MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1. INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER THREE
This chapter explains the philosophy underpinning the research and
how this has guided the choice of research methodology, which is
described and justified. It is posited on a belief that an understanding of
one’s own world view, and of the implications of that for any
examination of any part of that world, is a vital prerequisite in academic
research. Because it is related to personal beliefs, it is largely written in
the first person.
Whilst this research is academic in character, it is profoundly hoped
that it can be useful in the world of trade unions. In that world, there is
a long tradition of making relationships with academics and seeking to
learn from them. In all of the mergers which created the case study
unions, academics played some part. But it is a far cry from there to
suggesting that academic writing on trade unions has been of much
practical utility in guiding the operation of those unions. As someone
undertaking academic work whilst managing a trade union, I do not
recall making reference to academic literature on trade unions
throughout my career as an aid to my work. Of course, those with a
strong political motivation, such as Marxists, may have some familiarity
with literature which reflects their own points of view. But this is not the
same.
This is not unusual. As Daft and Lewin (1990:1) put it: ‘the body of
knowledge published in academic journals has practically no audience
in business and government’. Managers in all fields seem more attuned
to prescriptions arising from railway station management books or
sound bites from gurus such as Charles Handy in his ‘Thought for the
Day’ mode. Arguably, a good deal of research into trade unions, most
of it quantitative and political, does not help those at the coal face
make sense of their lives. As one of the interviewees in this study put it,
describing moving from being a civil service manager to being a trade
union manager: ‘I had no reference books to turn to for advice. I found
that very scary, having to make up things as I went along.’
Of course, there is little or no research into trade union management as
such and trade union managers have had to rely, if they have been so
disposed, on literature from other fields. Even that literature, however,
has been criticised as offering too little for the practitioner. It has been
suggested that the theory testing character of much of that literature is
one of the reasons for that. Partington (1998:3), expressing that view,
says that such literature is ‘characterised by the premature application
of quantitative methods….not enough is inductive and theory building,
using more qualitative approaches.’
This research is qualitative and theory building. It is rooted in the
everyday lives, experiences and practices of those who describe
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