Union leaders' views of employee assistance programs

This study explored union leaders' attitudes and perceptions about Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) in the united states. Three hundred and five union leaders who were participants in a union leadership training program completed the survey instrument. This study explored a number of research questions that add to the descriptive knowledge about EAPs and tested four groups of hypotheses concerning union leaders' view of EAPs. The first two hypotheses examined the readiness of union leaders to cooperate with management on the EAP. The second hypothesis examined the factors that affect the readiness to cooperate variables. The results revealed that the majority of union leaders perceive EAPs as increasing human capital rather than as a form of management control. The readiness to cooperate was found to be affected by the presence of training, written materials, and whether the EAP was in collective bargaining agreement. Generally, the demographic characteristics of union leaders did not have an impact on their views of EAPs. Replication of the research of Trice and Beyer (1982) was conducted and little similarity was found with their earlier findings. The results revealed that EAPs were relatively new in this population, were generally sponsored by the company and the actual services delivered by EAP providers. Union leaders perceived the drug problem in America as serious but saw it as less serious in their locals. Drug testing was being conducted at most of the companies and one half of the companies referred workers who tested positive to the EAP for assistance.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

General Business

Department dc:contributor.department

General Business

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1992

Author dc:creator

• Lyman, Scott R.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Robinson, Jerald F.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Murrmann, Kent F.
• Snizek, William E.
• Partridge, Dane M.
• Litschert, Robert J.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-08032007-102237

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/39020