MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Merger management
telling me that this was the route to go, then that was what I had
to do. So that was quite a challenging few weeks for me. I think
that the senior managers in particular found it a bit difficult
because they knew that I knew David and they also knew that I
was committed to this course of action, whatever they were
saying to me and whatever noise I was making, I was committed
to it. But as it worked out, it was the most significant event in the
run-up to the actual negotiations for the merger because what
came out of it very clearly was first that they were very clear that
I was committed to the change and that I would drive the change
through and so in that respect would be seen as the champion
for change, it confirmed that they were absolutely solid that if
something was going to happen, I was the best person for the
association in leading that to make sure that the association was
not swamped or disappeared and that thirdly they felt that at the
end of the process, it was the right thing to do. So some very,
very positive outcomes came from that
NWSA, he explained, subsequently extended this training to the staff:-
Having got that united front with senior officers, we put the staff
through it because they were very nervous as well and that the
end I was able to say that we will be able to make you certain
promises, having gone through mergers before, it was pretty
easy to determine what needed to be said.
Only one (NWSA) manager mentioned any of these events when
discussing merger management but did so in positive terms:-
We had a change management course that was very good, it
was a good day that we did (Interviewee B)
Although the General Secretary himself pointed to a success:-
If I said to them, for example, "well, we need to have rules that
mean that we will not have a rules revision conference for at
least three years", before that change management training they
might have said "well, what is this all about? This is not how we
do it." Having gone through the process, they were able to say
"yes, that seems to make sense. That's fine." So there was a
trust there
There were, however, particular difficulties for the staff of old UNiFI.
Management of the union had formed a view, following receipt of a
report from Cranfield, that merger with MSF was the most appropriate
step for the union and the staff had been prepared for this. When the
Executive decided something different, it became a particularly
challenging management task to motivate the staff to accept the
prospect of the three way merger which eventually occurred:-
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