I started this BLOG about 10 months ago as a result of the crass changes made in my own public sector organization in the name of  'AUSTERITY'. As my Tyke friends (yes I do have one or two) are wont to say 'Cometh the hour; cometh the man' and here in Kent we certainly found a man, who would slash and burn with the alacrity and mindlessness expected of a self-seeking neo-barbarian, in search of a 6 figure salary.

As  the organizational crassness grew exponentially during the Autumn 2012, I was consumed by the hell hound 'Apathy' and  abandoned my BLOG  before it had even established itself. However, the repeated, persistent attacks by this government on the poor have once again got me reaching for the 6 gun, which is my keyboard. It is time for those, who still understand the meaning of ' the dignity and essence of public service' to re-connect. There is still (just about) such a thing as 'Society' and '(Wo)man shall not live by market forces alone.'

To warm up I re-post my opening blog of Summer of' '012'. Be warned there will undoubtedly be more to follow:

Saturday, 23 June 2012

I have been thinking about a couple of things tonight; one inspired by an excellent article by Ann James ( when she was at the King's Fund), in which she talks about the segmented way managers think; the other inspired (?) by the revelation that Michael Gove wishes to immortalize himself by bringing back 'o' levels. They are connected thoughts:

The Youth Offending Service in Kent has recently transmogrified into 'The Integrated Youth Service' (a bit of a laugh in itself, as the overwhelming majority of Young People, who come through the YOS portals are 'excluded youth' who have never been integrated into anything). Anyway, The IYS has a new leader, whose revolutionary plan is to reverse the re-structure of 2 years ago - this took the county down from 4 to 3 areas - and replace it with a 'new' 4 area structure; thus taking it from 3 to 4 areas. Of course, this is not a 'U' turn but merely a sacrificial offering to the god 'Co-terminosity'. 4 areas went to 3 in order to be co-terminus with Children' Services'; now 3 areas must go to 4 in order to be co-terminus with police areas. The benefits from co-terminosity must indeed be great, although strangely unmeasurable. (Luckily we now have a government, which is de-bunking New Labour's obsession with measurability. As we all know, we now operate in the Nike style of management 'Just do it'. So IYS is just doing it.

So what has this to do with Michael Gove?Well the Head of IYS shares at least two things in common with the estimable Mr G. Both are capable only of simple, linear thought; both appear to have an over-inflated opinion about their importance. Essentially what  both Gove and Baker (Head of IYS not the Education Secretary in the 80s) crave is to leave a legacy and both see the way of doing this is by going 'back to the future'.
So what has this to do with the admirable Ms. James? Ms James was saying ( I hope I do her justice) that senior managers when there is trouble reach for simple solutions: they go for 'the financial solution' - lets cut; let's make efficiency savings; or they go for the structural solution - let's re-organize; let's down-size; or the HR solution - let's get rid of this bunch of staff; let's up-skill; down-skill or sideways-skill. Mangers want 'simplicity'; they want a 'quick win'. They do not want to see complexity; historically, they have shown little capacity to think holistically; so they end up dealing with part of the problem in a partial way, which invariably creates  more problems rather than resolves them.
Having lived through more re-organizations than I have had hot breakfasts, I can say what they invariably achieve is decreased productivity; increased dissatisfaction amongst staff, increased turn-over of staff, loss of skills and experience and distancing/ mistrust between management and workforce. Do they ever save money? Somehow they have an uncanny knack of costing more.