Trade Union Leadership

http://lea.sagepub.
com/
Leadership
http://lea.sagepub.com/content/3/2/191
The online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: 10.1177/1742715007079052
2007 3: 191 Leadership
Harry Knowles
Trade Union Leadership: Biography and the Role of Historical Context
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
can be found at: Leadership Additional services and information for
http://lea.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts:
http://lea.sagepub.com/subscriptions Subscriptions:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Reprints:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Permissions:
http://lea.sagepub.com/content/3/2/191.refs.html Citations:
by Nicolas Diana on September 13, 2010 lea.sagepub.com Downloaded from

Leadership
Copyright 2007 SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, and Singapore)
Vol 3(2): 191209 DOI: 10.1177/1742715007079052 http://lea.sagepub.com
Trade Union Leadership: Biography and
the Role of Historical Context
Harry Knowles, University of Sydney, Australia
Abstract The leadership of trade unions is a much neglected aspect in the eld of
contemporary leadership studies despite the growing importance of the role as these
organizations struggle to survive in the current political and economic climate extant
in most Western countries. By employing a methodology which uses a series of
biographical case studies of leaders to examine the leadership in a single trade
union, this article evaluates the signicance of union leadership and demonstrates
the importance of historical context in leadership study. It also shows how leader-
ship and the organizations environment inter-connect to shape the way unions
develop over time together and discusses some of the implications of the study for
theory.
Keywords biography; history; leadership; methodology; trade unions
Introduction
As trade unions in the West struggle with spiralling union density and a growing
emphasis on individualism in contemporary workplaces, their leadership assumes a
greater signicance. However, the pervasiveness of the importance of leadership in
contemporary management, business and organizational literature and its growing
stature in public sector studies has not been replicated in the eld of trade union
research. Apart from the stand-alone biographies of the life and times genre of more
prominent trade union leaders, there have been few studies of top leadership in trade
unions.
Studies undertaken during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States such as
Wright Mills and Atkinson (1944) and Sayles and Strauss (1953) examined the
personal qualities of leaders, vocational backgrounds and the like whilst MacDonald
(1959) looked at the extent to which organizational leadership research, methodol-
ogy and conclusions resonated with labour leadership. In Britain, V. L. Allens study
(1957) of the trade union leader Arthur Deakin explored aspects of behaviour and
performance. More recently McBride (1986) drew on micro-biographical studies of
a number of British trade union leaders to demonstrate how the interaction between
disposition and context can provide a framework for analysing and classifying trade
union leadership. This was followed by a study by Kelly and Heery (1994) which
surveyed and evaluated a range of theoretical analyses and empirical approaches to
the study of trade union organisation and the role of the ofcial.
These studies which employ a range of methodologies are all valuable contri-
butions to the study of leadership in trade unions however, none essentially address
attention to the impact of leadership on the organization or, indeed, the impact the
organization might have on the practice of leadership. Two of these studies, Allen
(1957) and McBride (1986) incorporate biography into their analysis which, as
studies in public administration have shown, is a particularly useful tool to employ
in leadership studies (Doig & Hargrove, 1987; Hargrove, 1994; Theakston, 1997).
This article seeks to put the case for the use of biography in the study of leader-
ship and make a further contribution to the trade union leadership literature by
employing a series of biographical case studies of leaders to examine the leadership
in a single trade union.
In doing so, it is proposed to demonstrate the signicance of historical context in
evaluating leadership in trade unions and its implications, with particular attention
to how leadership and the organizations environment inter-connect to shape the way
unions develop over time.
Studies of trade union leadership: a review
As mentioned in the introduction there have been some studies of top leadership in
trade unions which have employed various methodologies to explore styles and the
practice of leadership in these organizations. Some of the early examples of research
in the United States included Wright Mills and Atkinsons (1944: 15875) collective
portrait of the trade union leader based on a survey of 203 trade union leaders and
Leonard Sayles and George Strausss (1953) study of local union leadership based
on 20 individual case studies. Mills and Atkinson were interested in what kind of
men (sic) led trade unions and their vocational backgrounds whilst the Sayles and
Strauss study sought to understand the leaders basic personality characteristics, how
union activity affected leader performance, the satisfaction derived from leadership,
the relationship of the leader to his (sic) family and community, and any relationship
between leadership behaviour and the leaders ambition. The British scholar V. L.
Allens (1957) study of trade union leadership adopted a two-pronged research
approach. The rst drew material from an extensive selection of leaders whilst the
second employed a biographical study of the career of the trade union leader Arthur
Deakin to explore aspects of leadership behaviour and performance.
In a comprehensive analysis of a range of interdisciplinary literature on leader-
ship functions and organizational structures in the late 1950s, MacDonald (1959) set
out to nd the extent to which the nature of leadership research, methodology and
conclusions was relevant to the study of labour leadership. MacDonald premised this
evaluation of literature from the elds of business, the military and public adminis-
tration on the basis that any conclusions reached would depend largely on the extent
to which the fundamental character of the trade union affected leadership functions.
If trade unions leadership functions were unique, then the study of union leadership
would require different methods of analysis, and the tools employed in general
organizational leadership analysis would be inappropriate (MacDonald, 1959: 10).
MacDonalds research identied both strengths and weaknesses. On the negative
Leadership 3(2) Articles
192
side, she found situational environments of the general leadership studies were too
remote from the reality of the problems of the leader of a large trade union. Moreover,
she suggested that as the studies sought to develop manipulative devices to inspire
company loyalty and to encourage commitment to specic organizational goals, it
was questionable as to whether these same devices could be employed as a method
of persuasion or to obtain loyalty to trade union objectives. She concluded that there
were sufcient differences in outlook, values and traditions to render the transfer of
these techniques inappropriate. On the positive side, this research found potential
value in the application of studies of complex motivations underlying individual,
group and organizational activity to trade unions and in the work of human relations
scholars on the recognition of the power situation extant in trade union and in labour
management relations (MacDonald, 1959: 1401).
In a more recent study of trade union ofcers in Britain, Kelly and Heery (1994)
examined leadership issues in a well-considered evaluation and critique of the range
of theoretical analyses and empirical studies which have been used to understand
trade union organization and the role of the ofcial within the union. From a series
of studies, they pointed to concepts of bureaucracy and oligarchy as the most
frequently deployed of the theoretical approaches whilst noting that theories of trade
unions as polyarchies (leaders, followers and interest groups) have also been applied,
as has structural contingency theory, which suggests the organization and behaviour
of union ofcers will differ as a function of several sets of circumstances (1994: 15).
Kelly and Heery made two important criticisms in relation to their evaluation of
the conceptual and empirical approaches to the study of leadership issues. Firstly,
they observed that the over-emphasis of a structural determinist approach which runs
through the literature has led to a general neglect of the importance of ofcials own
values in shaping their perceptions and conduct. Secondly, they pointed to the
ahistorical nature of much of the literature which has occurred because, either the
union ofcials role and social relations are untainted by historical trends and are
unchanged whatever the historical period, or ndings about the relations between the
leaders and subordinates are not properly located in their historical context (1995:
23). It is this aspect of their concern that a biographical methodology is well placed
to satisfy.
Biography and history as method
Over the past 15 years or so, social science interest in the study of lives has grown
rapidly. There has been renewed interest in biography and autobiography which has
facilitated a role for the life in methodological texts and research discussion. Brian
Roberts (2002) sees biographical research as . . . part of a movement to reveal and
understand the personal and its interlinking with the immediate and wider social
context and political practices. It has been utilized to understand a number of
different elds and issues including the development of careers in teaching and the
experience of and responses to aging and ill health. It has also found a place in the
neglected aspects of social history by allowing the previously unheard to speak and
to trace the impact of migration. Roberts argues that biographical research can be
employed for a variety of empirical and theoretical purposes and applicable to both
historical research and contemporary social issues (2002: 31).
Leadership Trade Union Leadership Knowles
193
Biography is a useful methodological tool to employ in analysing and evaluating
leadership but it is important it be located in historical context. In essence, this
resonates with the idea expressed by Wright Mills in the late 1950s that no social
study that does not come back to the problems of biography, of history, and of their
intersections within society, has completed its intellectual journey (Mills, 1970: 12).
A decade later Denzin (1970: 257) surmised that it was . . . easy to conceive of life
histories carried out on entire organizations, social groups, or even communities.
Theakston (1997) too emphasized the importance of historical context when employ-
ing biography methodologically.
Life histories are generally taken to mean the collection, interpretation and report
writing of the life, in the context of the story told or as the construction of the past
experience of the individual. The use of this research methodology is not new to the
social sciences being extensively developed and used in the 1920s and 1930s in
sociology. Following its relegation by opposing methodologies, it revived during the
1960s generally in response to an ethnographical approach to sociological study
(Denzin, 1970: 257).
Life history has always attracted considerable debate. It began initially over
questions of reliability and validity and moved later to questions concerning the
relationship between data and theory (Roberts, 2002: 50). Whilst one of the dangers
of emphasizing an individual contribution at the expense of a wider collectivity is the
potential for distortion of the context, this can be overcome by ensuring that no
comparison of individuals is undertaken without an analysis of context. The
researcher must be aware of the connections between the account of the individual
and their institutional location and historical scope, making the character and prevail-
ing traditions of the institution and the general circumstances of the period being
studied salient issues (Roberts, 2002: 7).
Biography and leadership
Biography is inextricably linked with history. In relation to labour leadership, biog-
raphy has been associated with the old labour history which was mostly the narra-
tive history of labour institutions uncomplicated by any theoretical framework.
Labour biography stood alongside labour historiography and usually took the form
of a standard celebratory account of the life and times of either a Labour politician,
trade union leader or a working-class radical. Such work often amounted to little
more than an apologia and ignored opportunities for historical analysis in any social,
political or economic context, a somewhat ironic outcome since biography by its very
nature is historical (Denzin, 1989: 48).
There have been some exceptions. In the United States, Kimeldorf (1988)
employed a biographical methodology when seeking to explain why organizations
of North American East Coast and West Coast longshoremen eventually committed
to divergent political orientations. In Britain, the collective biographical work of
British Communist Party activists during the inter-war years by McIllroy, Morgan
and Campbell (2001) and Gildarts (2001) biographical study of groups, individuals
and communities in the North Wales coalelds in post-war Britain are cases in
point. There is also Morgans (1992) comparative biographical study of 30 key
personalities in the British labour movement which succeeded in identifying various
194
typologies of leadership whilst revealing the character of leadership changes over
time.
In the United States, Doig and Hargrove (1992: 18) used 12 biographical case
studies to examine leadership and innovation in American public bureaucracies to
show how a society and its leaders seek and identify new opportunities for social
action and allocate funds and talent to pursue these objectives.
Another example can be found in the area of business leadership. Leavy and
Wilson (1994: ix) used a biographical case based comparative analysis of thirteen
leaders to challenge the notion that transformational or visionary leadership is essen-
tial in building a successful organization. By depicting leaders as tenants of time and
context, they analysed, compared and classied leaders in terms of their historical
roles, demonstrating a range of approaches in which leader-organization-context
interaction can slot together.
Labour biography/autobiography has been characterized by individual biog-
raphies, memoirs and personal reections of labour politicians and these were often
badly done. In comparison, there have been relatively few biographies/autobiog-
raphies of leaders in trade unions. This may be something to do with the fact that
trade union leadership did not quite t in with the agenda of class, race and gender
of social and feminist history which has dominated labour historiography since the
1960s. It may also have something to do with the legacy of Michels iron law of
oligarchy thesis although, as Burns (1978: 31415) pointed out, this was no iron
law and it over-generalized about centralizing trends, whilst Harmel (1989:
160188) identied the conspicuous nature of the theorys simplicity and its neglect
in accounting for variable contexts.
Another reason might also lie in what Terry terms the heroic conception of
leadership. Terry (1995: 401) argues that writers on leadership, particularly in the
business management literature, have tended to over emphasize the importance of
leaders, devising what is almost a great man theory of administration. Because the
business management literature is littered with images of the powerful heroic leader,
leaders of private sector institutions are conceived of as having tremendous power,
derived mainly from charisma, to change organizational events at their discretion.
Terry argues that the measure of leaders effectiveness is whether they successfully
implement revolutionary organizational changes so they tend to be portrayed as anti-
traditionalists who view enduring organizational values with disdain and suspicion.
Terrys argument, that this concept of heroic leadership is often a distortion of reality
and presents difculties if applied to the analysis of leadership in public bureaucra-
cies, could equally apply in the case of leaders of trade unions.
Finally, this neglect might simply relate to the difculties historical researchers
face in obtaining relevant material. Trade union leaders are far less likely than
politicians to keep diaries which might record details of their work or to write and
publish memoirs based upon their period of incumbency. Neither are we likely to
nd the collections of archived private papers deposited on behalf of labour
politicians. Trade union leaders often lacked the administrative support afforded their
comrades in politics.
195
Finding a framework for leadership evaluation
There are some stand alone biographies which implicitly rather than explicitly use
their biographical material as a method by which we can understand the subjects
relationship with their broader environments. Nelson Lichtensteins biography of US
labor leader Walter Reuther is a particularly powerful example of this. There are far
fewer examples of biographical studies which employ biography comparatively to
examine leadership.
One specic example of the latter studies can be found in McBrides study of trade
union leadership wherein he used a comparative biographical framework to examine
leadership roles in trade unions. Surveying the conceptual literature on leadership,
McBride (1986: 17) identied several leadership roles towards which union leaders
might be disposed. Then, utilizing and adapting the functional typology of unions
developed by Robert Hoxie in 1923 business unionism, social reform unionism and
radical or revolutionary unionism and drawing on micro-biographical studies of a
number of British trade unionists, McBride demonstrated how the interaction
between disposition and context can provide a framework for analysing and classi-
fying trade union leadership.
The signicance of this example is that it recognised the importance of historical
context, both organizational and external, to leadership study. However, the broader
methodological framework employed by Kevin Theakston (1997) in his study of
leadership in British public administration perhaps offers a richer opportunity to illu-
minate and evaluate the practice of leadership and its organizational implications.
Theakston (1997: 654) recognized the potential that a comparative biographical
approach offered for the study of administrative leadership in Whitehall. He under-
took nine biographical case studies of British civil service mandarins, chosen for their
contributions to public service and because their individual work histories were
related contextually to wider issues and themes in the development of the Whitehall
system. He observed that there are different ways in which leadership can be exer-
cised within an institution and that it was possible to analyse the opportunities for
and the constraints on leadership encouraged or imposed by the organizational
internal and external political environment. Theakston argued that biographical case
studies could illuminate the exercise of leadership in Whitehall, the changing role
and culture of the civil service, as well as the history and the study of the contem-
porary practice of public administration (1997: 651).
This study emphasized the importance of choosing subjects whose individual
stories could be connected to larger issues and important themes in the organiz-
ation. However, to complete the process, a number of other factors needed to be taken
into account. Firstly, there was need for an historical focus. Examining leaders from
different periods can reveal the meaning of leadership over time as well as illustrat-
ing the importance of context and conditions faced by different individuals in
different circumstances. Secondly, analysing leaders at critical junctures and major
turning points in the organizations development can assist in understanding the role
of the individual in institutional change. Thirdly, different types of leadership need
to be recognized. Not all leaders have to be charismatic or great innovators; there is
much to be learned from leaders who perform more conservative roles. Finally, in
acknowledgment of Selznicks argument of the signicance of organizational myth,
196
there was a need to focus on individual leaders who had a substantial impact dening
and/or articulating the core values or the ethos of higher civil service culture
(Selznick, 1957; Theakston, 1997: 655).
Theakstons methodological framework seems to offer a more comprehensive
means of evaluating leadership within a trade union. Its historical focus can provide
insights into the nature and meaning of the unions leadership and examining leader-
ship at critical junctures in the unions development allows exploration of leadership
in times of change or crisis. There is also scope here to investigate different types of
leaders who may not hold an ofcial leadership position within the organisation but
can qualify on other grounds. In Theakstons study, Derek Rayner, an efciency
adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the early 1980s, was never a
permanent head of a Civil Service department but was an outsider chosen because of
his crucial role as a change agent. His inuence was such that Raynerism, the
short-hand terminology for his efciency campaign, became part of the Whitehall
vocabulary (Theakston, 1999: 227).
Mindful of the fact that a comparative biographical approach contains inherent
strengths and weaknesses, there are several general cautions that should be heeded.
Firstly, the use of a method which emphasizes an individual contribution or role could
distort the historical context and the institutional setting within which a particular
actor is situated. The organization, ethos and conventions of a trade union or of the
labour movement generally can patently impose a powerful, dening and restrictive
inuence on the actions and role of a union leader. However, although the roles of
leading ofcials are highly institutionalized, as Theakston observes, there is a role
for individual interpretations and preferences (1997: 656).
Secondly, are the individuals studied individually or collectively representative
or unrepresentative? A biographer constantly needs to ask whether an action would
have happened anyway or whether it needs to be explained in terms of his or her
subjects personal characteristics. Undoubtedly, trying to establish the link between
individual actions and organizational outcomes is a major problematic issue for users
of biographical method and takes us into the territory of debates of structure versus
agency. The study of political leadership recognizes that leadership opportunities are
highly contextual and that political institutions constrain and facilitate leadership.
However, this should not be seen as genuecting to the primacy of structure. In some
measure, political institutions are conscious creations and will continue to be the
subject of on-going processes of transformation and adjustment (Jones, 1989: 5;
Theakston, 1997: 656).
Whilst we should be aware of these cautions and their consequences, the method
also provides opportunities. For example, biographical case studies permit some
generalization about various factors associated with leadership. In Theakstons study,
this was revealed in the conclusions that no single personality prole emerged associ-
ated with successful leadership and that there seemed to be more scope for psycho-
logical analysis with some leaders compared with others. It was also clear that an
important explanatory factor in leadership effectiveness was the possession of
relevant knowledge and expertise and that signicant career experiences added to
leader effectiveness (1997: 6601). Again, the Doig and Hargrove study of US
government leaders disclosed that administrative styles and preferred strategies
varied considerably (1987: 1518).
197
Providing these cautions are observed, the comparative biographical approach
adds particular strength to Theakstons methodological framework. It is one which
seems readily adaptable to the evaluation of leadership in a trade union. However,
clearly, leadership is not an homogenous concept and it seems prudent at this point
to examine some of the similarities and differences between leadership in the eld
of public administration and leadership of trade unions before testing the suitability
of adaptation any further.
Comparing leadership: The public sector and trade unions
Theakstons study found the spatial context of Whitehall an unnatural environment
for the visionary or transformational type of leadership. The top civil servants were
managers rather than leaders, but there was some support for the notion that leader-
ship is about the communication of ideas, and some empirical evidence to support
the ideas of Selznick (1957) and Hargrove (1994) that the infusion of an organization
with values and an institutional philosophy beyond the everyday technical tasks is
the central role of leadership.(Theakston, 1997: 6623). Unencumbered by the
enveloping political environment within which top civil servants are required to
operate, the trade union would seem to provide a more accommodating environment
from which the transformational leader might emerge. That is not to say that the trade
union is untouched by politics. Indeed, many senior trade union leaders hold import-
ant ofcial positions in their national labour parties and are inuential in shaping
their political platforms. However, there is a separation between their political and
industrial roles and there have been senior union leaders who have exhibited charis-
matic attributes and a transformational style of leadership.
There is an additional aspect of Theakstons study which is highly relevant in the
context of trade union leadership. This is the notion that the ability of leaders to forge
a link between organizational history and the present should make us more aware of
the leadership goals of stability and continuity. This draws on Terrys model of
administrative conservatorship following Philip Selznicks thesis that the leader was
obligated to protect the institutions distinctive values, competence and role (1995:
46). This resonates with trade unions in the sense that many have historical roots in
the principles and values of a founding leadership that existed a century or so ago.
Terry dened the concept of administrative conservatorship as . . . an active and
dynamic process of strengthening and preserving an institutions special capabilities,
its prociency, and thereby its integrity so that it may perform a desired social
function. As Terry pointed out leaders are continually obliged to engage in a process
of controlled adaption to changing circumstance (Terry, 1995: 25, 61).
A trade union ts nicely within Terrys conceptualization of an institution which
he dened as a creation of social needs and aspirations; it is an adaptive, responsive,
co-operative system that embodies cultural values (Terry, 1995: 26). Trade union
leadership, along with that of an administrative leadership, must balance the inherent
tension in the political system between the need to serve and the need to preserve.
As is the case for leaders in public bureaucracies, trade union leaders, although more
independent, need to be responsive to government and the general community as well
as committed to preserving the integrity of the union. Like public ofcials, when
union leaders take an oath they are making a moral commitment to the preservation
198
of constitutional processes in which are manifested particular values, beliefs and
interests (Terry, 1995: 2830). Some trade union leaders would undoubtedly fall into
a conservator category. Often, the history of a trade union is as much a history of
a set of values which transcend the industrial nature of the union or a particular ethos
(Hearn & Knowles, 1996: 122).
There is an additional point to be made about senior trade union leaders in relation
to Theakstons conclusion that his top civil servants seemed to t the category of
manager rather than leader. The heroic conception of the transformational leader
emphasizes the role of leader as change agent, an entrepreneurial styled risk-taker
who would overturn established traditions and drive through revolutionary changes
in the organization; Whitehall however, proved an unnatural environment for this
style of leadership. Bureaucratic leadership involves the continual management of
evolutionary and incremental changes. Whilst bureaucrats must be responsive to
political leaders who may want to implement change in structures and processes,
their leaders also have an obligation to preserve the distinct values and principles of
the civil service (Theakston, 1997: 25455).
Taken at face value, the situation would appear to be just as problematic in relation
to trade unions. Trade union leaders too have a dual responsibility. The rst is to their
members where it is the duty of the leadership to ensure the union is maintained in
such a way that it is responsive to the will and desires of the membership. Their
second obligation is to the community to ensure that trade union affairs are
conducted in an honest, intelligent and orderly fashion. The quality of trade union
leadership and the methods it employs in its relationship with stakeholders are critical
in determining the sort of contributions trade unions make to the benet of society
as a whole (MacDonald, 1959: 9). This dual responsibility is likely to constrain
leaders of trade unions in a similar fashion.
Leadership in the Australian Workers Union: A case study
What follows is an evaluation of leadership in the Australian Workers Union based
on biographical studies of ve leaders of that union between 1886 and 1972. The
choice of examining a single union over a comparative study of leadership in two or
more unions is partly because a comparative study over the same historical period is
a task far beyond the bounds of a single article, notwithstanding the time and
resources involved in the collection of data from primary and secondary sources.
Whilst a single union study has obvious limitations in terms of a discrete industrial
and political culture and the attendant difculties in generalization, it does allow a
more thorough and comprehensive study of the individual leaders and therefore a
richer lode of source material to mine and evaluate.
There are a number of reasons why the Australian Workers Union (AWU) was
chosen. First, it is Australias oldest general union. It emerged as the consequence of
an amalgamation between the Amalgamated Shearers Union and the General
Labourers Union in 1894 and its then leadership played a critical role in the estab-
lishment of the Australian Labor Party. Second, for almost 70 years it was the largest
and arguably the most inuential union both in political and industrial terms in
Australia. Third, each of the individual leaders over the duration of this study held
tenure for fairly long periods which, in turn, permits a sounder basis for the study
199
and assessment of their leadership role at critical junctures of their respective incum-
bencies.
As a union which has endured for over 100 years and has been the subject of two
comprehensive histories (Hearn & Knowles, 1996; Merritt, 1984), the AWU also
provides a good historical perspective from which to draw conclusions about the
impact of the organizational environment on leadership roles. Historical perspective
provides the means to penetrate the abstract nature of organizational structure and
governance of the union, and a window into the set of principles and values which
dene the prevailing ethos of the organization. Ethos has been likened to the organiz-
ational glue which binds an organization together. For the AWU, the sense of sharing
a common past grew from the feelings of mateship which developed in the shearing
sheds in the 1880s. This feeling of mateship was extended by unionism after the
formation of the Amalgamated Shearers Union in 1886 (Hearn & Knowles, 1996:
89).
Over time, successive AWU leaderships saw the need both to preserve and to
defend this prevailing ethos. This was particularly evident in times of crisis for the
union in order to buttress the organization against both real and perceived external
and internal challenges to its existing authority and inuence. In the course of its
history, the unions inaugural value set was supplemented by additional values which
emerged as a consequence of a changing external and internal environment. However,
in the case of the AWU, its dominant ethos remained that which had been forged
amongst shearers. Both the structure and governance of the AWU reected the power
and dominance of the shearers, even in its later years when this cohort formed only
a small proportion of its overall membership. The unions development was funda-
mentally shaped by the experience of its past and its organizational ethos reected
this. This aspect of the AWUs historical development is crucial to understanding the
behaviour and activities of its leadership.
Five leaders of the Australian Workers Union were selected as the focus for this
study on the basis of the contributions they made to the historical development of the
union and the signicance of their contributions to broader contextual issues. As there
are no published biographies or autobiographies of any of the leaders chosen for this
study, the biographical proles used here were constructed from a number of primary
sources including diaries, biographical dictionaries, trade union and mainstream
newspaper sources, personal recollections, trade union records and ephemera as well
as from a range of secondary sources such trade union histories, biographies of other
individuals and journal articles. The constructed proles are used here to compare
and contrast various leaders of the AWU over some 80 years of the unions develop-
ment. Employing a comparative approach permits the identication of both similar-
ities and differences between leaders and provides insights into the interaction
between the individual and the organization. It also allows an assessment of the
impact of the environment on the function of leadership. The ve leaders are:
I
William Guthrie Spence (one of the founders of the AWU and its rst
President. Later became a federal Labor MP and Postmaster-General)
I
Arthur Rae (organizer, member of executive council of the AWU and Labor
senator)
I
Henry Boote (editor of the AWU journal, the Worker 19131943)
200
I
Clarence Fallon (AWU Queensland Branch leader and then General Secretary
of the AWU 19311944)
I
Tom Dougherty (General Secretary of the AWU 19441972)
The historical context
As a rst step in the study, it is important to set the historical context of the AWU
for the period being examined. From its foundation in 1886 as the Amalgamated
Shearers Association until the turn of the 20th century, the ASU/AWU operated in
a volatile industrial environment. By the early 1890s, drought and the economic
depression of the early 1890s had impacted severely on the agricultural and pastoral
sector in Australia and labour and capital clashed in a number of major strikes
particularly in the pastoral area. Exhibiting an early militancy, the AWU was promi-
nently involved in these disputes but became severely weakened industrially (but
unlike many other unions, survived) following defeat by the combined forces of
capital and government. Between early 1890 and the decades end, the AWU gured
prominently in the birth of the Australian Labor Party with several members of its
leadership group becoming party ofcials with some winning political ofce. The
unions early militancy was tempered both by its early parliamentary and labour
political representation, and the legal recognition for unions and compulsory indus-
trial dispute settlement arrangements, encompassed by the arbitration and concilia-
tion legislation enacted in 1904 by Australias rst national parliament.
Throughout the early 20th century the AWU grew considerably as it extended its
coverage well beyond the shearing shed with a reported membership of over 100,000
by 1921 (Hearn & Knowles,1996: 146). As it grew, with its considerable itinerant
membership and the increasing size of its branches (one or more in every Australian
State) it became more bureaucratic in structure and administration. Fear of threat to
its industrial supremacy generated by the rise of more militant and radical forms of
socialism and the advent of communism after 1917 in Australia drove the AWU to
adopt a strong anti-communist line. By the 1930s it had become a politically conser-
vative trade union and patently authoritarian in its governance of the organization
and in its relations with its membership to the extent that its leadership would collab-
orate with employers to bring recalcitrant groups of disenchanted rank and le back
into line.
From the 1930s, the AWU became highly inuential in both state and federal
Labor parties, never more so than in Queensland where, between 1920 and 1950, four
of the six Labor premiers came from AWU ranks (Hearn & Knowles, 1996: 180).
AWU leaders held senior positions in both state and federal parliamentary Labor
parties (and still do today) with the size of its membership providing the union with
delegations large enough to have a highly signicant control and inuence in Labor
party affairs.
The AWU remained a conservative and politically signicant union in the post-
Second World War period continuing its battle against communist efforts to assert
inuence both industrially and politically. Despite the fall in its rural membership
(particularly in shearing), the AWU continued to dominate both politically and indus-
trially into the 1970s and 1980s although its membership strength was now located
in the emergent bauxite, uranium and petro-chemical industries. It remains a potent
201
force in both the labour movement and Labor politics today, particularly in
Queensland.
Leadership in the AWU: 18861972
This part of the article draws from the sources relating to the biographical proles of
the ve leaders mentioned above to evaluate leadership of the Australian Workers
Union between 1886 and 1972. It is possible to identify several factors which have
characterized the leadership of the union over this period.
Personal traits and style
Personal factors can have both positive and negative consequences for leaders and in
the case of the AWU some stark comparisons can be found in personal traits and
styles. Leaders in the formative period of the unions development were less author-
itarian in demeanour. W. G. Spence, for instance, was persistent in the pursuit of his
vision for the AWU. He had an extraordinary capacity for self-belief and stood rm
in defence of the fundamentals which underpinned his value system which had been
shaped by his socialist convictions. But, on balance, he exhibited a moderate and
conciliatory approach as a leader. He was also amiable and patient and a most atten-
tive listener, traits which endeared him to followers and opponents alike.
Arthur Raes prime personal attribute was his courage. He demonstrated this in
his activities as a union organizer in the formative years of the ASU/AWU before
the emergence of the protections afforded by legislation and political inuence. This
formed the basis of his almost legendary status amongst the rank and le. Like
Spence, he was also highly principled and resolute in defence of his socialist
beliefs.
Henry Boote also exhibited personal courage, risking both imprisonment and
dismissal on questions of principle on various occasions over his long career. His
commitment to achieving a socialist future was absolute and, like Spence, he too
believed in moderation and conciliation and was attentive and generous in his
relationships with others.
The personal characteristics of Spence, Rae and Boote stand in almost stark
contrast to those of Fallon and Dougherty. Both these leaders exhibited ruthless
personalities and their ability to command obedience was sustained through fear.
Dougherty was a physically imposing gure and was not reticent in exploiting his
aggressive personality. Fallon was less outwardly aggressive but used the legitimate
power of the positions he occupied in a ruthless and fearless fashion. Both Fallon and
Dougherty beneted largely from inheriting leadership positions in a union which
had survived the early industrial and economic battles and secured considerable
power and inuence within the Australian labour movement. Whether their personal
traits and characteristics would have seen them as effective as the early leaders of the
AWU, when the union was challenged by the task of recruiting and organizing
members of a dispersed and itinerant work force to build a viable membership base,
is open to question.
As foreshadowed earlier, there are similarities between the ndings here and
Theakstons nding that the British Civil Service did not always provide a natural
environment for the transformational type of leaders. This study suggests a similar
202
case may exist for trade unions but the AWU example, however, does provide the
occasional glimpse of the visionary and charismatic type. For example, Rae and
Spence displayed some evidence of this but in other respects seem resolutely
traditionalist. As mentioned above, MacDonalds study cast doubt as to whether the
situational environments of the general leadership studies might be too remote from
the reality of the problems of the leader of a large trade union noting seminal differ-
ences in outlook, values and traditions between business organizations and trade
unions bringing many of the manipulative devices developed to inspire company
loyalty and to encourage commitment to organizational goals into question. However
trade unions are much larger and much more organisationally sophisticated entities
than they were in the 1950s so the gap envisaged by MacDonald, particularly in terms
of outlook, may well have closed somewhat.
Trade union leaders as conservators
There is also a resonance between the functions of leadership in trade unions and in
public administration in terms of the application of a conservatorship role. Just as
Theakston found in his study of the British Civil Service, Terrys concept of
administrative conservatorship seems to t well with trade union leadership. As
with bureaucratic leaders, trade union leaders have an important custodial role to
protect organizational beliefs and values. Terry identied this as a primary function
of bureaucratic leadership and it would appear to resonate strongly with the duties
of a union leader to assume a guardianship role; one which protects the ethos that
encapsulates the beliefs and values systems of that organization.
In the AWU study, Boote falls squarely into the conservator category which also
proved an important aspect of the leadership roles of both Spence and Rae. Fallon,
too, demonstrated he was mindful of his guardianship obligations of his position. Yet
Dougherty exhibited no such tendencies. In fact, Clyde Cameron, an AWU branch
leader and federal Labor minister who was also Doughertys bte noir for over 20
years, believed Dougherty had betrayed his obligations as a leader in this regard
(Connell,1990: 175).
Trade union leadership and personal power
Possession of the factors of knowledge, expertise and career experience by AWU
leaders resonates with French and Ravens (1959) notion of the bases of social
power which attempted to identify the major categories of power and to nominate
the source of each of the categories (Pierce & Newstrom, 2000: 75). French and
Raven located ve types of power: referent power, expert power, reward power,
coercive power and legitimate power. Referent power arises from follower identi-
cation with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits. Expert power is
the inuence that arises from expertise, special skills, or knowledge. Reward power
is that which produces positive benets or rewards. Coercive power is that which
resides in the application, or the threat of application, of physical sanctions whilst
legitimate power is the power a leader possesses as a consequence of his or her
position in the formal organizational hierarchy.
Unlike many union leaders today, all of the leaders proled here, with the excep-
tion of Boote, had gained experience and expertise through labouring in one or
another of the rural industries covered by the AWU. Spence has the most impressive
203
claim to expert knowledge as a consequence of his background in negotiating wages
and conditions as leader in the Amalgamated Miners Association, a position he held
prior to the formation of the AWU. However, Rae, Fallon and Dougherty all came
into leadership ranks through the district organizer route. Spence, Fallon and
Dougherty all possessed a high degree of political acumen, although in the case of
both Spence and Fallon, age or illness towards the end of their careers tended to
diminish their effectiveness in this area. Spence, although a poor orator, exhibited an
impressive ability as a communicator. Both Rae and Boote in particular, were strong
in this area and were able to fully exploit their journalistic talents. Boote also
possessed a high level of interpersonal skill which was cogently revealed in his
continual need to negotiate his role as Worker editor with successive AWU leader-
ships, with whom he often had clashes of opinion.
Career experience was also important in honing the leadership effectiveness of
Fallon and Dougherty in particular. Having served their apprenticeship in the lower
echelons of the union, there was little about the internal functioning of this increas-
ingly bureaucratized union that they did not know by the time they achieved senior
leadership status. This served them well as they became expert in manipulating the
rules and regulations of the AWU to their advantage, which in turn enabled them to
further entrench their leadership positions. As we have seen, Spence also beneted
from his earlier leadership experience with the AMA. Raes vast experience and
courageous performance as a union organizer contributed to his ability to retain a
following amongst the membership even after his dismissal from the AWU. Bootes
editorial experience in labour papers in Queensland over a 20-year period meant that
he came to the Worker as arguably the senior labour journalist in Australia.
Accepting the French and Raven view that leaders may well draw on several or
perhaps all these sources in particular circumstances, it would seem that the earlier
leaders such as Spence and Rae relied more on the ability to appeal to followers on
the basis of their personal traits, expertise, special skills and knowledge. Later leaders
such as Fallon and Dougherty were more prone to rely on the exercise of coercive
power as a tool of inuence. In Doughertys case, the study also shows that, apart
from deriving power from more than one base of power, the principal power source
of a leaders inuence can change over time. After 1960, Dougherty adopted a less
authoritarian style, relinquishing coercion for a combination of expert power and the
power derived from his position in the formal hierarchy of the union.
Trade union leadership and political power
Particularly in the early years of last century, the exertion of political power through
the parliamentary system by trade unions and the AWU created an environment
which inuenced the growth and development of the AWU and provided a more
powerful and inuential role for its leadership. The federal industrial legislation of
1904 accelerated the bureaucratisation of the AWU and other unions as leaderships
acquired the skills needed to cope with the exigencies of arbitration and the adminis-
tration of industrial awards and regulation. Thus, as the AWU membership became
more dependent on the skills of its leadership to negotiate the legalistic maze and
obtain improved wages and conditions for them, the leadership positions of later
leaders such as Fallon and Dougherty became more rmly entrenched.
The AWU study also reveals how trade union leadership acted as a bridge to
204
political leadership and power. Spence, Rae, Fallon and Dougherty all held either
political ofce within the Labor Party or obtained a powerful and inuential position
with the party apparatus. Spence went on to be a federal postmaster-general and Rae
became a Labor member of the New South Wales Parliament and later a federal
Senator.
Although never a formal member of the AWU leadership group, Henry Bootes
inuence as Worker editor was such that he became the condante of senior Labor
politicians, including Prime Ministers both past and present. The close connections
with the Labor Party not only increased the power and inuence of the AWU in both
political and industrial terms but it also enhanced the prole of its leadership.
Moreover, a senior AWU leadership position more often than not earned a political
sinecure in either the federal of a state Labor Party. In the case of Queensland, the
AWU faction continues to dominate state labor politics as it has to varying degrees
for almost 80 years.
In a similar vein, the study also demonstrates how the leadership power base of a
national trade union leader need not necessarily exist in the core area of the organiz-
ation. Fallon achieved his leadership position in the national union as a result of his
power and inuence in the Queensland branch of the AWU. Although an inuential
branch within the union since the 1920s, Fallons branch leadership enhanced its
supremacy. The Queensland branch under Fallons leadership remained Fallons
power-base throughout the period he occupied the federal secretarys position. When
faced with the choice between the Queensland branch secretary and the national
leadership of the AWU, he chose the former without the loss of any real power or
authority.
Trade union leadership and the outsider
The AWU study also provides an example of outsider leadership similar to that of
Rayner in Theakstons study. Even before his expulsion from the AWU on a charge
of disloyalty, Rae had achieved a degree of legendary status amongst the rank and
le. Although operating from outside the union, Rae was still able to attract a
sufcient following to cause concern amongst the AWU leadership throughout most
of the 1920s and 1930s. He was particularly effective as a leader of the communist-
sponsored Pastoral Workers Industrial Union during the Depression years. Raes
campaign undoubtedly unnerved the AWU leadership. However, on the evidence here
no conclusive judgement can be made as to whether challenges to leadership from
either inside and outside the organization put incumbent leaders at a greater risk. In
any case, situational factors linked to the political and economic dimensions of the
external environment of the organization over time make such comparisons difcult.
Discussion and conclusion
There are several key implications that emerge from this study. Firstly, there is a need
to acknowledge that the nature of trade union leadership is unlike that in private or
public sector organizations. Followers pay for the privilege of becoming organiz-
ational members although, as is the case with political leadership, have the oppor-
tunity to vote a leader or leadership team out of ofce at pre-determined intervals.
They are answerable to their members in the same way private sector leaders are to
205
shareholders and public bureaucrats are to their political masters. Unions are organiz-
ations born out of a movement in which is embedded a set of fundamental principles
and values. These principles and values are enshrined in the trade union on forma-
tion and this ensures that the conservation of history and tradition is a more import-
ant aspect of the role of leadership in trade unions than it is in other organizations.
Having said that, there are some similarities between leadership in trade unions
and leadership in other sectors. Union leaders have a vested interest in retaining a
viable membership base. In this respect, trade unions face similar competitive
challenges as their private sector counterparts. Members can choose to not belong to
a trade union or in some cases join another union which they perceive as more likely
to meet their expectations. So union leaders need to demonstrate they can achieve
organizational objectives (the provision of good wage and working condition
outcomes for their members) to ensure they are seen by their key stakeholders as
effective organizational leaders.
Secondly, the study alerts us to the importance of historical context for the study
of leadership and provides a number of examples to demonstrate this. The desire to
adopt a particular style or approach to leadership is of course contingent on the
demands of the situation in which a leader nds him or herself. It may well have been
that leaders such as Fallon and Dougherty beneted to some extent from the fact that
they emerged to take charge of a union in a mature stage of development.
Unlike the early leadership, both Fallon and Dougherty could take advantage of
the more highly bureaucratised and hierarchical AWU structure assembled by their
predecessors and were able to exploit the bureaucratic machinery at various times to
entrench their leadership positions. Moreover, their predecessors had proven success-
ful in creating an historical tradition of securing improved wages and working
conditions for the membership. Fallon and Dougherty were both able to benet from
the quiescent character of the vast majority of the AWU rank and le who were
content to support the status quo leadership so long as this situation prevailed.
Historical context can also been seen as important in revealing the inuence of
the organizational environment on leadership. During the late 1890s, Spence and
Rae, along with others in the leadership group, departed from their early embrace of
the democratic ideals of union governance and adopted a leadership philosophy
based on the premise that the leaders were the best men to determine the future
direction and strategy of the AWU. This change in direction occurred following their
failure to obtain the support of an increasingly disillusioned membership for an
industrial strategy designed to secure increased wages and conditions for pastoral
workers in the late 1890s following the disastrous losses sustained by the union as a
consequence of the 1890 Maritime Strike and the subsequent pastoral industry
disputes in the earlier years of the decade.
The historical context, in the example of Boote, illustrates the dangers of stereo-
typing the leadership of trade unions over time. The reputation of the unions leader-
ship for exacting swift retribution to any within its ranks who expressed dissent fails
in Bootes case. On more than one occasion, Boote publicly expressed dissent from
AWU policy, yet his dissent was tolerated. He often found himself on the same
platform as the communists who were arch-enemies of the AWU. The reason why
Boote was granted so much tolerance is unclear, although his reputation and inu-
ence in circles outside of the AWU was probably a factor.
206
The historical context also allows insights into how changes in leadership strategy
can change the governance style of a trade union. The 19th century AWU leadership
group embraced a governance style centred around the notion of a democratic voice
for the rank and le membership. When the leadership adopted the best men
principle in the aftermath of the strikes of the 1890s, the democratic ideal was
marginalized. As the leadership of the early 20th century forged an increasingly
bureaucratic structure to meet the exigencies of post-Federation industrial legislation,
the attendant internal constitutional and regulatory changes further increased the
authority and power of the leadership group. From this point on, the AWU assumed
a more authoritarian demeanour which, in turn, provided an environment which
complemented the leadership approaches adopted by both Fallon and Dougherty in
the later years.
Thus, historical context provides a window into the operation of leadership of the
organization and how it intersects with political, social and economic changes in its
broader environment. This, then, gives us some sense of how the intersection of these
factors function to shape both the way the organization and the leadership of it
develop over time.
Thirdly, although it has not been the intention here to address this aspect of leader-
ship, the study does suggest some implications for theory. Despite the absence of a
separate body of theory of trade union leadership and the differences between union
leadership and that of other organizations, general leadership theory seems to provide
some explanations worthy of consideration. Employing a comparative model of
biographical case studies of leaders allows us to explore some of the links between
theory and practice, as the AWU study demonstrates. For example, trade union leaders
can be seen as exhibiting both transactional and transformational characteristics.
Raes courage and determination and Spences attentiveness to followers concerns
are transformational characteristics in the same way Fallons and Doughertys tactics
of ruthlessness and the instillation of fear represent more transactional qualities.
It is also clear that the French and Raven model is useful in explaining a trade
union leaders personal power and how inuence is exercised. Likewise, Terrys
theory of administrative conservatorship has particular relevance in terms of the role
of union leaders as custodians of the organisations history and traditions.
It is difcult to draw any denitive conclusions on this point from the evidence
presented here, particularly given the differences between union organisations and
the organizations from which much of this theory emerged. MacDonald voiced
similar reservations concerning theory application to trade unions in her study in the
late 1950s. Yet, given the fact that union organizations have grown more sophisti-
cated in terms of structure and management practices since MacDonalds study, it
might now be time for a more in depth investigation of the possibility of wider appli-
cation of organizational leadership theory in particular, to a trade union organization.
Finally, this study demonstrates the strengths of employing comparative
biographical methodology in the study of leadership. It can reveal useful insights and
extend our historical understanding of particular events and institutions. In this
example, by employing a case study approach we gain a broader account of the
leadership in one trade union. It highlights the dissimilarities as well as the similar-
ities of the various leadership approaches while underscoring the importance of
the role of context in terms of the organizational environment and its impact on
207
leadership at particular historical intervals. It also highlights the dangers of over-
generalization and has at least the potential to open the door to the evaluation of
empirical evidence in the light of some of the existing body of leadership theory. The
comparative model of biographical case studies employed here could also form the
basis of an alternative methodology for evaluating leadership in business organiz-
ations. This would broaden the scope for testing leadership theory as well as
remedying the lack of longitudinal studies in business leadership so often bemoaned
in reviews of leadership research.
The real benet of biographical research is not just about putting the individual
leaders back into an organization and telling their story, but rather in using that story
to reveal an additional dimension of understanding and explaining leadership and its
role in organizational life. If we accept that strong and effective leadership of trade
unions is one way in which they might better meet the challenges of their contem-
porary environment, then we need to understand more about it.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the editors of Leadership, and the three anonymous
reviewers for their constructive comments.
References
Allen, V. L. (1957) Trade Union Leadership. London: Longman.
Burns, J. M. (1978) Leadership. New York: Harper.
Connell, D. (1990) The Confessions of Clyde Cameron 19131990. Sydney: ABC
Enterprises.
Denzin, N. K. (1970) The Research Act in Sociology. London: SAGE.
Denzin, N. K. (1989) Interpretive Biography. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE.
Doig, J.W., & Hargrove, E. C., eds. (1987) Leadership and Innovation. A Biographical
Perspective of Entrepreneurs in Government. John Hopkins University Press.
Gildart, K. (2001) North Wales Miners. A Fragile Unity, 19451996. University of Wales
Press, UK.
Hargrove, E. (1994) Prisoners of Myth: The Leadership of the Tennessee Valley Authority,
19331990. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Harmel, R. (1989) The Iron Law of Oligarchy Revisited, in B. Jones Leadership and
Politics. New Perspectives in Political Science, pp. 16088. University of Kansas Press.
Jones, B. D. (1989) Leadership and Politics. New Perspectives in Political Science.
University of Kansas Press.
Hearn, M., & Knowles, H. (1996) One Big Union. A History of the Australian Workers
Union 18861994. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Kelly, J., & Heery, E. (1994) Working For The Union. British Trade Union Ofcers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kimeldorf, H. (1988) Reds or Rackets? The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on
the Waterfront. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Leavy, B., & Wilson, D. (1994) Strategy and Leadership. London: Routledge.
Lichtenstein, N. (1995) Walter Reuther. The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit and the Fate of
American Labor. New York: Basic Books.
MacDonald, L. (1959) Leadership Dynamics and the Trade Union Leader. New York: New
York University Press.
208
McBride, S. (1986) Trade Union Leadership in Capitalist Society: Between Context and
Disposition, Studies in History and Politics (Canada) 5: 122.
McIllroy, J., Morgan, K., & Campbell, A., eds (2001) Party People, Communist Lives:
Explorations in Biography. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Merritt, J. (1984) The Making of the AWU. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Mills, C. W. (1970) The Sociological Imagination. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Mills, C. W., & Atkinson, M. (1944) The Trade Union Leader: A Collective Portrait, Public
Opinion Quarterly 9(2): 15875.
Morgan, K. O. (1992) Labour People. Hardie to Kinnock. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pierce, J. L., & Newstrom, J. W. (2000) Leaders and the Leadership Process (2nd edition).
London: Irwin McGraw-Hill.
Roberts, B. (2002) Biographical Research. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Sayles, L., & Strauss, G. (1953) The Local Union: Its Place in the Industrial Plant. New
York: Harper and Brothers.
Selznick, P. (1957) Leadership in Administration. A Sociological Interpretation. New York:
Harper & Row.
Terry, L. (1995) Leadership of Public Bureaucracies. The Administrator as Conservator.
London: SAGE.
Theakston, K. (1997) Comparative Biography and Leadership in Whitehall, Public
Administration 75: 65167.
Theakston, K. (1999) Leadership in Whitehall. London: ESRC.
Yukl, G. (2002) Leadership in Organizations (5th edition). New York: Prentice Hall.
Harry Knowles lectures in Work and Organisational Studies in the Faculty of
Economics and Business at the University of Sydney. He has published in the elds
of labour history and biography and his current research interests are in leadership
and business history. [email: h.knowles@econ.usyd.edu.au]
209

Trade Union Leadership

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Trade Union Leadership

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

http://lea.sagepub.

http://lea.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts:

by Nicolas Diana on September 13, 2010 lea.sagepub.com Downloaded from

Potrebbero piacerti anche