MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Cognitive rules and culture
Systems relating to cognitive rules
8.10 In UNISON the issue of the status of lay members versus officers and
managers was particularly complex for a range of reasons. First, the
three unions were, however one described them, very different.
Secondly, because of those differences, there were so many
stereotypes in the minds of organisational members that there is the
danger that by recording views about the way things changed, one
might merely be perpetuating stereotypes. One manager illustrates that
point:-
The mythology at the time was that NALGO was in the hands of
activists and officers were running round as committee clerks
and NUPE, you know, it was the iron fist of officer control and
lay members never got a look in. COHSE were somewhere in
between. I suppose like all stereotypes and generalisations
there was a bit of an element of truth in it but I never felt that it
was as extreme as portrayed (Interviewee L)
However, the following tables seek to encapsulate the principal
evidence from managers in the three old unions. The reason for
presenting so much detail is simply because there is so much relevant
data.
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