MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

psychological merger and remained in the ‘merger aftermath’ phase.
Buono and Bowditch (1989:99) say that this phase carries with it the
danger of ‘post-merger drift’ as management struggles with merger
integration. They say that this can take years to resolve. In the case of
PCS, the union was in a state of cultural suspended animation whilst
organisational members awaited the victor in the conflict (who turned
out to be someone different altogether).
Both UNiFI and UNISON appear to have progressed towards
psychological merger. However, in UNiFI the effects of this may have
been dissipated as merger planning uncertainty recurred over a period
of years as the union sought a new merger partner.
Chapter 9 discusses whether there are links between these factors and
the development of management in the case study unions. One area
for examination was the extent of management of the merger that took
place in the different unions.
The four unions merged at different times. UNISON was the first and
the merger was nine years old when the research took place. As we
have seen, there were specific efforts to address cultural issues in that
merger and to engage in explicit merger management activities. Buono
and Bowditch (1989:92) say that culture change during a merger ‘must
be recognised as a time-consuming, evolutionary, process that often
entails political manoeuvring, anxiety-provoking situations, conflicts and
tensions and the need for learning, adjustment and flexibility.’ The
UNISON experience certainly supports the idea that this process is
time-consuming. Even after this length of time, managers are very
aware of cultural issues; the General Secretary is still reflecting on the
importance of staff’s reflecting on the achievements of their old unions
The most recent merger is UNiFI. Exhibit 9.1 reveals that here, too,
there was a degree of merger management activity. The union used
project teams to bring people together and Investors in People to act as
a framework for the development of people management. In neither of
the other unions was there evidence of much corporate merger
management activity. Buono and Bowditch (1989: 235) say that whilst
there is a general drop in performance during mergers, there is a
significant difference between well managed and unattended
combinations. An issue examined in the case study unions was
whether there were links between attention to merger management and
the extent of the development of management within the unions; also
whether there were links between the phase of merger that a union had
reached and the development of management.
This is not something that is examined in the literature on trade union
management, such as it is, nor in that on merger management. Much
of the latter has in it a sufficiency of examples of poor management –
and some good examples – but these are not related to the institutional
attitude of the organisations to management as such nor to its
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