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Agency and the deunionisation of managers in an Australian telecommunications company

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Ruth Barton  and
Diane van den Broek
Ruth Barton
Affiliation:
School of Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Diane van den Broek
Affiliation:
Work and Organisational Studies, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Abstract

Discussions about deunionisation usually focus on lower levels of the workforce with managers seen as the initiators of deunionisation strategies. Managers, however, occupy contradictory positions as agents of capital, employees and possibly trade unionists. This can place them in the position of being both recipients and conduits in deunionisation strategies. The focus of the study is on Telstra, the major telecommunications carrier in Australia. Using a range of sources such as interviews and company and union materials, this qualitative research shows how between 1992 and 2000 Telstra's senior management's concerns over middle management agency prompted them to reframe the concept of a manager by using a set of managerial practices from the mining company CRA and the provisions of the Workplace Relations Act (1996) to individualise and deunionise their managerial ranks as a precursor to the deunionisation of the wider workforce.

Keywords

agencymanagerstrade unionsdeunionisationAustraliatelecommunications
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 210 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2011

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