MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Conclusions
managers. There is insufficient evidence to identify this as the major
factor bearing on whether managers do or do not accept managerial
roles - indeed, many of those who readily accept these roles are
themselves elected – but it is an issue which requires exploration.
Systems
Resource distribution systems
The CWU is a substantially centralised union and it is no surprise to
record that its financial systems are centralised, incorporating an ability
for central management to top up allocations for particular activities
when required. Some functional managers, such as those contracting
outside solicitors, seem to have clear frameworks; other functional
managers, such as reprographics, do not. Those in negotiating roles
have operational control of only limited aspects of budgets, such as
meetings costs. This obviously raises issues of the interface with the
democratic system, if the only way of controlling meetings costs is to
restrict meetings, but this is not something which the union’s new
management is proposing to shy away from.
Lay members are being increasingly involved in budgetary processes
and new systems are planned which will rationalise much of what is in
place. The changes proposed, however, will represent a major change
for the union; one which may prove more possible than otherwise
because of the difficult financial position that the union has been in.
The allocation of physical resources was also a centrally driven
initiative, at one point also becoming a national political issue in that the
decision to acquire a new head office in Wimbledon became a contest
between ex partner union representatives on the NEC. Although a
relaxed approach was taken to choice of layouts in individual
departments, the design of the main negotiating floors reflected partner
union practice and contained partner union artefacts, the latter decision
being explicitly tolerated by senior management. Communication with
members about these decisions seem designed to forestall criticism
about the resource implications of the move, concentrating therefore on
efficiency, economies of scale and the building of the new union.
Systems relating to cognitive rules
The two partner unions had very different traditions in the area of
leadership predominance in that the UCW appears to have worked in a
culture where the General Secretary had a great deal more influence
than in the NCU, a more factional union where lay members contended
for influence. In CWU there seems general consent that the General
Secretary has significantly less influence than was the case in the
UCW. The word ‘partnership’ is used but in the context of descriptions
of lay members having achieved victories in what seem to have been
zero sum conflicts. It is not clear whether ex UCW lay activists have
engaged in these conflicts along with their colleagues from the NCU
(insofar as these distinctions have present day relevance) but the
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