MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Merger management, including physical space
The next section changed as the project changed. Initially, as has been
mentioned, the project had a high element of focus on the
management of physical space and structure. Its emphasis changed to
discuss merger management, such as recognizing problems faced by
(for example) former members of PTC coming into the old CPSA Head
Office and trying to find out how these potential cultural clashes were
managed. The issue was also raised to enable discussion to take place
about the stakeholder management issues involved in the process of
merger management – and, indeed, the management style engaged,
since there were considerable differences in the level of participation
involved in the different unions. Finally, some questions were asked
about the role of head office, a contingency which was thought to be of
interest in forming a picture of the different case study unions and also
discovering whether this was an issue which had arisen in the context
of merger management. This is not pursued in this theis.
After the transcription of each interview, the transcript was e-mailed to
the interviewee. It was indicated that speech recognition software
sometimes came up with infelicities which might not have been spotted
and suggesting that the interviewee read the transcript to spot any
such. Very few did so. Nobody attempted to change any of the
substance of the interview even if embarrassed by their mode of
expression or the content of what they said. One person was so
alarmed at what he had said that he asked for assurances about
confidentiality before he would make any corrections. Another said that
I must be quite a good listener to have led to them being as candid as
they were.
Progress of the project was tracked using a short case study protocol
as recommended by Yin (1994:63) and by a diary of interviews held.
3.6. DATA ANALYSIS
Qualitative data analysis techniques can take many forms. If one
envisages a continuum, content analysis, using counting methods, lies
at one end and grounded theory, where the researcher proceeds by
feel and intuition, lies at the other end (Easterby-Smith et al 1991).The
analysis of the data in this project was particularly influenced by the
work of Partington (2000). He presents a structured approach to
grounded theory building aimed at researchers who are analysing
recollections of past events, usually in interview data, to develop
explanations of management action. He adopts a cognitive
perspective, emphasising the ‘stimulus, organism, response’ model,
which focuses on the mediating role of the manager between
environmental stimulus and behavioural response. Anchored in a
realist ontology, involving mechanisms providing ‘an account of the
makeup, behaviour and interrelationships of those processes which are
responsible for the regularity’ (Pawson and Tilley 1997:68), he says
that the researcher’s role is to speculate on what plausible,
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