Organisation and Methods in the Smaller Public Authority
| Author | Raymond Nottage |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1954.tb01304.x |
| Date | 01 June 1954 |
| Published date | 01 June 1954 |
Organisation
and
Methods
in
the
Smaller
Pub1
ic
A
uthority
By
RAYMOND
NOTTAGE
Mr. Nottage, who is Director
of
the Royal Institute
of
Public Admim’s-
trotion, examines
problems
involved in introducing
0
t3
M
techniques
into local authorities and hospital authorities. The views he expresses
are his own
and
not
necessarily those
nf
the Institute.
HE
publicity given to the Treasury’s
0
&
M
investigation into the City
T
of Coventry’s administration has set the members and officers of many
other public bodies wondering how best they can employ
0
&
M techniques
in their
own
organisations.
It
is still little more than a decade since
1941
when Sir Horace Wilson,
then Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, called in Mr.
J.
(now Sir James)
Reid Young, a Director of Vickers Ltd., to advise
on
whether the Treasury’s
Investigating Section should be developed.
Mr.
Reid Young recommended
expanding the functions of this Section, which bad just been renamed
the Organisation and Methods Division. Since then
0
&
M has come to
be the almost universally accepted title for the process of giving systematic
and
“
scientific
”
study to the organisation of an authority, or a department
of an authority, and to the detailed methods of work which are employed
within the various departments. Its objects, simply, are to secure economies
in
cost and labour, and improvements in standards of service.
0
&
M is now a well-established feature of central government adminis-
tration. About twenty of the major departments have their
own
0
8i
M
units, and the Treasury provides an
0
&
M service for the smaller depart-
ments. The Treasury also performs certain specialist functions, such as
training, and co-ordinates
0
&
M activities in central government as a whole.
A
number of the major public corporations have
also
developed
0
&
M
units, among them the Bank of England, the B.B.C., British Electricity
Authority, British European Airways, the National Coal Board, London
Transport Executive, South Eastern Electricity Board, and the East Midlands,
Southern and South Eastern Gas Boards.
0
&
M techniques have also
been adopted by the governments of a number of other countries, including
those of the U.S.A., Canada and Australia, and the United Nations Technical
Assistance Administration have sponsored publications
on
various aspects
of
0
&
M for the benefit of the under-developed countries.
0
&
M has thus clearly established itself as an indispensable tool of
management in the larger administrative unit, but
it
has not yet been very
extensively adopted by the smaller public bodies,
among
whom are many
local authorities and hospital authorities:
Can
0
&
M
Help
the
Smaller Organisation?
There
is
evidence that the use of
0
&
M
techniques can be rewarding
in
small organisations as well as in large, as the following examples show
:
143
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
(a)
The Metropohtan Boroughs
0
&
M
unit, constituted in
1951,
has proved to the authorities who promoted
it
that
it
can justify itself,
and there has been general support for its continuation for a further
period of five years. This is hardly surprising in the light of the
results it has
so
far achieved, and which are described later in this article,
but one specific instance of its work
is
mentioned here to indicate its
nature and its usefulness. In the Housing Department of one Metro-
politan Borough
it
was found that applications and lettings were handled
by two separate groups of staff. Of the
27
card indexes, registers and
statistical records maintained, some had ceased
to
serve any purpose,
others contained information obtainable elsewhere, while many were
required only because of the existence of the two sections.
It
proved
possible, after a detailed study, to reduce the number of records to ten.
(b)
In
a non-county borough in the Home Counties, the
0
&
M
officer was able, in conjunction with the Engineer’s Department, to
devise substantial improvements in the methods
of
street cleansing.
This was formerly done by orderlies, each working independently with
a broom, shovel and hand-cart. After sweeping a section of road, each
man returned over his track to collect and wheel forward his hand-cart,
covering each section of road three times
in
the process. The refuse
from the hand-carts was collected by lorries, but delays often occurred
between the filling up of the hand-can and the arrival of the lorry.
Under the new system the orderlies work
in
teams
of
three, each team
being equipped with a one-ton capacity pedestrian-controlled electric
truck. Two
of
the members of the team sweep the refuse forward into
piles which are collected by the truck operated by the third man.
In
this way each man only traverses the same ground once. Thanks to
this change, transport costs have been reduced by
80
per cent., and
streets are now cleaned every eight or nine working days, compared
with every four to five weeks formerly.
(c)
In
a County Hall, practically every department had its
own
duplicating machine, there being 13
in
all.
As
a result
of
an
0
&
M
inquiry
it
proved possible to centralise all headquarters duplication
on
two
machines operated by one girl who had been specially trained for
the work.
In
addition
to
the capital value of the
11
redundant machines,
the economies covered stocks of consumables (including paper formerly
wasted through unskilled operation), office space, and time of skilled
typists.
(d)
Finally, the Coventry investigation must not be ignored.
Although the Policy Advisory Committee of the City Council considered
that the Treasury estimate of
~50,000
a year savings could not be secured
immediately, they went on to say that they were satisfied that substantial
improvements in organisation and administrative methods would follow
from the review.
There seems good reason to suppose, therefore, that the greatly extended
use of
0
&
M techniques
in
local
government would lead to worth-while
144
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