MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

‘Legitimate’ managerial actions - stakeholders
Earlier there was a discussion about the political role of the Regional
Secretary and the problematic issues that raised. In Scotland, this
problem is magnified:-
It is something of a problem for me because I think the role of
Scotland is different because there are so many areas I am
involved in that replicate what the secretariat is doing in London.
Other managers have distinguished between political issues with a
large and a small p. One manager describes thoughtfully how difficult
this can be:-
When I go to the Policy Committee, I am quite clear I go there as
the Director of Policy and I am giving policy advice for the whole
union, for Unison. I don't go there as the Labour Party NEC rep
and try and persuade them that, you know, what the Labour
Party is doing. So in the sense that those sort of formal things,
about actually going to the committees, is actually fairly
straightforward and when I go to the A P F committee, they have
elected me to represent them so they are quite clear that I am
accountable to them in terms of what I do for the Labour Party. I
guess those aren't the problems. The problems are at what
happens the rest of the time and I do end up wearing lots of
different hats all in one go and I do get some criticism for having
my Labour Party NEC hat on when I shouldn't have it on, and I
suppose D might say on occasions he doesn’t know which hat I
am wearing when I am giving him advice, let's put it that way.
So I probably do get them muddled up . Now whether it is
possible to separate them, I don't know. I am aware of it and I
am quite sensitive about it but when it comes down to it, you just
have to give the best advice you can. You can't just keep
constantly changing hats. (Interviewee J)
Another manager explains how he approaches different forms of
political issues:-
I think it is political with a small p. It's an influencing role, isn't it.
It's political -- and big P, yes, we still have big political issues to
feed into the union but they are not as high profile as Local
Government. Things like the minimum wage, for example, aren't
really an issue. I think there is still a political role in persuasion
and influencing people. (Interviewee L)
One manager agrees that he has an influencing role and sees
managing political boundaries as part of the whole job of being a
manager in a trade union:-
I see the two as going together. I see my role as a manager as
being political. I see being a manager as a political job within an
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