The woman with three
months to live was told
to move to the corridor
Rear Window
A rebellious teacher
Memories
of summer:
a photo-essay
Friends of SR
We need your help
Jill Stephenson
I was minding my own business at Haymarket station in Edinburgh, waiting for a train to Dundee, when I spied a notice saying ‘Alight here for Edinburgh airport’. My host in Dundee mentioned over lunch what a pain it was to have to take the train from Dundee to Haymarket and then get a bus out to Edinburgh Airport.
At Haymarket, when I turned round, I noticed a packed train, run by Transpennine Express, clearly labelled as being destined for Manchester Airport. So you can get to Manchester Airport from Edinburgh by train, but not to Edinburgh Airport. This incongruity was emphasised when, not far out of Haymarket, our train passed by the end of the runway at Edinburgh Airport. What in heaven’s name is so wrong with the deductive powers of the people who run transport in Edinburgh that they could not see that it was simple matter to run a spur from the existing train line to Edinburgh Airport?
What on earth made anyone think that it would be preferable/more economic/more user-friendly to build an expensive tram system? Are we run by morons? As Sir John Junor used to say, I think we should be told.
SR accepts no advertising or corporate backing. We depend entirely on the generosity of our individual supporters. Help SR to flourish by becoming a Friend. [click here]
Today’s banner
Ponies on Islay
Photograph by
Islay McLeod
The communications
people who prefer not
to communicate
Alex Wood
Prior to my recent retirement I became increasingly uneasy with local authority management. I was particularly appalled by the abuse of language which characterised my employers. In March an email from the head of human resources arrived in head teachers’ in-trays. It started thus:
‘Over the last few years we have delivered a more modern and efficient HR service by streamlining transactional and administrative work. This has allowed us to free up professional HR resources to support the achievement of the Council’s key change priorities. Our service is designed to support managers to handle people issues confidently with support provided that is tailored to specific issues.
‘As a result many managers are now successfully dealing with individual cases without HR intervention. However the significant budget savings now required to be made by our service mean that we must now focus on ensuring that more managers are capable to deal with simple and straightforward cases without direct HR intervention…’ etc. etc.
Ironically, that combination of Orwellian Newspeak and Mandelsonian spin came via the council’s communications team. The tone of the individual words (modern, efficient, successfully) is positive and optimistic. The meaning is entirely negative. I responded by emailing the author, with copies to my line manager, inviting him to advise me if the following was an accurate translation.
‘Over the last few years the Council’s HR service does less of what it once did. This has allowed the HR department to concentrate on implementing the Council’s current priority, the reduction in employee numbers and the HR issues which arise from that. As a result of our reduced service capacity, we now expect managers in the field themselves to carry out, without our support and assistance, tasks in respect of which we would formerly have given support and assistance.
‘As a result many managers in the field now have an increased workload and are dealing with individual cases without HR support. However the significant budget savings now required to be made by our service mean that we must now focus on reducing even further our service to managers in the field…’ etc. etc.
I received no reply. I have always been suspicious of human resources departments. The title implies several forms of resources, financial, property and estate, IT, logistical and so on. And then there are human resources. Human here implies no values. It does, of course, imply value. Every resource has a value, accountable in pounds and pence.
Perhaps it is inevitable that an organisation communicating such a bleak message will seek to camouflage the meaning. My own experience has always been to the contrary: if staff require to be given bad news, be up-front and straightforward. Tell the truth in clear, simple and easily grasped terms.
There are many reasons for a culture of rigid adherence to complex, and
often purposeless, rules. One is to mystify the lay-person, to camouflage
the organisation’s ultimate purposes.
Alex Wood is a teacher
website design by Big Blue Dogwebsite development by NSD Web