into two plants which are physically separated by two or three miles. Both plants are governed by the same top management and top union officers, but each plant has its own hierarchy of management and union officers and very little shifting of rank-and-file workers occurs from one plant to the other. An important difference between the Dlants seems to be that Plant 1, an older plant, is characterized by relatively friendly union : management relations, while Plant 2, a newer plant,

9 is characterized by considerably less friendly union-management relations. A number of objective indices, such as the number of walkouts and slowdowns and the number of disputes between foremen and stewards in the two plants, seem to bear this difference out. The over-all hypothesis that can be tested is this? The characteristics of foremen who have been stewards, as compared with foremen who have not been stewards, will be different in Plant 1 and Plant 2, and that these differences between the two plants will tend to parallel the differences found in the initial study between the sub-group of foremen who see the union and management as compatible and the sub group who see them as incompatibleo Summary The characteristics of "foremen who have been stewards" have been examined as one facet of the general problem of changing roles. This problem, i n turn, might be viewed as one aspect of a s t i l l broader investigation into the laws of the operation of large organizations. The data were obtained i n a s i t u a t i o n where the union and management are for the most part seen as compatible. 7ft this kind of a situation, "foremen who have been stewards" more often take a "non-polar" position between the union and management than "foremen who have not been stewards", but despite the fact that they take such a position, they are no more prone to feel they are in a conflict situation** Additional analysis indicates that these findings might not hold in other kinds of situations. Specifically, the data suggest that, in a situation where the union and management are seen as incompatible, "foremen who have been stewards" will be just as likely as the othes* foremen

10 -10- to take the company's side (if not more so), and they will be more likely than the other foremen to feel they are in a conflict situation.