MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

factors do comprise a limitation, the richness of the data actually
collected renders this less of a concern than it might have been.
It was always a worry that researching UNISON would lay the
researcher open to charges of bias. As is evident from the data, some
of the interviewees approached the interviews in very familiar fashion.
But the vast majority of the data was in many cases surprising and
novel – in some cases highly impressive. Just reading the data leaves
the researcher in a state of admiration for the interviewees and what
they are trying to do. This suggests that they have felt able, for
whatever reason, to be comfortable being interviewed and therefore
able to unburden themselves. The reader can judge this also as a
result of the extended quotations presented, specifically to guard
against accusations of bias. This is a limitation which it is right to raise
but, it is submitted, difficult to substantiate.
As suggested above, it is hoped that the rigour of the research process
has guarded against limitations which might have affected the quality of
the research and of its outcomes.
10.7. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITIONERS
The fact that managers have been identified where no managers have
boldly gone before suggests that unions who wish to understand how
to improve the way they are managed, who wish to know about any
distinctive features of trade union management or the particular
characteristics of trade union managers will find this research of great
interest. One manager said that the absence of any material helping
him to know how to manage in a trade union was ‘scary’.
This study has suggested that trade union managers typically have a
people orientation but they are not attuned to undertaking the full range
of managerial activities, particularly activities relating to conduct or
performance management. This suggests that management training
which identifies the links between managers’ personal values and the
values required of a trade union manager could be of particular value.
This is all the more the case when management training in the case
study unions does not appear to be as extensive as it might be.
In three other areas, practitioners might find benefit. First, there does
not seem to be a predisposition to developing communications
strategies. This is somewhat extraordinary in individuals who are
continually considering how best to communicate externally. Yet some
people suggest that it is almost impossible for a manager to overcommunicate.
Secondly, attending to the management of trade union mergers has
been identified as something of potential importance. New mergers are
going to occur – one, almost certainly, will see UNiFI merge with
Amicus and the Joint General Secretary of UNiFI, in an informal
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