Michael Dempsey

CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY MICHAEL DEMPSEY MANAGING TRADE UNIONS A CASE STUDY EXAMINATION OF MANAGERIAL ACTIVITIES IN FOUR UK TRADE UNIONS FORMED BY MERGER School of Management PhD Thesis April 2004 1 ABSTRACT In 1985, the researcher took up employment in what he regarded as a senior management position as Assistant General Secretary (Administration) of NALGO, the public service union. The objective was to gain management experience alongside continuing management education. Whilst there were others seeking to manage to the best of their ability, the idea was not universally accepted. However, the union, by the end of the decade, had embarked on management development courses for senior managers and by the time it merged and became part of UNISON, managerial activities were visible in many areas. It was not, however, clear the extent to which – if at all – such phenomena were observable in other trade unions. The literature did not help in this respect. Research to establish whether trade union managers existed and, if so, what their roles were appeared to offer the prospect of examining a new area of trade union life. This research is based on interviews with 56 senior trade union staff in four trade unions formed by merger – CWU, PCS, UNiFI and UNISON. Only one of those individuals professed not to accept a managerial role and that person accepted that he had a responsibility to ensure that the union was managed. Original findings include the following:- • There is a category of employee in trade unions known as a ‘trade union manager’, a role not previously identified by empirical research and discussed in the literature. • Trade union management develops depending on the level of institutional support. In the case study unions, there were links between this and the stage of merger that the unions had reached. Prior to institutional acceptance, there are managers who do their best to manage, operating in something of a cocoon. • Trade union managers espouse trade union principles which include the notion of fairness, imputing a concern for the way people are treated, including the staff for whom they are responsible. • Management remains in many ways a problematic concept in trade unions, leading often to its undervaluation. Trade union managers may perceive that it involves the exercise of power of the powerless, judgment on the weak. Trade union managers may as a result be ambivalent at being judgmental and, consequently, at managing conduct or performance. • Trade union managers manage stakeholders in polyarchal organisations but boundaries with lay activists are unclear; they engage in contests to define those boundaries and to manage what they regard as their own responsibilities. • Boundaries may include those relating to conflictual relations, constitutional boundaries, moveable boundaries, staff boundaries and policy/political boundaries. 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is, as they say in ‘East Enders’, a little previous to acknowledge people who have helped one achieve something before one knows whether one has achieved it. However, whether I achieve it or not, it is important to acknowledge the people who have been responsible for the high spots in a process which, inevitably, has had its low spots. Without what the following people have done for me, and to whom I am eternally grateful, I should never have got as far as producing this document. • My Review Panel at Cranfield, Dr. John Towriss, Dr. Mark Jenkins and Dr. David Partington. The review system at Cranfield is one of the strongest aspects of the programme and, as I said at my Second Review, it amazes me that busy and distinguished academics should be prepared to spend such a lot of their valuable time reading one’s prentice efforts and giving such valuable feedback. • The inventors of QSR NVivo, who include Professor Lyn Richards of the University of Western Sydney. Also, Ann Lewins of the University of Surrey. I went to an invaluable NVivo workshop at Guildford in 2002 and, following the cancellation of another, spent a very long time on the phone to Ann receiving some characteristically technically assured and rigorously practical advice on how to use the system. I do not know how anyone could possibly do qualitative research without it. • My supervisor, Professor Chris Brewster, who has read and commented on material no matter where in the world he was; no matter how bad it was, he was always confidence building. • My amazing wife, Win, who has put up with my being a miserable old goat for months on end • And, most of all, to those remarkable people who have allowed me to interview them and who have given me such unique data. I have been wildly impressed with the dedication, ability and inner strength of pretty well everyone I have met – characteristics which belie much of the cynical, axe grinding and outdated literature about trade union officials and leaders. It would be good to think that, if they become recognised as dedicated trade union managers, focussed on their members and their people, they will be able to begin to gain the credit they so richly deserve. 3 CONTENTS Abstract 2 Acknowledgments 3 Table of Contents 4 Exhibits 6A 1. Introduction. 7 1.1. Introduction 7 1.2. History, development and research question 7 1.3. An introduction to this research study 9 1.4. Method and contribution 15 2. Literature review 18 2.1. Introduction to Chapter two 18 2.2. Key issues 18 2.3. Organisational issues 20 • Governance 20 • Unions as organisations 22 • The stakeholder perspective 24 • Stakeholder power 31 2.4. Managerial issues 34 • Officers and leaders 34 • Managers and managing 37 • Merger 43 • What managers do 47 2.5. Propositions 51 3. Methodology 53 3.1. Introduction to Chapter three 53 3.2. Philosophical approach 54 • Realism 56 3.3. Case studies 62 3.4. Cases and interviewees 64 • Interviewees 65 3.5. Interviews 66 • Opening of interview 67 • Union managers 67 • Stakeholders and governance 67 • Merger management, including physical space 68 3.6. Data analysis 68 3.7. Triangulation, bias and tests 70 4. Introduction to case studies 75 4.1. Explanation of chapter 75 4.2. Framework of case studies 75 4 CHAPTERS 5, 6, 7 AND 8 – CASE STUDIES SECTION TITLE 5. 6. 7. 8. CWU PCS UNiFI UNISON About the union 77 131 202 274 Interviewees 78 132 203 275 Trade union managers 79 133 204 276 Systems Systems related to distribution of resources 82 136 206 280 Systems related to cognitive rules 86 142 212 285 Systems related to moral rules 94 153 223 297 Managerial activities Deploying resources 98 158 229 301 ‘Meaningful’ managerial actions Merger management 101 164 235 310 Managerial tasks Managing by information 108 171 243 313 Managing through people 110 173 245 315 • Performance management 111 175 247 318 • Staff development 113 177 249 321 • Teams 114 180 250 322 Managing action 115 182 254 324 ‘Legitimate’ managerial actions 118 185 257 326 Modes of management 122 193 264 336 Conclusions Trade union managers 125 195 267 340 Systems Resource distribution 126 195 267 340 Cognitive rules 126 196 268 340 Moral rules 127 197 268 341 Managerial activities Deploying resources 127 197 269 342 ‘Meaningful’ managerial actions Merger management 128 198 269 342 Managerial tasks Managing by information 128 198 270 342 Managing through people 128 198 270 343 Managing action 129 199 271 343 ‘Legitimate’ managerial actions 129 199 271 344 Modes of management 129 200 271 344 9. Cross Case Analysis 9.1. Introduction to Chapter nine 346 9.2. Acceptance of managerial roles 346 • The merger context 346 • Managerial roles 349 • Hypotheses 353 9.3. Managing people and physical resources 356 • Merger management 359 • Managing by information 360 • Managing people 361 • Performance management 364 • Staff development 365 • Teams 367 5 • Managing action 368 9.4. Stakeholder management 370 • Boundaries 374 9.5. Resource deployment 379 • Financial systems and planning 380 • Representative rationality 380 • ‘Fairness’ 380 9.6. Summary 381 • Propositions 382 10. Conclusions 10.1. Introduction to Chapter ten 384 10.2. Theoretical conclusions 384 • Trade union managers 384 • The activities of trade union managers 386 o Merger management 387 o Managing by information 387 o Managing through people 388 o Performance management 390 o Staff development 390 o Team management 392 o Leadership 393 o Resource deployment 393 • Interface with lay activists and members 395 o Models of governance 398 10.3. Theory replicated or confirmed 402 • Trade union principles 402 • Merger management 402 10.4. Theory developed or extended 402 • Analysing managerial work 402 • Management as a problematic concept 403 • The theory of polyarchy 403 • Trade union governance 403 10.5. Contribution of the study to knowledge 404 • Trade union managers 404 • Nature of trade union managers 405 • Boundary management 405 10.6. Limitations of research 406 10.7. Implications for practitioners 407 10.8. Further research 408 10.9 Evidence of dissemination 409 10.10. Postscript 409 Bibliography 411 Appendices 1. Document analysis 418 2. Interview aide-memoire 425 3. Stage 1 node printout 429 4. Extract from stage 2 node printout 432 5. Second stage – mode of undertaking managerial roles 433 6. Final node printout 437 6 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1. INTRODUCTION In 1987, I wrote a series of articles in the Local Government Chronicle with the main title; ‘Trade union management; a professional job.’ Whilst initially the contact had been made by my union’s Press Officer, she subsequently refused to handle articles because union management was not within her remit. Two years later, the union embarked on a programme of management development courses for senior managers, including the Press Officer’s line manager, which was probably unique in unions in the UK.

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