I am afraid that this is a sign of the times where ATC is treated as a business rather than a public service. We in the UK are familiar with this situation whether it be public transport, health care, the military, etc. In NATS a lot of our managers are ex-ATCOs which although laudable does raise the question as to whether being a good radar controller means that you must be a good manager, in the case of NATS I would suggest that it does not. In this particular case in Norway I would suggest that the new manager certainly would have little respect from his colleagues, but that is another matter. You tell us that he is a "beancounter", there is a saying that "Accountants know the price of everything and the value of nothing" certainly in NATS that is definately true.