MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

the impact which integration would have on their staff and who
approached it in a people centred way, trying to get to know the staff
and facilitating interaction between them. In PCS there was a highly
charged understanding of the different cultures of the two old unions –
something which is identified as a ‘meaning’ derived from old union
experiences - and managers took similar steps to try to build their new
functions, eventually bringing them together in the old CPSA head
office, which had an impact on staff attitudes, if only for a short time. In
PCS there were participative approaches to actually planning
integration within individual units. So in these two unions there is some
evidence of people-centred approaches at individual manager level,
though the extent of corporate support for individual managers may
have meant that some managers were, in effect, operating in
something of a cocoon.
In UNiFI integration as a whole union did not occur at head office level.
However, the union’s integration strategy was based around the idea of
project working, in which staff at all levels would work together,
irrespective of grade, function and location, to undertake some real
projects which would be of benefit to the union. Project management
activities were undertaken by people at different levels. Furthermore,
working towards Investors in People, important for integration, required
managers to develop skills in the managerial activities required to gain
the standard, in particular in undertaking PDP interviews. UNISON’s
management development strategy helped managers to surface issues
about what it meant to be a UNISON manager and the implications for
their management within the organisation. Workshops for managers
and staff on management of change were held. Split site working was a
reality in both unions, for different reasons, and this seems to have had
a greater adverse impact on managers in UNISON than in UNiFI. Both
these unions’ strategies were people-centred, suggesting that views
were taken on how staff might be feeling and what positive steps might
be taken to incorporate them in the new organisation. They explain to
some extent how psychological merger might have been achieved.
Managing by Information
Although not set out in the case studies as a people management
activity, the notion of managerial communication clearly has a strong
link with such activities. Communication, one could hypothesise, is a
core skill of trade unionists. Trade unions have outward facing roles
and are engaged in communication with members, employers, opinion
formers, governments and all other relevant stakeholders. All of the
case study unions have set up communications departments for that
purpose.
Mintzberg (1973) notes that 40% of Chief Executives’ time is devoted
to communicating roles. So if managers find this role important, trade
unionists regularly engage in it and there are no cultural inhibitions to
undertaking it, one could hypothesise further that this would be a
strength of trade union managers.
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