Originally Posted by
Gainesy
Therein lies the nub, a creeping civilian ethos and its corporate bull**** with mission statements, "visions" (WTF? CAS been to Lourdes?) and such crap might work in some aspects of some civvy companies but is not suited to the military.
That is part of the problem. Many of the career MoD Civil Servants would also agree with you. The rot began when Governments became obsessed with commercial practices as a means of gaining value for money. Then we had the management consultants thrust upon us. They didn't understand our ways nor our phraseology. To make them learn to understand us would have cost money so we grasped the language of Business (particularly that of the Harvard Business School). Before DLO and IPT/MDGs were invented, operators of the military support chain, well the RN side anyway, were forever being compared with Woolworths and Marks and Spencers. What was successful for them had to be good for the Services. The fact that they were there to make the most profit while military supply sought to make the least loss was beside the point. Also, if they had a store range that wasn't profitable, they could bin/mag/gash it and the Customer could go elsewhere. Wow! that's a really great philosophy for supporting old, complex and hard worked equipment. The thing that continues to amaze me is the readiness with which Service officers grasped the Commercial ways and business-speak. It's like watching newly converted evangelists with missionary zeal.
Rant disengaged, Thread re-acquired.
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