Author:

Keywords:

Gender, support, culture and conflict behaviour.

Abstract:

An important role of the shop steward is negotiating with management on behalf of the employees. Acting as a mediator between management and their co-workers, they find themselves often in a challenging position, and in many European countries it becomes more and more difficult to attract and maintain competent shop stewards. In this, it is remarkable, that still only a small percentage of shop stewards appear to be female, compared with men. Do women also have a different idea on the role of a shop steward, and have different ways of negotiating and conflict management? In this project we explore the experience of work by male and female shop stewards. Do they perceive different levels of stress in their role, and different demands and job resources? And is their approach to conflict and conflict management different from their male colleagues? In the following study we analyze a sample of more than 2000 shop stewards, both male and female, from five European countries (Spain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Germany) to investigate these issues. We arrive at the conclusion that women perceive autonomy and social support differently than men, but only in the more masculine countries. Whereas, in the more feminine ones the perception is similar. Consequently, the conflict management behavior of men and women is affected differently. We focus on the accommodating behavior in women, which we see as detrimental to their position and the holding of power inside the organizations. We explore interventions to promote women in the role as shop stewards.