MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Trade union managers
We did that because that was good management practice from
our point of view. Now, they had insufficient training. We have a
good training package together here. We work hard with our
advisers, who are external suppliers, to try to get us a good
training package. We’re concentrating on that. People are taking
it on board. When we interview people for promotion, it is clear
what the job is. If you look at the grade description, the job
description, of these people, the senior national officer, they will
clearly indicate that management is a big function that they have
to undertake. (Interviewee K)
These final points, and the point about the importance of training, are
shared:-
I think they do.(Senior National Officers regard themselves as
managers) Yes, largely because there has been a lot of effort
put into training, I think and the real value of any kind of training,
which is run by the Industrial Society, is that opportunity to just
step back and think about your job and to think about what
percentages of your time you are spending on different activities.
(Interviewee N)
And the point is made that acceptance did not happen overnight
We set up a structure within Headquarters which makes it plain
that at various levels people have clear, hopefully clear,
management responsibilities, both for staff and resources. And I
think that message is getting across. But like any big cultural
change it takes a bit of time. (Interviewee A)
But there is still speculation about some senior staff’s commitment to
their managerial roles:-
As far as I can tell, from my position, I would say that all of the
negotiating people who become senior managers do accept that
senior management role and have bought into it. Then we have
got the other side of the house, the more administration type of
function, and again we have a senior manager in each part of
that and I would say that probably about half see themselves as
managers and half as doers. (Interviewee C)
This, however, is not reflected in the qualitative data collected as part
of this project in which the interviewees have talked coherently and
often creatively about their roles, however surprised they might feel at
having found themselves in that position.
As was mentioned in paragraph 6.4, an hiatus existed in PCS as a
result of inertia caused by the relations between the Joint General
Secretaries. Management seems to have suffered. A new training
programme commenced with a series of courses on Member Focus
that caused considerable unrest on the part of participants because
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