Bus plan dangers
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Before the management of the National Bus Company merges the activities of its 70 companies into three regional units it should look at its near neighbour and close relative British Railways. In the old railway company days of LNER, [MS. SR and GWR going slow and working to rule were unheard of. Only after amalgamation and regionalization when the staff was unable to identify itself with company affaIrs did the trouble begin. Ever since the national rail strike in 1 957 the commendable esprit de corps of -the company manhas been disappearing.
Centralization and monolithic company structures may be theoretically efficient units. However, practical efficiency depends on people who need to be able to identify themselves with an easily recognizable company structure. Joint consultative machinery does not give the man at the wheel, the office cleaner or the clerk that sense of belonging which is so essentlal to job satisfaction and real success.
Yet another danger in the NBC reorganization scheme is the plan to diversify. Of course, a company must diversify to make progress. It creates fresh interests for the staff which generates a new enthusiasm for the job and in turn brings increased productivity leading to higher profits with atten dant benefits to all concerned.
[However, for NBC to diversify into parcels carrying might have the reverse effect. This is a very complex business and parcels are more easily mislaid than the bus company's traditional traffic --passengers.
The country already has enough parcels carriers both in the private and public sectors and there's, more to carrying parcels than moving them between -two points. If the NBC become parcel carriers to find later that they are unsuccessful, then diversification will have failed because the staffs faith in its own ability will have been destroyed.