MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Conclusions
present day union, there is a general belief that UNISON is a
partnership union, though not without some expressed concern about
the exact location of the boundaries – where the ‘shared zone’ is
situated. The exact nature of partnership, too, may be different in
service groups, and certainly different in regions, from that operating
with the NEC and its members and committees.
Despite the widespread acceptance of managerial roles, there is still
understanding of the historical situation in which trade union officials
rejected management as a concept. This seems to have been
particularly the case in NUPE, where the word was banned, suggesting
that managers from that tradition may have had a longer road to travel
than some others. But discussion of these issues displayed an
understanding of the roots of the problem – maybe in some residual
manifestation of class war – and of some of the remaining difficulties,
such as the use of language and the adoption of managerial
techniques about which members remained sceptical, such as
performance indicators. It also recognised that there had been a
tradition of substantial full time offices being, as one manager
described it, almost sub-contractors and that, although management
may reduce autonomy in practice, an appropriate type of management
could be offered as a trade off.
UNISON managers perceive there to be constraints on their
managerial practice, principally in the area of personnel practice and
particularly in areas of conduct and discipline. There are some
suggestions that relations with lay members are perceived as
constraining, but this is at a more personal, or political, level rather than
the identification of an institutional constraint.
Systems relating to moral rules
UNISON managers perceive fairness, together with linked values such
as openness and inclusiveness, as being the principles which they
believe should influence their managerial practice. The protection of
minorities is also identified, which, in that such action involves a belief
that minorities should have fair treatment, is very much of a part with
the idea of fairness.
UNISON managers seem also to exhibit values which involve a
commitment to the idea of partnership working. This is not, however
uncritical. There are suggestions that boundaries are sometimes drawn
in inappropriate places and the difficulty of this mode of working,
particularly where it involves accountability to lay member structures, is
recognised even if some managers perceive this as somehow involving
the use of committee management, or manipulation, skills.
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