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Leap in the dark
Page 70
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Peter Lamer wonders how he is meant to make business decisions without the information he needs.
irhe French industrialist Henri Fayol once said: "If planning isnot the whole of management,it is at least the greater part."
Planning is an essential role of management, but our ability to manage is subject to several external forces, not least of which are the legislators. Ever since I joined the road haulage industry in the seventies new legislation has fiowed,like a river, through the strategic planning necessary for any successful business. And,often, when the tide of legislation rose too high,it would damage, and sometimes destroy, businesses.
More recently we seem to suffer from what I would term flash-flood legislation: it takes industry unawares and is poorly planned.
There's an old joke about a man who finds a ticket for a pair of shoes he had left at the repairers two years previously and had forgotten about. He returns to the shop and, after examining the ticket, the shopkeeper replies: "Oh yes sir, they'll be ready on Wednesday".
EU and UK legislation has become like that — and no, I don't mean it's cobblers! Take the most significant piece of legislation to hit business in recent years: the Working Time Directive, or Road Transport Directive depending on what you want to call it. Despite years of discussion the final wording was not produced until days before it became law. Its introduction even had to be delayed for a couple of weeks to accommodate the inefficiency of the legislators.
Now the same is happening with the introduction of Euro-4 engines next year.As someone who happens to believe that Henri Fayol was right, I am now planning what vehicles and trailers! need to order for next year; either to replace existing equipment or to accommodate the expansion of our business. But sometime in 2006 legislation will introduce Euro-4 engines and I need to decide whether this is a good thing or a had thing for our business.To make this decision! need information.., will it cost me any more? And will fuel consumption be affected?
Most manufacturers will stop building Euro-3 engines around June next year. For me to decide whether! buy Euro-3 prior to this date, or E,uro-4 after it, I need this information. But manufacturers simply say they don't know. If WorkingTime Directive legislation is anything to go by we will be told retrospectively.
My job as a manager is to create a working environment that enables our employees to work effectively and efficiently.! consider the role of government, with regard to business, to be no different to that. But, at the moment, they place constraints and controls that do not allow us to perform the essential role of planning for our business. •