MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Merger management
I am a big believer in the chaos theory. It is a very important
concept to me. Because I have enough examples around to
show that you have got to take chances, you have got to be able
to move out into areas that we are not sure about. My
philosophy is that it is okay to step into the dark, it is okay to
take a step into the unknown because we are all together, we
are holding hands so you are not going on your own. Now if we
decide that we want to go behind a particular line and that line
proves to be unfruitful, then we have lessons and reasons for
dealing with that as well. (Interviewee N)
This idea, that it was good to create an environment in which people
could learn from their mistakes, was given by another senior manager:-
It's like the civil service - we can't possibly do that because the
members wouldn't agree with it. Well, how do you know? If you
just got out a shovel and actually did it. We've gone down that
road now. Got a few more risk takers - there's not enough risk
takers in the trade union movement because traditionally there's
no cover given to them. We worked on the blame culture. If we
changed the background music and said 'it's OK to take risks,
let's go down that road and see where it takes us’. Sometimes it
may lead us down a blind alley. Like kids - when you've got kids.
When your kids are small they say 'what's round the corner,
Dad' and you say 'I've no idea, let's go and have a look.’
(Interviewee A)
Some reservations were evident about what was attempted in terms of
merger management:-
I think with hindsight some of the things that we tried to put in
place in terms of the project way of working, some of the
structures that we thought might come out the other side in
terms of strategic thinking were probably a bit too ambitious in
some ways because in hindsight they were never going to last
effectively through the merger. You were never going to get
people to manage properly. You needed to do a really
concerted attempt after the merger, as it were. They wouldn't
last. (Interviewee G)
And a rather different strategy was outlined:-
Some of them found it difficult to settle. I knew that. If you've got
them by the pay packet, their hearts and minds will follow. That's
why I concentrated on the terms and conditions. The terms and
conditions quite seamlessly drove away all the politics.
(Interviewee A)
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