No description available.

This study sought to identify patterns in perceptions and social-psychological processes among 41 systematically chosen high school teachers who experienced a teacher strike in 1978 in a large Arizona public school system. An attitude-behavior interview schedule was used to elicit both quantitative and qualitative data. The theoretical framework for this investigation consisted of five concepts derived from perceptual psychology. These concepts were: (1) the development and maintenance of an adequate self; (2) resistance to attack on the self; (3) the perceptual field as a determinant of behavior; (4) human dignity as related to politics and economic welfare; and (5) self-maintenance of an organization or system. The data was compiled, analyzed, and reported in accordance to the theoretical framework. The major issues of the strike, as reported especially by strikers, were: (1) "Challenge to personal dignity," and (2) "Loss of established negotiating policy." Both strikers and non-strikers tended to report that the strike resulted from "the way the board and the district's central administration handled the issues." The qualitative data indicated that the personal relationships among the striking teachers in their respective buildings were increasingly positive and unified in a spirit of camaraderie. Among the non-strikers, however, there appeared to be no such sense of unity and camaraderie. Relationships between the two groups were reported to be strained, and feelings of animosity toward each other developed and persisted beyond the strike. Correspondingly, non-strikers appeared to have experienced greater stress than did the strikers. The end result of the strike as perceived by those respondents who struck was that they had regained their self-esteem.

No description available.

This study focused on a 1978 teacher strike in the Tucson Unified School District, Pima County, Arizona, and was designed to explore patterns of perceptions and behaviors reported by teachers concerning their involvement in the strike. Teacher perceptions and behaviors were examined in terms of: viewpoints concerning the issues and causes of the strike; attitudes toward the act of striking; choice to either strike or not to strike and the differeing factors which may have influenced the strike decison; feelings of stress occasioned before, during, and after the strike; post-strike relationships with significant others in the school system; and feelings regarding the outcomes of the strike. To implement the research study, a questionnaire was developed to explore teacher attitudes, viewpoints, and reported behaviors regarding various aspects of the strike. The questionnaire was distributed by the Tucson Education Association through the Tucson Unified School District mail distribution system to all 2,751 teachers of the school district. A total of 1,728 teachers participated in the study by completing and returning the questionnaire, which represents approximately 63 percent of the population. Data for the study were derived from the questionnaire responses. The demographic data and strike behavior data were crosstabulated and their significance reported in terms of chi-square statistics. The chi-square indicated a significant relationship between teacher strike behavior and the following demographic variables: teaching level, age, sex, teacher tenure, total years teaching, membership in a professional organization, and spouse being a teacher in the district. Data regarding teacher perceptions and behavior were analyzed and summarized on the basis of the perceptual framework constructed for this study, which was drawn from the literature in social and perceptual psychology. Briefly it included the following five categories: Empathy; Acceptance; Stress; Adequacy; and Perceptual Framework. The following perceptions were reported by teachers regarding: Issues and Causes of the Strike: The reported issues of the strike were salary, discipline, fringe benefits, class size, teacher professionalism, and dignity. The teachers reported that the factors generating the strike were not the issues themselves, but rather the way the issues were handled by the school board, superintendent, and central administration. Influences Upon Strike Behavior: The greatest influence reported by teachers regarding their strike decision was the teachers' association, followed by teachers in their own schools, family, teachers outside their schools, the media, and building principal, in that order. Strike Stresses: Ninety percent of all respondents reported experiencing stress during the strike. Stress was greater among elementary teachers, female teachers, and non-striking teachers. Post-Strike Relationships: Teachers reported more harmonious relationships with fellow teachers and students in their schools following the strike. Teachers reported less harmonious relationships with their supervisors. Strike Perceptions: Teachers reported that the strike produced a greater sense of personal dignity for teachers. The recommendations of the study included the following: A school system should develop and maintain a deep philosophical commitment to the worthiness and dignity of all persons. A continuous and effective communication process should be developed whereby school district administrator and teacher representatives can meet and interact in an atmosphere where every person is encouraged to express his viewpoints. Teachers and school district officials should have an adequate set of board-adopted policies providing orderly processes for dealing with disputes and difference between them. The policy that is adopted should result from the widest possible participation of all concerned groups throughout the community and the school district. The school district, including the school board, administrators, and teaching staff should carefully plan and effectively implement a program for continuous improvement of human relationships throughout the district.

This research provides a systematic, analytical examination of the evolutionary development of labor relations in a large public school district in the southwestern United States. The Kerchner and Mitchell (1981) generational framework of labor relations has been utilized in this study to evaluate its explanatory power. Research questions included: (1) Does the evolution of labor relations in this district follow the generational patterns specified in the framework developed by Kerchner and Mitchell (1981); and (2) What has been the impact of teacher collective bargaining on governance of this disrict? This work constituted a detailed case study of the school district. Method included analysis of data gathered through board minutes, newspaper and other publications, census data, contract and arbitration history data and semi-structured interviews with persons who played key roles in district labor relations. Findings indicate that generational development in this district has evolved along the lines of the Kerchner and Mitchell framework. The district is idiosyncratic, however, in the nature of coalitions formed, stimuli for change, and the continuing unresolved legal questions regarding collective bargaining in Arizona resulting from a lack of legislative guidance in this area. Generational movement of labor relations in this district is traced through two generational periods and two periods of intergenerational conflict. Findings suggest that relations appear to be suggestive of early third generation as the district enters 1987. With regard to impact, findings of this study generally support those of Kerchner and Mitchell (1981) that: (1) "accidental" policy is made through the bargaining process and contract implementation; (2) collective bargaining, contract making and contract enforcement in this district have enhanced the "laboring" aspect of teacher work; and (3) substantial change has occurred in this district in managerial beliefs and operations as a result of the consensus agreement. Further, findings suggest that although public participation in the district has been episodic, it has greatly influenced generational movement, as has partisan politics. Variance from Kerchner and Mitchell findings and intradistrict variance is also addressed.

This investigation was designed to study the patterns of perceptions of the central office administrators involved in the 1978 Tucson Unified School District teacher strike. The theoretical framework developed for this study, which was based on perceptual psychology, included the following areas: (1) perception; (2) empathy; (3) adequacy/self-concept; (4) relationships; (5) stress; and (6) perceptual framework. An interview schedule was developed based on the theoretical framework. The schedule utilized a Likert-type attitudinal scale as well as an open-ended comment format. Quantitative data were collected based on the principals' responses to the scale items. Qualitative data were based on comments on each of the scale items. Twenty-one central office administrators who were in those positions at the time of the strike were interviewed in-depth regarding their perceptions on the following aspects of the strike: (1) issues and causes; (2) relationships; (3) stress; (4) post-strike views. All of the data were collected during the field interviews. The central office administrator sample was a volunteer sample selected from the total population based on their willingness to participate. Among the findings, the following appeared to be the most significant: (1) the superintendents and school board were cited most frequently as the major cause of the strike; (2) relationships with any of the significant others were not significantly impacted by the strike; (3) the participants were most stressed during the strike. They indicated the least stress was experienced in the pre-strike period; (4) a break in relationships with significant others, especially teachers, was a major strike concern of the central office administrators; (5) Tucson Education Association was perceived by the majority of the participants to have acted in a responsible manner before and during the strike; (6) the consensus agreement was considered by the majority of the participants to be a fair and equitable resolution to the problem; (7) central office administrators, for the most part, did not perceive the strike as having a negative impact on their effectiveness as central office administrators; and (8) the efforts of the district to effectively meet district educational goals was not negatively impacted by the strike circumstances, according to slightly less than a majority of the participants.

In this study, the investigator sought to ascertain what personal relationships existed within the organizational structure of the Tucson (Arizona) Education Association (TEA), and between these TEA members and the Tucson Unified School District officials before, during, and after the teacher strike of 1978. The investigator reviewed literature in the areas of: (1) labor relations, (2) teacher strike activity, (3) perceptual psychology, (4) relational theory, and (5) organizational theory. On this basis, an interview schedule was constructed to ascertain certain of the personal relationships of selected Tucson Education Association members. Forty members of the Tucson Education Association, selected on the basis of nomination by strike-related TEA leaders, were interviewed utilizing the interview schedule. The data thus collected was collated, analyzed, and presented in the form of: (1) case studies and (2) descriptions of responses grouped by subquestions derived from the statement of the problem. Additional data permitting the construction of a chronology of strike-associated events prior to, during, and after the strike were gathered from local news sources, Tucson Education Association literature, and TEA respondents. The study highlighted the apparent lack of supportive and productive relationships existing between Tucson Education Association respondents and Tucson Unified School District officials before, during, and after the strike. Such human relationships appear, according to this study, to be central to the productivity of a school district's professional staff. From this perception, the investigator suggested that school district management personnel, while concerning themselves with the technical aspects of their organizations, should display an equal concern for the quality of the human relationships within their organizations.

Changes in retirement policy in the United States have affected management policies and practices in higher education. As a result of the 1978 amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, mandatory retirement prior to age seventy is prohibited. The significance of this policy change has stimulated the development of innovative personnel and retirement policies in an effort to increase the number of "elective" early retirements. The purpose of this study was to assess whether particular departmental and individual characteristics had predictive power with respect to faculty decisions to retire early. Data sources were existing university administrative data files, combined with interviews from a random sample of seventy-two early retirees and eligible nonretirees. Results of the study are summarized below: (1) In general, demographic characteristics studied (age, sex, marital and health status, etc.) were not strong predictors of early retirement decisions among the respondents. (2) Faculty salary was not a strong predictor of early retirement behavior. (3) Self reported faculty productivity was a strong predictor of early retirement decision-making. (4) Job satisfaction variables were moderate predictors of early retirement decisions. (5) Departmental characteristics (governance, fit in the department, recognition and rewards, etc.) were strong predictors of faculty early retirement decisions. In the present study, multiple discriminant analysis identified thirteen variables that strongly discriminated between the early retiree and non-retiree groups. Analysis of the prediction function assisted in assessing the relative importance of these variables in distinguishing between the two groups, and may serve as a useful management tool in understanding motives for early retirement as well as identifying faculty who may be most (or least) likely to choose an early retirement option. The present study, by examining the joint influences of a wide variety of variables on the propensity to elect early retirement, helped reveal the complexity of the relationships, while seeking to parsimoniously characterize the key factors influencing these decisions.

This study examined the perceptions of teachers on the picket line and in the classroom during the 1978 Tucson Unified School District teacher strike and the perceptions and relationships they experienced. Literature from sociology, psychology and education was reviewed to develop the theoretical framework. It is recognized in the literature that theory has utility in designing, shaping and organizing research, giving meaning to data and summarizing and interpreting the findings. The theoretical framework was comprised of two sections: the perceptual and the relational. In the perceptual, self-adequacy, self-concept and threat-anxiety were included. In the relational, communication, shared interests and reference groups were included. An interview schedule of twenty-one items based on the theoretical framework was developed and administered to forty selected school district teachers. The twenty-one questions were derived from the two major sections and the six subsections of the theoretical framework. Some demographic data were also collected. Strikers and non-strikers agreed more than they disagreed. There was general agreement among both strikers and non-strikers that human relationships were handled so ineptly by the superintendent and school board that the teachers perceived themselves to be demeaned and held unworthy.