MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

objectives. But managers do not in general speak the language of
managerial communication. It does not seem to be key to their
conceptions of their managerial responsibilities.
Managing through people
Chapter 2 makes clear that the search for a definition of trade union
principles has not been wholly fruitful, particularly as an operational
concept. One interviewee said that he didn’t know what they were but,
in effect, you knew them when you saw them. The propositions
adopted the definition by Batstone et al (1977), an extensive one which
was not supported by this research. This may partly be to do with the
nature of the discussions with the interviewees, who discussed their
values within the context of their managerial roles. They expressed
many admirable values, the most significant one of which was
‘fairness’, echoing the more limited definition of trade union principles
by Willman (1980). The most one can conclude, therefore, from this
research is that the principle trade union managers most often perceive
as influencing them in the performance of their managerial roles – in
the language of Hales (1999) the ‘norm’ - is that of fairness. Obviously
this is of interest in examining the people management activities of
trade union managers.
Chapter 2 also suggested that Dunlop’s (1990) model of how union
‘executives’ manage was a form of contingency theory of management
style. He suggests that union managers exercise ‘control’ over some
internal administrative matters but ‘persuasion’ where unpopular
decisions are perceived to be necessary and the implication is that this
involves some sort of democratic approach. Tannenbaum and
Schmidt’s (1973) model, also described in Chapter 2, is also a
contingency model, suggesting that styles of management are
dependent on four variables, the leader, the led, the task and the
context. The idea that the ‘led’ constitute a variable here matches
Dunlop’s idea that they have to be ‘persuaded’, where the contingency
is that the task is unpopular and the leader is a democrat. In any event,
the ‘led’, as organisational members, may well share cultural values
with their managers and so, if management remains in some
circumstances a problematic concept for the managers, it would be
likely to be so for staff as well.
The research has not been directed to analysing the management of
particular tasks, other than those relating to merger where
management styles are difficult to pin down in these terms because of
the variety of activities undertaken. In Chapter 2 there is an extensive
discussion of different contingencies affecting trade union managers
and suggestions as to where on the Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1973)
continuum trade union managers might fall in different circumstances.
The discussion concludes by pointing out that modern approaches to
HRM, and IIP which is founded on them, are people-centred
approaches to management – approaches which are very different to
styles of management common when a good deal of literature on trade
388