MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Modes of management - styles
Modes of Management
6.18. Set out earlier were some of the values espoused by trade union
managers, derived from their experience as trade unionists. Fairness,
unity and openness were amongst those identifiable. Here the intention
is to examine the way they manage and any possible sources for their
espoused approaches.
The first issue identified is that management style tends to reflect the
experiences which managers have acquired from their partner unions:-
Then they looked at the different styles and you've got your
autocrat, of which there was a good example in the CPSA and
then you have got the laissez-faire approach, of which you had a
good example in PTC and they need to be somewhere in
between. (Interviewee J)
In terms of style, this tends to be rather historic and cultural.
Managers tend to follow the custom and practice of the union
they came from which in the CPSA was largely command, in the
IRSF was charismatic/inclusive and in the NUCPS had been
rather a fractional/command type approach. It tends to follow
ideas of good practice in the civil service. (Interviewee F)
It would not be surprising if managers’ styles related in some way to the
cognitive rules arising from their previous cultural experiences. They
also, again unsurprisingly, are influenced by more personal
characteristics:-
I think that's (appropriate management styles) a very difficult
thing to prescribe because there are some officials, I think, to
whom -- we all think it comes to us naturally and it depends what
view we take about ourselves -- but there are some officials like
that where it is quite a natural thing for them to do. That
happens to be their personal style of how they deal with people
anyway. It is a very, very difficult thing. I mean, you can train
somebody to play football but you can't train them to be Pele at
the end of the day. But there is a certain standard, I think, which
the employer, in terms of the union, has to set. (Interviewee D)
I'm not sure that you can stereotype management style. If you're
in the people business, people are different. Somebody will
come along and do my job after me, but do it differently because
their style will be different and they are just different people.
(Interviewee B)
Two managers were prepared to hazard a view on an appropriate style
in a trade union:-
193