Transport industry needs its own staff college—principal
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MANAGEMENT FROM RANKS OF HIGHLY EDUCATED
Adegree or professional qualification gives a wonderful start in life but it has little bearing on a man's capacity to reach the top", said Mr. J. P. Martin-Bates, principal of the Administrative Staff College, Henley, on Monday.
He was speaking to the Metropolitan section of the Institute of Transport about management training in transport and he stressed that this confession by someone involved full time in education might seem surprising.
Mr. Martin-Bates outlined the post-war development of management education courses in Britain and welcomed the increased provision now being made by the universities and technical colleges.
The rate of change called for by technological developments, not least in transport, was higher than ever before and no responsible manager could divorce himself from it. The transport industry needed its own staff college;
it was also desirable that young men in transport should move around the different sectors of the industry much more than they had in the past.
To an increasing extent, he believed, higher management in the future would be recruited from the ranks of the highly educated. This was not so in the past. Many more people were now enjoying longer full-time education—often after taking a degree men were expected to study for a further two or even four years to obtain vocational qualifications.
Mr. Martin-Bates stressed the difficulty experienced by many students and by their nominating managers in deciding the value of the various educational courses open to them.
The Administrative Staff College hoped soon to publish the results of a pilot survey carried Out by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations which would throw light on this subject. The subsequent careers of mature students who had passed through the Henley staff college five and 10 years ago would ascertain the benefit derived from the 11-week residential courses.
Creative and imaginative men were "the rarest birds of all" in management, said Mr. Martin-Bates. "Never discourage such people; they are still very worth while, and in transport as elsewhere the creative types are worth persevering with even if they have a lot of other deficiencies".
Men returning from training courses would have a much higher motivation. In some cases they would be. aware that their own abilities were. higher than they had originally believed.
It was essential that scope and encouragement should be given to the returning students, of any age. Failure to do so would result in discontent, or worse, and the employer concerned would not profit from the situation.
Atkinson Distributor: A new distributor for Atkinson Vehicles Ltd., has been appointed to cover the North-East. Taking over the territory formerly held by Cornberhill (Durham) Garages Ltd., is a new organization which will eventually trade under the name of Scotts of Nottingham Ltd.
Lifting Gear : The hydraulic lifting boom equipment illustrated on OSG's recovery vehicle in the December 23 issue Of COMMERCIAL MOTOR was designed, supplied and fitted by Vehicle Plant and Supply Co. Ltd., West Drayton. and not as stated in the original caption.