Managing strategic change in a member-led union: A regional-level study of UNISON

An abstract from a presentation at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, held in September 2000 at the Cardiff Business School, is presented. The paper discussed is concerned with whether and how strategic change can be managed in a member-led union. What are the implications of these particular democratic values for the way in which strategic change is conceived and implemented? Conversely, is the process of strategic change challenging existing conceptions of what is meant by a member-led union? These questions relate to the wider debate concerning the tensions that exist between the administrative or bureaucratic requirements of trade unions on the one hand and the representational requirements on the other, and how they can be reconciled so as to promote trade union "renewal."