MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Managing by information
I will probably have a weekly chat -- because we kind of split the
staff; although we manage them they report to one or the other -
- with my staff individually, just to say, what happened this week,
what are we working on and we jointly decide whether that is
worth spending time on, or "well we have had a lot of queries on
that; do you think you should do a general thing about that?" Or,
“well, hang on, we have got that coming up.” And the other side
of the deal is that if there is a problem, then they tell us as soon
as there is a problem, whether that be relations with another
member of staff or a deadline that they are not going to hit, they
tell us and we try and renegotiate it. If it can't be then I think
they kind of know the strategy for dealing with that. And having
the backdrop of the PDP for their personal development and
knowing what interests them and where they want to be going,
then part of the equation about what were they will do or what
they want to initiate, that'll be a factor that will be taken into
account in that. So they will understand that they know that we
will back them and we will support them and we will be very
visible in disseminating information downwards generally. We
have the research Department meeting where we all get
together, we will talk about what we know about merger plans or
whatever, or finances -- we will bring that there and there will be
an open and frank discussion. So there is communication and
there can't be too much of it in all sorts of forms and in all sorts
of ways. They know that they can come to us any time.
(Interviewee J)
One manager recognises the need for communicating meaningfully
with staff but acknowledges his own personal difficulty in achieving that
task:-
I find to my surprise, I have to confess, that I'm not a natural
communicator. I mean, I don't go out and keep everybody
involved, advised and up-to-date. I'm a little bit secretive and I
suspect that that may be because of the pressures on my time.
I'm here late on in the evening, and whatever and I just try and
get things done. If I had a bit more time I suspect I would spend
more time as they say walking the job and just listening to what
people have to say. I do build in to the way we do things regular
staff meetings and briefings and all of that and I do listen to what
they have to say and I do change ideas or directions taking
account of people's input and their practical experience.
(Interviewee F)
However, other specific references to managerial communications are
almost exclusively in the context of those undertaken in the partner
unions immediately prior to merger; for example:-
We used to have regular meetings of our regional organiser
base but we also brought in our staff seconded reps on that as
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