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MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

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Trade union managers<br />

We did that because that was good management practice from<br />

our point of view. Now, they had insufficient training. We have a<br />

good training package together here. We work hard with our<br />

advisers, who are external suppliers, to try to get us a good<br />

training package. We’re concentrating on that. People are taking<br />

it on board. When we interview people for promotion, it is clear<br />

what the job is. If you look at the grade description, the job<br />

description, of these people, the senior national officer, they will<br />

clearly indicate that management is a big function that they have<br />

to undertake. (Interviewee K)<br />

These final points, and the point about the importance of training, are<br />

shared:-<br />

I think they do.(Senior National Officers regard themselves as<br />

managers) Yes, largely because there has been a lot of effort<br />

put into training, I think and the real value of any kind of training,<br />

which is run by the Industrial Society, is that opportunity to just<br />

step back and think about your job and to think about what<br />

percentages of your time you are spending on different activities.<br />

(Interviewee N)<br />

And the point is made that acceptance did not happen overnight<br />

We set up a structure within Headquarters which makes it plain<br />

that at various levels people have clear, hopefully clear,<br />

management responsibilities, both for staff and resources. And I<br />

think that message is getting across. But like any big cultural<br />

change it takes a bit of time. (Interviewee A)<br />

But there is still speculation about some senior staff’s commitment to<br />

their managerial roles:-<br />

As far as I can tell, from my position, I would say that all of the<br />

negotiating people who become senior managers do accept that<br />

senior management role and have bought into it. Then we have<br />

got the other side of the house, the more administration type of<br />

function, and again we have a senior manager in each part of<br />

that and I would say that probably about half see themselves as<br />

managers and half as doers. (Interviewee C)<br />

This, however, is not reflected in the qualitative data collected as part<br />

of this project in which the interviewees have talked coherently and<br />

often creatively about their roles, however surprised they might feel at<br />

having found themselves in that position.<br />

As was mentioned in paragraph 6.4, an hiatus existed in PCS as a<br />

result of inertia caused by the relations between the Joint General<br />

Secretaries. Management seems to have suffered. A new training<br />

programme commenced with a series of courses on Member Focus<br />

that caused considerable unrest on the part of participants because<br />

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