A STRUCTURAL, CONTINGENCY APPROACH TO BUREAUCRACY AND DEMOCRACY IN USNATIONAL UNIONS

Drawing on industrial relations and organizational science concepts, i n this article we apply elements of contingency theory to national uni ons' representative and administrative structures. We argue that these structures are distinct and develop in response to different organiza tional and environmental imperatives. These ideas were tested with a u nique set of data on unions' characteristics and environments. The res ults provide broad support for our approach and suggest that greater c ollaboration among industrial relations and organizational science sch olars would benefit bath literatures.