MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

inappropriate to the needs of voluntary organisations and at worst a
real threat to some of their central values and greatest strengths.’
Managers and managing
There has been some literature relevant to the management of trade
unions. Björkman and Huzzard (2002) assert that the pursuit of a
union’s mission requires to be supported by sound management
practices but they do not identify who is responsible. Dempsey (2000)
and Dempsey and McKevitt (2001) extensively discuss managerial
activities taking place during and subsequent to the merger which
created UNISON but, again, do not identify specifically who were
UNISON managers. Broom (1994) analyses the organisational lives of
women managers in UNISON but assumes their existence; she does
not analyse in any respect their role as managers, concentrating, as
she does, on their experiences as women managers. Weill (1994)
provides copious frameworks for strategic planning processes in unions
without once mentioning the word manager. Hannigan (1998:ix), in a
text which is a primer for managing unions rather than one identifying
what is going on, describes union ‘officers’ as filling ‘the roles of union
leader, workers’ representative and manager’, suggesting that there
are conflicts between all three roles; though he does go on to say
(page 276) that ‘Directors’ are responsible for clarifying expectations,
communicating objectives, motivating people and maintaining high
level performance.
Willman et al (1993), is one of few studies discussing union managers
of any type, union Finance Officers. Three roles were identified -
Administrator, Manager and Expert. Administrators were concerned
with day to day affairs and their function was distinct from, and
subordinate to, policy making. Managers combined long-term planning
and short term management and their role was comparable with the
role of the Financial Controller in a business. Experts were primarily
advisory, recognising that administrative decisions arose from policy
making and contributing expertise on budgeting and financial planning.
A substantial majority, regardless of role, believed they should be
actively involved in decisions with financial consequences and that
financial issues were taken into account.
The first work addressing the issue of the management of trade unions
as an idea, however, was Dunlop (1990) and perhaps we should be
surprised that it was relatively so long ago. The book is subtitled
‘decision making with historical constraints’, many of which have been
described above. Dunlop comments that his observations are confined
to the U.S.A. and this is clear in, for example, the trade union model
applied, involving extensive election of senior managers, rare though
not unknown in the UK. The CWU is an example of a union where
there is considerable election of this type, though even here the system
probably does not match the American model.
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