MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Resource distribution systems
somebody looked at what we had spent last year so that I could
have no more than last year and I thought that would probably
just about do. And I have been told what I have got. But I do
not feel as though I had any influence at all in that. That does
worry me about the organisation. It is not financially stronger
and people talk about how worrying it is and how we’ve got to
get it sorted out but nobody really seems to be doing anything
about it. Maybe they are and I’m just not in the loop, I don’t
know……………I get a monthly or a quarterly report and I can
see what I spent but I’m not given the impression that it will be
terribly serious unless I have spent it all within the first three
months. It will really be a case of, well this is it. To be quite
honest, limited influence and limited concern because nobody
seems to care that much (Interviewee H)
One manager had a more philosophical point:-
I do not believe that generally it is treated as a business. You
can see it wherever you go. You can see it in people who ask
me for computer equipment. They say "I must have a new
laptop". So I say "I'm sorry, I have not got the budget." "We
need them, we have got to have them." "Well, hang on a
minute. We have not got the money…..Have you got the budget
for it?" "Oh no, I haven't got the budget for it. We thought you'd
have it." There seems to be a feeling that actually we don't have
to run this as a viable proposition. We don't have to make
money but we do have to survive. (Interviewee B)
Lay members are involved in the process of allocating resources:-
The F & GP makes most of the operational decisions on the
amount of resources that are available. It is a political judgment.
If it's big dough, people like the Executive have got to be aware
of the amount of money you are likely to be spending. And
basically get their approval for it or make sure they understand
it. That's a constraint, that's the basic one. We have to refer to
the shareholders. (Interviewee A)
And it will have been noted that managers have already made the point
that there are issues concerning the democratic process involved in
exercises of budgetary control. The General Secretary identified the
ability of budget holders to control their meetings costs (whilst
emphasising that there needed to be flexibility) whilst the Financial
Officer (who also stated that meeting costs were the principal item in
the budgets for the various institutions) said that he didn’t remember
anyone ever telling lay members that they could not meet. One
manager is, however, more comfortable with this process:-
I am not too worried whether I get a favourable response if I say
to somebody "you realise that it is June and you are three-
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