County governments have often been ignored in recent literature. Vincent Marando and Robert Thomas in their book, The Forgotten Governments, have argued that county government is a viable part of the American governmental system and deserves consideration. Counties do suffer the same problems as other levels of government. / This research is an inquiry into how collective bargaining has affected county government in the State of Florida. There are three major problems discussed in the research. First, consideration is given to how the Florida Public Employees Relations Act has affected county government. Second, attention is given to how the structure of the county organization affects the collective bargaining process. Finally, do the attitudes of county officials and labor negotiators alter the bargaining process. / The methodologies used include an attitude questionnaire, direct observation through the means of interviewing and content analysis of documents and records of the county. The attitude questionnaire examines general attitude indicators that would be associated with the concept of integrative bargaining. The general attitude indicators include tolerance of conflict, proclivity towards bargaining, and authoritarianism. Also included in the questionnaire is the measurement of attitudes toward labor relations issues. These include tolerance of strikes, propensity to delegate, critical services and bargaining procedures. / The results of the attitude questionnaire showed that role occupancy is a better determiniant of attitudes towards labor relations issues than general personality attitudes. County Commissioners and personnel managers attitudes on tolerance of conflict, proclivity for bargaining and authoritarianism were found to be more flexible than county constitutional officers. Labor negotiators could achieve better results at the bargaining table with commissioners and personnel managers than with constitutional officers. / Eighteen counties in Florida currently engage in collective bargaining activities. These counties can be classified into three distinct types: complete metropolitan, incomplete metropolitan and rural. Complete metropolitan counties' personnel functions were dominated by collective bargaining. The incomplete counties were at a transition point. Less than one half of the employees were unionized, the other county employees were still covered by traditional personnel systems including the merit system. For the incomplete metropolitan county a dual system for personnel management exists. The rural counties appear to just barely cope with collective bargaining. These counties must rely on outside consultants to conduct negotiations. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2854. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74489 |
| Contributors | MITCHELL, KENNETH DAVID., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 264 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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