Work Environment and Grievance Rates in a Manufacturing Plant

Abstract

The grievance activity of work groups has received surprisingly little attention by either organizational behavior or industrial re-lations researchers. This study explores the impact of different work environments on the rate of grievance filing in a large, unionized manufacturing plant. The two aspects of the work environment exam-ined, (a) size of the primary work group and (b) type of work technology, were both significantly related to grievance rates. A batch production environment was associated with a substantially higher rate of grievance filing than were either mass or craft pro-duction. When the work technology effect was held constant, the size of the primary work group was negatively related to grievance rates.