Here is an interesting news item.
Refinery strikes spread across UK (BBC).
It highlights an interesting problem, and a problem that is, as you have just read, VERY emotive, and because of the recession, increasingly obvious.
What's fair and legal about protecting your country's workforce?
More importantly, for people like Bozo's Antagonist, "what's the right long term economic solution?"
If i haven't lost the loyalty of the socialist readers by the infrequency of my blogging (house moving is a bigger pain than you;d imagine), then they will also ask: "what's the right thing for the ordinary people living here in our green and pleasant land?" (At least I hope they will!)
Here's the legal thing...
It IS illegal to protect UK firms from EC competition. (I know the French and Italians cheat and break the law, but there you go...)
Here's the economic thing...
It does NOT help UK plc's long term future to protect UK businesses from foreign competition.
Protectionism breeds inefficiency, and inefficiency is what happened to the UK car (substitute any other hard core manufacturing sector you feel like) industry.
Protected industries are NOT forced to improve daily, hourly. They do not build the skills and experiences necessary for a cutting edge company in the 21st Century. A company that operates in the sort of value chain that delivers savings and functionality to consumers. So, one day they WILL die. Protecting them can only put off the inevitable. The idea that UK PLC can be protected just until it becomes efficient is an oxymoron.
BUT
I have a theory that says the average British worker is every bit as efficient and hard working as the average Italian worker. Every bit as efficient as the average Japanese worker actually.
The problems in UK plc are not on the shop floor (although I admit pre Maggie they used to be). The problems in UK plc are in the boardrooms, and at middle management levels.
RBS (Scottish) the WORST bank in the history of banking has been bailed out by the British Government (Scottish) to the tune of more billions than anyone could count.
Was this because their bank tellers were inefficient>????
The banking system was destroyed by bad senior management.
The UK car industry was destroyed by bad senior management.
Yet, when you look at the redundancy headlines. When you look at the house repossession headlines.
It is not senior management who are paying for the mistakes is it?
I don't want to get sucked into the argument on a purely socio-political level because Andy will get cross with me, but, the bad senior management that causes UK firms to lose contracts such as the one in Lincolnshire will cause ordinary people to suffer.
Doing the right economic thing - and letting inefficient and uncompetitive UK firms die out is best in the long term, will not be the right economic thing for thousands of people being made redundant through no mistakes of their own!. But surely we need to do something to make UK firms sort themselves out?
The answer, strangely, is NOT more and more redundancies at shop floor and middle management level. The answer is better senior management.
And what are we doing about it?
Nothing.
I had three interesting conversations this week. I was back in Yorkshire and my regular squash partner Charles, told me that his marketing consultancy had lost one of their biggest contracts.
"Why?" I asked
"The client had lost two big contracts, so they decided to cut back on marketing"
TRUE!!!!
My friend Robin actually was made redundant a few years ago from HIS job as sales and marketing director by a firm responding to a slow down.
We are selling less, so let's spend less on selling!
The other conversations were with clients of mine and potential clients of mine about their budgets for this year.... I will come to that in a second.
So the problem is BAD senior management.
So what can you do to improve senior management?
Two things leap to mind.
- Make use of decent, not over-priced consultancy support
- Get on board as much management training as you can lay your hands on
Which brings me to my other conversations...
Have a look around and tell me which two areas of spend budgets are getting cut in most frequently?
EXACTLY!
The budgets are authorised by the same senior management that ARE the problem!!!!!
What's their incentive for educating their way out of it?
NONE
They pretend they know everything about everything, but their results speak otherwise. Its hard to sell a solution to the board when the sales pitch begins by telling them it is THEY who are the problem.
I get thrown out of sales pitches a LOT>
BUT until THEY are made to pay the price currently being paid by the shop floor in redundancies, don't expect it to change.
And bear it in mind when aggrieved and frightened refinery workers start picketing the gates.
The problem is NOT bad workers, its bad leaders.
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