MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

development. The fourth was team work and team building. The
individualistic attitude of trade union officials was also identified by
Heery and Kelly (1994) and so it was felt to be interesting to examine
whether, in any sense, team working was a reality and whether it was
seen in any respect as counter-cultural.
In addition, the case studies contained a section in which managers
described their management styles or the management styles that
were common in their union. This section described styles followed by
managers in their interfaces with staff, which therefore are relevant in
the context of endeavouring to discover the nature of people
management by the managers concerned.
In analysing the approach of managers to people, it is appropriate to
place their reactions in the context of their responses when discussing
their trade union principles relating to how people should be treated.
Exhibit 9.7 seeks to do this.
With one exception, the negative words and phrases in the final column
were descriptions of other people’s styles rather than descriptions of
the interviewee’s own style. Nobody admitted to being a bully, for
example. As one person said, nobody is likely to admit to being a bad
manager. The table suggests that there is less of a match between
principles and the nature of interfaces with people in CWU than in the
other unions. Beyond that, the table suggests that espoused theories of
people management do bear some relation to the principles that trade
union managers profess and which are identified as ‘norms’,
influencing their managerial actions.
362