Does Union Activity Damage Career Prospects? Implications For The Unionisation of Managers

• Author: Ed Snape,Greg J. Bamber,Tom Redman
• Published date: 01 December 1990
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-8583.1990.tb00221.x
• Date: 01 December 1990

DOES UNION ACTIVITY DAMAGE CAREER

PROSPECTS? IMPLICATIONS

FOR

THE

UNIONISATION

OF

MANAGERS

Tom Redman

Teesside Polytechnic,

Ed Snape

University of Struthclyde

and

Greg

J.

Bamber

University

of

Queenslund

INTRODUCTION

Research on managerial career patterns has been prominent in the human resource man-

agement literature since the

1970s.

Many aspects of management careers have received the

researcher’s attention. Rosenbaum

(1984)

formulates a ‘tournament’ model of career

systems, reconciling the norms of opportunity and efficiency. Kotter

(1

982)

has studied suc-

cessful managers, reviewing both background and job characteristics. There is a growing

body of research examining why some managerial specialisms, particularly personnel and

engineering, rarely attain the senior, generalist management ranks, whilst others such as

accountants dominate (Armstrong,

1987; 1988).

Scase and Goffee

(1989)

review managerial

work and lifestyles of ’reluctant managers’, Nicholson and West

(1988)

question the logic of

the standard career development approaches in relation to upward mobility, whilst other

studies have thrown doubt on the value of career planning at all for managers (Pringle and

Gold,

1989).

In such literature the relationship between union activity and careers has been under-

played and more usually completely ignored.

This

is understandable in the case of

American authors, writing in a context where there

is

little union membership amongst

managers. In Britain, however, union membership amongst managers has long been well-

established in the public sector (McCormick,

1960;

Arthurs,

1975)

and grew significantly in

the private sector during the

1970s

(Bamber,

1976; 1986).

This article examines the views of

managers on the likely effect of union activity on careers.’

Following a brief review of the literature on the impact of union activity on the individ-

ual’s relationship with the employer and an outline of our research methodology, we

consider the following questions.

Do

managers feel that trade union activity harms or

enhances their careers? Further, what factors influence whether trade union activity is seen

to hinder or help progression? We suggest that whether union activity is seen as harming

or enhancing careers depends on the perceived attitude of the employer and on how the

individual approaches union activity. We also suggest that managers’ views on the career

impact of union activity are closely related to their views and prejudices about the character

of particular unions, with involvement in staff associations and exclusive managers’ unions

being more likely to be associated with a positive career effect. In the remainder of the

article, we discuss the implications of our findings for trade union structure and the

unionisa tion of managers.

The British literature on the effect of trade union activity on the individual’s relationship

with the employer has generally claimed that such activity produces a negative effect. In

relation to manual workers, Evans and Lewis

(1987)

find substantial evidence of discrimi-

nation on grounds of union activity. Such discrimination manifests itself in a variety of

forms from a pre-recruitment blacklist through to intenslfylng workloads, verbal abuse and

ultimately dismissal. Bain

(1970)

documents how, in relation to white-collar workers,

many employers were highly antagonistic to trade union membership. Bamber

(1976)

describes some of the employer tactics to prevent or limit managerial unionism, such as

1

TOM REDMAN, TEESSIDE POLYTECHNIC, ED SNAPE, UNIVERSITY

OF

STRATHCLYDE AND

GREG

J.

BAMBER, UNIVERSITY

OF

QUEENSLAND

exhortation to be ’sensible’, and engaging in peaceful competition by offering ’bribes of

ranging degrees of subtlety’.

However, there are many examples of active trade unionists reaching prominent mana-

gerial positions. Often, but not exclusively, such promotions are into personnel and

industrial relations functions.

A

number of examples of ’poachers’ being promoted into

prominent ’game-keeper‘ roles have been found in the case studies discussed below, for

example the senior personnel manager of a large national bank. Bamber (1976) suggests

that employers may discourage some activists by promoting them. Nicholson et al. suggest

that the higher status of managers may enhance the likelihood of their becoming active in

union affairs. One conclusion from their study, based on ’the speculations of certain

members‘ was that such increased union activity was ‘inspired by careerism’ (Nicholson et

al., 1980:238).

Issues

of

divided loyalties and trust may be problematic in transitions from union activist

to manager, with newly-promoted managers facing considerable hostility from ex-union

colleagues and yet still not being fully accepted as ‘one of

us’

by their managerial peers.

Nevertheless, we cannot take it for granted that union membership and activity will

necessarily harm an individual’s career.

THE RESEARCH

The following discussion is based primarily on in-depth interviews with 57 managers,

drawn from three organisations: a bank, a building society and a public utility. We also

interviewed personnel specialists, senior managers and full-time union officials in the case

study organisations, to provide information on the industrial relations context. Most of the

interviews were carried out during 1984-85 as part

of

an ESRC-funded research project.

The project examined how organisations managed their managerial and professional staff,

with particular reference to collective representation. The interviews covered a range

of

topics, including the individual’s career history and attitudes towards the organisation and

its personnel management policies, and towards the union or staff association.

We asked senior managers, personnel specialists and union officials about the organisa-

tion’s policy on union membership and activity for managers. Each manager was asked the

following question:

Some people say that taking an active part in the union may enhancea person’s career pros-

pects, whilst others say that it may harm them. What

do

you think?

Responses were open-ended, and managers were encouraged to explain their views and,

where appropriate, to provide examples. Union activity was taken to mean the holding of

union office, although some of our respondents felt that simply attending union meetings

and vociferously expressing union policy in the workplace might also have a career impact.

Given the relatively small sample, we do not claim that our responses are typical of

managers as a whole. Rather than asking a large representative sample of managers to

respond to standard questions in a pre-coded format, we encouraged our respondents to

explain their views in detail and to put them into their organisational context. This enables

us

to draw analytical inferences about the different ways in which managers may perceive

the effect of individual union membership and activity on career prospects. The advantage

of such a research design is that it permits a more detailed exploration of managers’

attitudes and career processes.

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