| Summary: | The demographic composition of the North American workforce is changing due to the
increase in non-European immigrants and different reproductive rates among ethnic groups.
This trend has created the need for managers and academics to rethink traditional ways of
management and derive new ways to integrate minority workers for better performance.
Guided by a social psychological framework of multiculturalism, this project examined the
use of the grievance procedure in an ethnically diverse organization. It tested various
hypotheses concerning how ethnic belonging, perceived atmosphere of multiculturalism, and
individualism-collectivism value affected job satisfaction, complaint behaviours of workers,
the number of grievances filed, and workers' evaluations of the grievance procedure.
A study was conducted in the Vancouver plant of a Crown Corporation. Through the
cooperation of management and the union, labour officers, shop stewards, and supervisors of
the plant were first interviewed. After that, 650 questionnaires were distributed to in-house,
blue-collar workers who voluntarily participated in the study. Of the 139 questionnaires
returned (21%), 130 of them were completed and analyzed by regression.
Many of the hypotheses are supported. English ability is positively associated with
ethnic belonging for majority workers, but not for minority workers (Linguistic Vitality
Hypothesis). It is also positively associated with complaints to supervisors and the number of
grievances filed, but not with complaints to coworkers of same ethnic background (Linguistic
Accommodation Hypothesis). For minority workers, a stronger ethnic belonging is related to
perceiving a positive atmosphere of multiculturalism (Ethnic Confidence Hypothesis). This
relationship, however, does not exist for majority workers. Moreover, Ethnic Status Hypothesis is also supported, as ethnic status is positively associated with perceiving a more
positive atmosphere of multiculturalism.
Contrary to the general beliefs concerning multiculturalism, perceived atmosphere of
multiculturalism has little direct effect on grievance behaviours in a multicultural workplace
(Primary Multiculturalism Hypothesis). However, in line with the literature of situational
ethnicity, the interaction of perceived atmosphere of multiculturalism and ethnic belonging
exerts significant effects on grievance behaviours (Secondary Multiculturalism Hypothesis).
In particular, when atmosphere of multiculturalism is perceived as high, ethnic belonging is
positively related to job satisfaction, but is negatively related to complaints to supervisors.
On the other hand, when the atmosphere is perceived as low, ethnic belonging is positively
related to the number of grievances filed.
In addition to findings concerning multiculturalism, different kinds of individualismcollectivism
values were found to influence grievance behaviours in different ways.
Coworker collectivism is positively related to complaints to supervisors, complaints to
coworkers of same ethnic backgrounds, and the number of grievances filed. On the other
hand, general collectivism is negatively associated with complaints to shop stewards, the
number of grievances filed, but is positively associated with feelings of animosity and worry
of reprisal after grievances were filed.
These findings were discussed in light of research implications for individualismcollectivism,
Canadian multiculturalism policy, and diversity management. Furthermore, it is
recommended that alternative dispute resolution procedures, which allow disputants to
structure the process with freedom, be implemented in multicultural workplaces. === Business, Sauder School of === Graduate
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