When I come to power... (part 4)

...the use of economic theory will be legally restricted to those select few who are capable of understanding it. Which will basically mean academics, and not anyone in a management position who can't take their eyes off the bottom line.

Words like 'efficiency' and 'productivity' will not be able to be used in a business proposal without vetting by a panel of experts, at least one of whom must be a Nobel laureate.

People will be made to understand, by force if necessary, the hidden costs inherent in 'efficiency'. They will have drummed into them that it might be better to process 1000 applications (or orders, or units, or...) per month well than to process 2000 in a rush, because sooner or later one of the rushed items will come back to bite you in spectacular fashion. The short term savings of cutting corners, or staff, will be weighed up against the long term loss of quality.

Recalcitrant managers will be rotated into the positions that they manage, so that they understand what unending stress does to performance. Entire finance sections may have to be put through this process.

In the worst cases, the word 'sustainability' will be tattooed across the person's forehead.
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In case you're wondering, the above is not inspired by my own work situation. It is inspired by several things - a report of what is happening elsewhere in my employer, a report that has just been issued here in Australia about the disastrous administration of our immigration department, and an explosion some years ago.

I may have mentioned the explosion before - I can't remember, but it wouldn't suprise me. That's because it is the most vivid example I know of what can happen when 'efficiency' and dollar signs override common sense. A power plant in the state of Victoria gradually ran down its maintenance program. Fewer and fewer staff had to do the same job, so obviously they couldn't do it as thoroughly.

I'm quite sure that some idiotic manager somewhere in that company felt very satisfied with the savings they made... until the power plant exploded, killing two people and blacking out a third of the state - over a million people - for days or in some cases weeks. The compensation claims, particularly from businesses that were forced to shut down or lost stock (eg refrigerated food), made the initial savings on the maintenance program look truly pathetic. And, I repeat, two people died.

Every time I hear someone talk about efficiency, productivity and savings, I think of that.

I think about that a lot, unfortunately.