MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Cognitive rules and culture
COHSE on
COHSE
• I would put
COHSE as, if 1
was lay member
led and 10 was
full time officer
led, at about 6. So
a very relaxed
relationship, that
is the important
thing between full
time officers and
ourselves.
(Interviewee B)
• I don't think we
had nearly as
direct a -- well, it
was a different
relationship. We
didn't have a
direct reporting
relationship to any
lay member
committee in
COHSE. You
weren't expected
to provide reports
on various levels
of activity but on
the other hand in
some ways, and I
am sure other
COHSE people
would say this, we
did have an easier
relationship with
lay members. It
was a friendly
relationship and
certainly one
based on, from
my perception, the
fact that they did
regard you as a
professional
officer doing a job
for them and they
were quite
pleased about
that. Quite happy
to argue about
different aspects
but they thought
you were trying to
do a good job for
them. (Interviewee
G)
• In COHSE it was
a very centre left
organisation and
there was this
kind of respect of
officers
(Interviewee D).
COHSE on
NALGO
• I did find it quite
strange in the
early days of the
merger talks that
there were certain
sections in both
NUPE and
NALGO,
particularly
NALGO, who
found it strange
that full time
officers and
people were, like,
socially together.
(Interviewee B)
288
COHSE on
NUPE
COHSE on
UNISON
• I would suggest that
if you took NALGO
as being the most
lay member led and
NUPE being the
least lay member
led, even in NALGO
in Health the
relationship between
full time officers and
lay members was
different from what it
was elsewhere.
(Interviewee B)
• I think that this is by
far the most - I don't
know, democratic?
I'm not entirely sure
that it's democratic -
- participatory
organisation I have
worked for. I have
friends who worked
for a number of
other unions who
are astonished at
the degree of lay
involvement in all
kinds of areas.
(Interviewee G)
• I think it's more
democratic. I think
that in the past, the
officers and
particularly -- well, I
don't know about
particularly - the
professional officers
but my impression
was that we led, we
were the experts
and though there
was a democratic
structure and there
were lay members
that sat on
committees which
endorsed policies,
really we were the
people that were
developing those
policies. That isn't
the case now. There
is definitely a
healthier partnership
and, I think, far
greater
accountability for the
democratic
processes
(Interviewee D)