MEMBERS' VIEWS ON THEIR STAFF ASSOCIATION AND ITS ROLE IN THE DECISION STRUCTURE Available to Purchase

The views of academic staff in a large CAE were sought on a number of aspects of their staff association with particular reference to its role in the organization's decision structure. Generally speaking, staff make little use of their association as a channel of communication or as a means of exercising influence on those committees on which the association has ex officio membership. Measures of active and passive participation are highly inter‐correlated and so are levels of satisfaction with the association's performance of its functions. Discriminant analysis suggests that participation in the association is related to staff satisfaction with the operation of decision‐making machinery at the School rather than the institutional level. Measures of satisfaction are positively related to staff members' integration with the organization, indicating a degree of incorporation. This seems a consequence of the situation rather than any shortcoming of the association itself. A general consideration of the appropriate role of staff associations leads to the conclusion that they have a very limited function. In these circumstances participation in their activities may be explained by the symbolic nature of participation itself.