"Purpose – This study aims to analyze the relationship between the culture in one of the majority national trade unions in Spain and the difficulties in accomplishing the desired changes and innovations.

Design/methodology/approach – A total of 15 focus groups comprised of trade union leaders were conducted. Transcriptions of the groups were analyzed from a grounded theory approach

Findings – The presence of an “inconclusive dialectic” structure (thesis-antithesis-no synthesis) in the leaders' rhetoric was identified. From a dialectic perspective of organizational change, this can be interpreted as a factor slowing change within the organization.

Research limitations/implications – The study reflects the role played by organizational culture in maintaining this inertia and in the delay of the reduction of divergence between internal and external dimensions implied in the working and survival of trade union organizations. The results of the study reflect the need to introduce changes in the trade union's language and to redefine some of the terms in the discourse. New standards for the evaluation of the efficiency of trade unions as a whole, teams and their members are also necessary. This redefinition implies proposals able to synthesize tensions between the ideological and instrumental and between activism and professionalism.

Originality/value – In order to face workers' demands in the current framework of labor relations, there is general consensus on the need for change and development in trade union organizations. There are numerous factors involved that have been analyzed and some initiatives have been implemented from different levels with unclear success. Although literature on organizational development gives culture a central role, in the case of trade unions this dimension has been neglected."

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