MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Moral rules and trade union principles
The one thing that I believe is that you have got to be firm but
you have got to be fair. People may not agree with view but they
must not doubt your integrity. (Interviewee D)
A similar sentiment was expressed in much more colourful language:-
I suppose the hardest bit is being tough, to be honest. Trade
unionists tend to have an emotional response to a lot of things --
this is outrageous, they shouldn't be allowed to get away with
that blah blah blah. Whereas managers tend to be a bit more
cold and a bit more rational. Now I am not saying that we need
to be a bit more cold and rational but we do have to be a bit hard
at times and my thing about being a trade unionist is that you
need to have the sensitivity of a butterfly and the hide of a
rhinoceros. You know, you have got to be both. So I try
sometimes not to let a commitment to, you know, making the
world a better place, as it were, interfere with being a good
manager, do you know what I mean? A side of me has to say,
now you have got to be hard on this one. Where that gets a bit
difficult is like, you know, being the other side of the role is
thinking about the impact of sacking somebody, finishing
somebody. So I do try to permeate my values (Interviewee B)
The same interviewee expressed strong beliefs in the idea of searching
out commonalities, of seeking unity, in his managerial roles:-
Well the job of a trade unionist is to look for areas of
commonality. Sometimes they can be forced and to try and pull
people together and see that you have unity of purpose.
(Interviewee B)
My view is that when people say, democracy is majority rule I
say, it's not. It's majority rule with the consent of the minority.
The minority must feel that they count as much -- not to the point
where they have a veto on change but, you know, everyone has
got to feel like they have had a chance. I am always working for
consensus, if you can get consensus. (Interviewee B)
This reference to democracy usefully moves the discussion to consider
CWU managers’ approaches to representative rationality. Most unions
and union members would be delighted to think that their senior staff
had such an uncomplicated view of the dynamics of their union as this:-
From a personal point of view, I'm working for members rather
than shareholders. I'm committed to the trade union movement
anyway. I've always felt not only that I love my job, it's almost a
privilege to be doing a job you really enjoy. Meeting members,
meeting branch secretaries at Conference is really a boost. So
I'm actually working for people like me and that degree of
commitment is reflected in the way I think. (Interviewee H)
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