The research problem for this study is the effectiveness of unions in representing employees. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate whether trade unions are effective in representing employees.
Introduction
2 | Approaches/paradigms of the site, site of the study, scope and significance of the study, ethical consideration and limitations of the study.
Research Problem
This will then bring clarity to the confusion mentioned above of mixed views on the effectiveness of unions and the challenges unions face in representing workers. If the above perception (unions are ineffective in representing employees) is true, then it is also true that there are challenges that unions experience in representing employees and those challenges lead to unions being ineffective in representing employees.
Research Questions
UKZN has four (mentioned above) different unions representing the different categories of employees, therefore the researcher believed that it is necessary to determine whether they are effective or not. This perception can damage the image of unions and cause employees to not trust or recognize their unions.
Research Objectives
Research Aims
Theoretical Framework
While all other participants said their unions were effective in handling employee grievances. None of the participants said that their unions were ineffective in dealing with employee complaints.
Definition of terms
Research methodology
With triangulation, the researcher can more accurately identify the aspects of the research problem by approaching it from different points of view using different methods and techniques (Wesely, 2011). The researcher decided to use the mixed method approach because of the advantage of triangulation.
Scope and Significance of the Study
This study was conducted at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The researcher chooses UKZN as a study site, because the purpose of this study was to learn the perceptions held by employees about the effectiveness of trade unions in representing employees in institutions of higher learning. The researcher chose these two campuses because they are close to each other and it was therefore easier for the researcher to travel from one campus to another during the process of data collection; this enabled the researcher to save money and time.
Ethical Consideration
The participants in this study were UKZN employees (both support and academic staff) who are members of the above-mentioned 4 trade unions representing UKZN employees. The sample size of this study was 72 UKZN employees, both support and academic staff, including trade union officials who are members of the above four trade unions.
Limitations of the Study
The findings of this study illustrate that unions are effective in collective bargaining over wages. 3 out of 36 participants) 4 percent of participants said they are unsure whether their unions are effective in dealing with employee complaints.
Chapter Breakdown
Summary
The literature review provides the theoretical basis for the research and helps the researcher determine the nature of the research. Finally, this chapter aims to provide an analysis of the literature on the research questions defined in the first chapter.
Understanding Trade Unions
(3 out of 36 participants) However, 8 percent of participants said that their unions were not effective in collective bargaining, as they always failed employees. While (5 out of 36 participants) 14 percent of participants said that they are not sure if their unions handle employee grievances.
The Trade Unions Movement in South Africa
The Role of Trade Unions
According to Adler & Webster (2000), the main objective of trade unions is to protect the employees who are union members. Von Holdt (2003) states that another goal of unions is to improve employee wages and employment conditions through collective bargaining.
The Criticism of the South African Trade Unions Movement
The representative and political role of trade unions and their federations has an “effect of widening the horizons of their members, especially the leaders, of the representatives upwards in terms of the available opportunities for upward social mobility. Unlike in the past, when business and government organizations were viewed by radical trade unionists as part of the perceived enemy, today these organizations are viewed as prestigious and legitimate avenues for upward mobility (Cebekhulu, 2013).
Trade Unions’ Effectiveness in Representing Employees
- Trade Unions’ Effectiveness in Collective Bargaining regarding
- Trade unions’ effectiveness in the protection of employees against
- Trade Unions’ Effectiveness in Handling Employees’ Grievances
- Are trade unions representatives able to effectively represent employees
- Challenges experienced by Trade Unions when fulfilling their Roles
Freeman (2012) found that 54 percent of respondents said unions are ineffective in collective bargaining for salary increases. Malopyane (2014) argues that unions are ineffective in collective bargaining for salary increases and in dealing with employee complaints.
Summary
The conclusion that can be drawn from the above discussion is that there are challenges that unions experience when they represent employees. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of employees regarding the effectiveness of trade unions in representing employees at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
The Objectives of the Study
Previous studies have shown that unions are not effective at representing workers because they tend to focus too much on politics, while others show that unions are effective at representing workers but fail to track their success to show; As a result, there has been a rapid increase in the general perception that unions are not effective in representing employees. This allowed the researcher to save time and money during data collection.
Research Design
In this study, the researcher collected data on the effectiveness of UKZN trade unions in representing employees through short interviews or discussions with participants. Therefore, the researcher decided to use descriptive research because it goes hand in hand with the mixed methods research approach of this study.
Research Approach/Paradigm
All participants said their unions engaged with employers in collective bargaining over wage increases. In the results of this study, the majority of participants agreed that unions are effective in handling employee grievances.
Study Site
Target Population
In all schools under the College of Humanities, there are 66 employees who are members of trade unions, including union officials (both support and academic staff). In all schools under the College of Law and Management Studies there are 78 employees who are members of trade unions, including union officials (both support and academic staff).
Sample
Sample Size
35 | P a g e staff of 34 employees in all schools under the College of Law and Management Studies at the Westville Campus. It was stated above that there are 144 employees within the Law and Management Studies and College of Humanities who are members of trade unions.
Sampling Strategies
The stratified random sampling method is used when the researcher wants to highlight specific subgroups within the population. This sampling method helped the researcher to have both support and academic staff represented in the sample, as the target group of this study consists of these types of staff.
Data and Methods of Collecting Data
Open-ended Questionnaires
Open-ended questions were used, as they allowed respondents to have an unlimited number of possible answers. These questions gave respondents freedom in the research and allowed respondents to share their perceptions and experiences about union effectiveness without being influenced.
Closed-ended Questionnaires
Therefore, the researcher used these questions to collect detailed data on the perceptions and experiences of employees regarding the effectiveness of trade unions in their representation. 40 | Information on employees' perceptions of the effectiveness of trade unions in representing them.
Data Analysis techniques
Data Collection Methods
Mixed Methods Research Approach
Research Interview Questions
The research interview questions describe the problem the researcher wants to know more about, but the researcher rarely learns about that topic by asking literal questions. Research interview questions are generally too broad to serve as productive interview questions” (Ardilly & Tille, 2007: 89).
Interviews
The Logic for using Semi-Structured Interviews
Self-administered questionnaire refers to a questionnaire specifically designed to be completed by a respondent without the intervention of the researcher (eg an interviewer) collecting the data” (King, 2010: 24). This gave the participants the opportunity to answer the questions in their own way without the intervention of the researcher.
Methods used to Ensure Validity and Reliability
Validity
Semi-structured interviews allow the research participants the freedom to express their opinions when responding to questions” (Ardilly & Tille, 2010: 87). This helped the researcher to save time and focus on other parts of the study because there was no need to interview the participants, the participants were given the questionnaires and they responded to the questionnaires.
Reliability
Respondents who were interviewed face-to-face responded much better than those who emailed their responses because they were not available for face-to-face interviews. This means that the other researchers who are going to do the same research can perform the same experiment and generate the same results under the same conditions.
Pilot Study
Summary
This chapter consists of two sections, Section A, which covers the demographic details of all research participants. The researcher also reminded the research participants of their right to withdraw from participating in this study at any time and they were also assured of their anonymity and that confidentiality would be observed.
Presentation and analysis of data
The questionnaires (open and closed) were used to collect data from UKZN employees, both support and academic staff. Before each interview session, all research participants were informed about the study, including the aims and objectives, and were required to read and sign the consent letter.
Section A: Demographic Data
Data presentation
44% of the participants in this study had an undergraduate degree, 34% a graduate degree, 14% a certificate, and 8% a high school diploma. 50 | Page Figure 4.5: Showing the total percentage of participants according to the number of years of union membership.
Interpretation of results
There was 0 percent participation of those under 21 and those over 60. The majority of participants were the members of UKSU with 39 percent, NEHAWU with 26 percent, and COMSA with 18 percent and 17 percent of the participants were the members of NTEU.
Data Presentation and analysis: Section B
The participation by staff category saw the most participants being academic staff at 57 per cent and support staff being the lowest at 43 per cent. Most participants were from the Westville campus with 54 percent and the Howard College campus with 46 percent.
Objective 1: To investigate the effectiveness of trade unions during collective
- Research Instrument 1: Open-ended Questionnaires
- Research Instrument 2: Closed-ended Questionnaires
- Interpretation of results Research Instrument 1 Open-ended Questionnaires
- Interpretation of results Research Instrument 2 Closed-ended Questionnaires
- Comparisons of both questionnaires
- Findings of previous studies
Trade unions conduct collective negotiations with employers about salary increases and the protection of employees against unfair treatment such as discrimination. Unions are effective in collective bargaining for salary increases and in protecting employees from unfair treatment such as discrimination.
Objective 2: To determine whether trade unions are effective in handling
- Research Instrument 1: Open-ended Questionnaire
- Research Instrument 2: Closed-ended Questionnaire
- Interpretation of results: Open-ended Questionnaires
- Interpretation of results: Closed-ended Questionnaires
- Comparisons of both Questionnaires
- Findings of Previous Studies
Looking at the findings of this study, only 4 percent of participants said they are not sure if their unions are effective in handling their grievances. Bryson (2012) found that 7 out of 10 (70 percent) employees said their union could handle their grievances.
Objective 3: To explore whether trade unions’ representatives can effectively
- Research Instrument 1: Open-ended Questionnaire
- Research Instrument 2: Closed-ended Questionnaire
- Interpretation of results: Open-ended Questionnaires
- Interpretation of results: Closed-ended Questionnaires
- Comparisons of both Questionnaires
- Findings of Previous Studies
All participants said that their unions had union representatives (shop managers) who represent employees in the workplace. 48 percent of respondents said the situation would be worse if there were no union representatives, because union representatives are effective in representing workers.
Objective 4: To determine the challenges experienced by trade unions when
- Research Instrument 1: Open-ended Questionnaire
- Research Instrument 2: Closed-ended Questionnaire
- Interpretation of results: Open-ended Questionnaires
- Interpretation of results: Closed-ended Questionnaires
- Comparisons of both Questionnaires
- Findings from Previous Studies
4 out of 36 participants) 11 percent of participants said they are unsure if there are challenges unions experience in representing employees. In both findings, the majority of participants said there are challenges unions experience in representing workers.
Key themes drawn from the research objectives
Unions are involved in collective bargaining over salary increases and they protect employees from unfair treatment. The challenges unions experience when representing employees include: lack of funding and legal expertise.
Summary
This study examined employee perceptions of the effectiveness of unions in representing employees at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Summary of chapters
It began by stating how data were collected using Research Instrument 1 (open-ended questionnaires) and Research Instrument 2 (closed-ended questionnaires). She also presented the data collected with research instruments 1 and 2, provided comparisons of data from research instruments 1 and 2, and the findings of previous studies.
Research questions
From the findings of this study, participants argued that there are challenges experienced by trade unions when representing employees. The participants argued that these challenges affect trade unions, as a result, trade unions may be ineffective in carrying out their duties, but trade unions are able to address these challenges.
Recommendations
Lack of expertise or resources, close-knit unions, political power that hinders union progress, and bureaucracy, lack of funding and legal expertise, etc.
Recommendations for Future Studies
Conclusion
Trade Unions and Democracy: Political Attitudes of COSATU Workers in South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa: Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Press. Challenges Facing South African Trade Unions in the New Millennium, Thesis (PhD)-University of Durban-Westville.
