MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Cognitive rules and culture
and then use that to get rid of people. That has been the pattern
in the past. People have got away with blue murder. But there
have been instances where people have gone too far and they
have gone. (Interviewee H)
One manager thinks these views may be over-stated:-
I think the one most people in Unison talk about and would talk
about if they were discussing with managers outside the
organisation, if that's not getting too hypothetical, would be
about what are perceived as constraints on personnel
management, I think. If you get a group of managers in Unison
together, they will say things like -- well, you can't tell anyone to
do anything and you can't use disciplinary procedures, you can't
do this and you can't do that. I have to say, I really think that's
overstated. It's obviously a perception and it may have been the
case more in the past. I think it's not true now. You know, I
think it is pretty clear. I think the concern has always been that
you wouldn't get senior management support if you initiate some
kind of difficult disciplinary procedure, for example. I don't think
that's the case. I think in Unison disciplinary procedures
probably are used as a last resort but that's not necessarily a
bad position to be in (Interviewee G)
Lack of support from senior management is stated by another as a
perception held by some, though, as here, she did not share it. Another
manager, however, believes that such perceptions may be an excuse:-
Meaning that if we had a problem with staff, for example, I think
sometimes managers will find excuses not to deal with a
member of staff or to deal with them perhaps in a very friendly
way. I think that we should be sharper in dealing with them. I
am not saying in a ruthless way, you are out, you are sacked. I
think that is the wrong policy elsewhere when that happens. I
think there are steps that we should take, such as counselling
staff if there is a problem, discussing with them what is causing
difficulty they may be experiencing from a work point of view.
What I do think is that we don't do it quickly enough all sharp
enough. We let things drag on at times here (Interviewee N)
Speed in dealing with personnel issues is also raised as a criticism in
another context:-
Some of our personnel policies frankly are ludicrous. Some of
the opportunities that people have -- I'll give you a classic
example in here. We are going through it just now on a bullying
and harassment case. The impact that has on the entire office
for something that can spin on for two years and then is bound
to be verging on the vexatious when no one is willing to do
something about that -- when I say no one I mean, I think,
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