MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Cognitive rules and culture
I think in the main it was down to a few key individuals there
were driving things from within the old BIFU and to many ex
BIFU members it was also a breath of fresh air, that they had got
a different culture coming in as well. (Interviewee H)
So cultural issues were a factor in the cognitive processes of managers
in UNiFI. Individual experiences will also have impacted, in particular
the experience of dealing with management on the other side of the
table:-
I think that there is a culture of unions whereby we're there to
represent our members and I think that there seems to be this
culture that we can't be managers because those are the people
who, day in day out, we are criticising. (Interviewee O
This is a view which is commonly expressed by managers in other
unions. There is a feeling in UNiFI that management has problematic
features but not quite in these rather polarised terms. It seems to
manifest itself in more individual circumstances:-
I think there is inbuilt resistance from the people who are meant
to do the personal development plans with their staff because
we don't treat them as managers at any level. There are loads
of systems but there is that inbuilt resistance anyway. For the
people who are having personal development plans done, what
is the fucking point? How does this help me? So you get that
because in the main their backgrounds are not that. Their
backgrounds are that they have come to work for a trade union
in their thirties after they have been active or whatever, the
classic recruitment shape (Interviewee G)
The point about personal development plans is, in fact, not supported
from the Investors in People assessment findings, which were earlier
than this interview, suggesting either that the interviewee had a very
different perception or that the PDP process had broken down to some
extent in the interim:-
All interviewees had PDP discussions with their line manager. In
all cases training and development needs were discussed and,
where necessary , training actions agreed. Both managers and
staff commented on the benefits that the personal development
planning has brought.
• "The PDP process is very good. It provides the
opportunity for me to discuss with my staff where they
want to go and to help them to develop personal
goals” (IIP Assessment July 2000)
However, other managers share perceptions that management has
problematic features:-
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