MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Modes of management - styles
property "and that is all that has happened in the last two
months, then unless they are, like, on the ball or they haven't got
a load of meetings to go to, that will be it. You have the ability,
almost, to control the meeting by you determining what goes on
it. (Interviewee N)
It was suggested that some basic trade union skills were appropriate in
managing these boundaries:-
The real problem is how you manage the relationship with the
executive. Looking back on it, probably, I could have done it
better. It was a very politicised union with three factions -- left,
right, and the clerical group. It was not an easy group to deal
with. Nevertheless you had to deal with it and I suppose when I
look back at the successes, those were that my political nous
enabled me to find compromise solutions that were a way
forward in reforming the union. (Interviewee O)
You can't pick up a detached set of rules and say that I know
this will be the outcome for this problem or this issue. You have
to go in to negotiate and like any set of negotiations it is where
the balance of factors lie on any one day. (Interviewee G)
In the CWU, therefore, there seems to be a more relaxed acceptance
of the democratic structure and the obligations it imposes in terms of
stakeholder management than is exhibited by some other trade union
managers elsewhere. Boundaries are contested - they are in many
cases clear in theory but unclear in practice - and strategies are
adopted to manage them, both power strategies and skills learned from
managers’ core experiences as trade unionists.
Modes of management
5.15. Earlier, there was discussion about trade union principles and how
these were understood as relevant by CWU managers. Fairness
(linked, as it happens, to firmness) and unity were two which seemed
particularly appropriate.
Here the intention is to examine whether these principles are reflected
in the ways in which CWU managers approach their managerial tasks.
It has to be said that there are suggestions that some managers would
have difficulty reconciling their managerial styles with any known trade
union principles:-
In the old UCW, and this comes back to the fact that they are not
trained professionally, some of their management styles were
quite bullying and oppressive. (Interviewee K)
People also know that I can be quite an uncompromising
bastard and I ask no favour and give no quarter in the building. I
am quite a hostile individual in debate but hostility does not
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