1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166 
Management training: some disturbing trends
Page 119
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A MARKED DECLINE in the number of management courses both for public haulage and own-account operators has occurred during last autumn and this winter. The falling away has affected all types of courses---oneday, weekend, week courses and those involving attendance at a college for several weeks on an appointed day of the week. The reduction in management courses has, Moreover, been spread among both public (local colleges) and private sectors.
The "high peak" of management courses in the autumn, winter and spring of 1969/70 was to a large extent inflated by the impending legislation for operators' licences, drivers' hours, plating and testing and the hgv licence. Many courses directed specific attention to the problems involved in this changing situation and transport managers felt the obvious need to gain the latest information and interpretation of regulations, together with the likely affects on their operational and costing systems.
Now that much of the legislation has come into force, many ,of the difficulties have been ironed out and the industry has become more familiar with operators' licensing. On December 1, 1970, quantity licensing was effectively abandoned and, with it the anomalies of the double licensing system for vehicles of over 16 tons gross weight—at the same time this dispensed with the need for management courses examining the implications of quantity licensing.
Thus, viewed from the angle of legislation the decline can be explained and will give no particular cause for an anxiety. But there is another side to the recess in management courses which is worrying. The general interest and desire among management and supervisory staffs for courses of more general import has lessened and it does appear that the head of steam so carefully built has lost
some of its force. One of the reasons could be the dissatisfaction about the possibility of the statutory transport managers' licence. Many managers were enormously keen on the prospect of this legislation feeling that it could lead to greater professionalism and status in the industry, objects which have been so sadly lacking in the past.
The TML Advisory Committee are, however, proposing that the statutory enforcement of the licence be abandoned and that a voluntary system of certification and registration of transport managers at various grades be substituted. As I pointed out in October such a system has attractions provided that the Minister for Transport Industries would give the scheme his whole-hearted support including a readiness to invoke the legislation for compulsory licensing should the voluntary response be disappointing. But the current difficulty is that no decision has been made and a state of vacuum exists. A voluntary certification board could get to grips with arranging a programme of grades for manager registration which would interlock with present qualifications offered by the professional institutes but cannot begin to make headway until the Minister's views are known.
The longer the delay in reaching a decision, the deeper the disillusionment of many transport managers, particularly those in the middle and lower ranks. Their enthusiasm for training and education has definitely ebbed and there is a danger of a slip back to a position of a few years ago when training and education in road transport was not really even in its infancy. Admittedly, training boards and especially the RTITB have done much to bolster training and education but they need every help they can get in the field of management training. It has, thus, become critically urgent that there is action on the whole question of the voluntary licensing of transport managers.