MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

‘Legitimate’ managerial actions - stakeholders
the nature of things, things sometimes did hinge on the
interpretation of a word. I am always absolutely amazed that the
rule book is not used more than it is in Unison. I thought at one
stage it was going to be on everybody's desk well thumbed but
often it's not. That helps define the culture, I think and that's
what I would often go back to when I was trying to work out the
things that I am here for. You know, I re- read the aims and
objectives to work out what does this mean in this context.
(Interviewee A)
One manager finds the Rule Book difficult to interpret:-
You have got in the constitution and rules which says things
about roles but the example I gave about the Regional Council,
one of its functions (and it is not just our Regional Council that
has adopted this themselves, it is in the model rules for Regional
Councils) is to oversee allocation of resources. I think that
creates huge problems. What does that mean? It varies from
region to region. It depends on the lay members. It depends on
the Regional Secretary. It depends what you want. In some
regions Regional Secretaries are very keen to deny that the
Regional Council should have any role. Myself, I think they
should because it says they should but how much is a problem.
(Interviewee O)
Whereas other managers find the Rule Book of little practical help:-
I very rarely refer to the rule book. I tend more to what is
practical. Obviously there are times when I refer to the rule
book, if we get into a nitty-gritty debate about something and
then it is sometimes useful to wave the rules around but I do not
like doing that too often because you get it done back to you if
you do that, and that is not always helpful. (Interviewee N)
Probably not, (the Rule Book being of help) except that I
suppose the Conference is ostensibly the democratic vehicle.
(Interviewee L)
Another manager finds it of importance in specific cases:-
I can't remember the last time that I ever consulted the rule book
but generally you know, as a result of your knowledge and
experience, whether that needs to go to NEC committee or
whether it should go to Service Group Liaison or whether it
should be going to the two service groups if there are two
service groups involved or whether this or that. I think the rule
book is a bigger issue. Where authority lies is important and so
you know that the industrial action is being planned in local
government, you know where that needs to go before you can
sanction it. So the rule book is important in that sense but there
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