This is thread drift in that it does not discuss airlines but I think it relevant to our discussion about midern mgmt.
On Saturday I came across another example of mgmt by numbers - rather than by what is actually happing at the 'coal face'.
A private hospital. Saturdays are sometimes quiet and sometimes busy, depending on what list of operations are to be performed and how many patients are in for the weekend. So the mgmt often drop one of the junior ward staff from a Saturday to save money. This often leads to the rest running very much faster in order to keep the standard of care where they want it to be.
So far, so very ordinary. Mgmt get patted on the back for saving money and the staff work harder and resent the mgmt a little bit more.
Last Saturday, the mgmt (on Friday) looked at the list and decreed that one person should be dropped. But that person did not get their message and turned up on Saturday and worked as per their rota. Which was just as well because the patients they did have were complex and two needed very close attention. Even with the full compliment of staff - they were rushed off their feet.
The nursing staff are waiting for the calamity and desperatly hoping that they can see it in time before one of their patients is in crisis.
It will not surprise you to learn that this hospital was part of a group taken over last year and, since then:
- Many 'cost savings' have been put in place.
- Many new procedures that appear to safeguard process' but can delay staff in getting access to test results or other aspects of care. Highly competent nursing staff of 25+ years experience having to be trained how to use computers to log work and tests, so as to save having secretarial support. Mgmt save staff (well done, have a bonus)
- Experienced staff sent on training courses to tick boxes but telling them things they already know - rather than teaching them new things.
The staff, generally, work well together and pull together for their patients. But staff turnover is creeping up because pay rates are worse than the NHS and complaining is not going to get you anywhere.
This example could be any major corporation selling furniture or airline seats or hospital treatment. The point in common is that the business is preventing it's staff from giving of their best and - when something goes wrong - it will be their fault. So they leave. This pushes up the costs again but mgmt can easily brush that under the table.
When the inevitable happens? "We have instigated a full inquiry to ensure that this does not ahppen again, our thoughts are with the ..." So flippin' predictable.