Morale Issue
Page 54
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ESEARCH commands respect whenever it is con cerned with something that fits in with the general idea of what is scientific, We are less tolerant with the fruits of research into the effect of science upon cur own behaviour. The inclination is either to disagree with the findings, or to say that they are nothing more than commonsense, requiring no special investigation.
Nevertheless, effective action on a theory, even on what is accepted as general knowledge, often has to wait upon proof. This is particularly true when the action is political. Blue books and white papers, clothing popular beliefs with facts and figures, are not always followed by legislation, but they certainly help.
In their campaign to save free-enterprise road transport for posterity, hauliers may have to sponsor an occasional inquiry into public opinion and the extent to which it is justified. The inquiry will often have served its purpose if it does nothing more than supply statistics and equations to prove what we may think we know already.
A substantial majority of public opinion is at present opposed to further nationalization in general, and to the renationalization of long-distance road haulage in particular. Independent polls show that the majority is something like two to one, even among Labour-party supporters. Hauliers are likely to make a good deal of this point, but should not imagine that, by itself, it will bring about the change they desire in Labour-party policy.
The pledge to renationalize road haulage and iron and steel, contained in the recent policy booklet on State ownership, will certainly be re-affirmed at the party conference in six weeks' time. Socialist M.P.s who criticize the booklet, either because it goes too far or because it does not go far enough, are all in agreement on renationalization.
If they are aware of the strength of the opposite opinion among their less vocal supporters, they choose to ignore it, perhaps in the belief that the majority is always wrong, and in the recollection that public opinion was once in favour of burning witches.
High Hopes
The Labour party are not likely to allow the evidence of polls, standing alone, to deter them from renationalization. It represents only one point in a policy for which, as a whole, the party have high hopes of getting a mandate at the next general election.
To make progress, hauliers must not merely harness public opinion to their cause, but must show that public opinion is justified. The majority of people believes that a small concern has fewer labour troubles than a large concern; that competition gives more satisfactory results than a monopoly; that private enterprise is a better servant than a State-owned undertaking. Evidence in favour of these beliefs, particularly if it comes from independent sources. may do more than the beliefs themselves to bring about a gradual change in Socialist policy, with the ultimate effect of leaving the road-haulage industry clear of the political whirlpool in which it has been spinning for more than 10 years.
Independent evidence recpritly made available of the better industrial relations in small companies must have some relevance in any discussion on the rival merits of hauliers and British Road Services. The common idea that the strength of morale in a company is in inverse proportion to its size is supported by a study published by the Acton Society Trust, a body having no connection with any political party.
A previous survey, published in 1953, showed that, in undertakings similar in everything but size, absenteeism, whether due to whim, accident or sickness, increased with the size, whilst output, as far as it could be measured, went down. The more recent study concentrated on a group of 12 manufacturing units, with employees varying from about a score to just under 4,000. The relation between size and the proportion of time lost was confirmed, and five of the works were selected for further study, employing respectively 58, 250, 480, 860 and 3,500 workers.
Act of Disloyalty One or two points will show the lines on which the study was conducted. The smallest unit drew most of its labour from the immediate locality, and had a strong neighbourhood sense. To stay away seemed an act of disloyalty, and, of course, the absentee was easier to trace. In the two larger works, men frequently took time off in order to do private jobs, and in the largest of all a group of employees, on the occasion of an international football match, chartered five-coaches, which actually picked them up at the work gates.
The smallest concern had far fewer facilities than the rest, but the staff did not seem to miss them. They liked the works manager. He was first to arrive and last to leave, and would lend a hand at any task. Supervision was informal and personal, with little paper work. As the size of the undertaking increased, so did the remoteness of control, and the substitution of mechanical for personal relationships.
The study tends constantly towards the conclusion— which is also the general view—that the best relationship between employers and employed is to be found in the small unit, and has very little to do with other circumstances. Not that the study can accept this conclusion completely. Its purpose was not merely to record, but to make suggestions for keeping morale at a satisfactory level even in large concerns. Further studies may deal more completely with the solution of the problem, but the recent publication has not a great deal to offer.
However, it should give hauliers food for thought. With few exceptions, they are small men, and have had no compelling impulse to become big. The one Triton among minnows was .deliberately created by the Socialists. They were not merely concerned with morale. They argued that a national network, itself part of a much larger integrated transport service, would give industry something it would like to have. The Socialists also thought workers would be more contented and anxious to serve in a large system owned by the State.
The faithin integration has waned, and the work of the Acton Society Trust will help to shake any remnants of a belief that morale goes up in a nationalized monopoly. The majority of people has all along been sceptical. They now have the results of research to reinforce their opinion.