The need for Confidence and Enthusiasm? Dear Sir
| Date | 01 March 1982 |
| Author | Terry Scarborough |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058202900122 |
| Published date | 01 March 1982 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
36
The
need
for
Confidence
and
Enthusiasm?
Dear
Sir,
I
sometimes
wonder
whether
the
complexity
of
an
article
enhances
its
chances
of
publication
in
Probation
Journal.
Frankly,
David
Burnham
&dquo;The
New
Orthodoxy.
in
the
Place
of
Con-
fusion&dquo;
(PJ,
Dec
’81),
left
me
confused.
Perhaps
we
tend
to
look
for
complex
answers
to
problems
and
fail
to
see
the
wood
for
the
tree.
Writing
very
much
from
the
stand-
point
of
his
own
ideology,
he
expresses
surprise
at
disfavour
for
a
single
salary
scale.
Maybe
there
is
a
greater
awareness
than
he
thinks
that
some
form
of
man-
agement
structure
is
necessary,
and
that
the
new
ideology
we
seem
almost
expected
to endorse
could
leave
us
in
a
worse
state
than
the
old.
I
venture
to
suggest
that
it
is
not
the
basis
of
the
old
orthodoxy
that
is
at
fault
but
its
implementation.
Even
as
recently
as
1968,
when
I
joined
the
Service,
much
of
the
old
autonomy
existed.
Seniors
were
often
working
colleagues
with
reduced
caseloads,
in
touch
with
day
to
day
affairs,
the
hierarchy
more
inclined
to
be
seen
as
there
to
assist
the
’main’
grade
officer
in
his
performance.
In
one
sense
things
can
never
be
the
same
again.
Change
has
been
rapid,
which
initself
leads
to
confusion.
In
little
over
a
decade
we
have
seen
eKpan-
sion
of
the
Service,
new
legislation,
an
increase
of
female
staff,
younger
officers,
those
with
different
political/ethical
standards
vis-a-vis
traditional
conserve-
tive/religious
belief,
paper
qualifications,
resources
and
methods,
all
in
an
organ-
isation
which
is
not
used
to
handling
such
diversity.
There
has
been
an
increase
of
mili-
tancy
at
main
grade
level,
NAPO
also
having
become
a
trade
union,
whilst
on
the
other
hand
I
feel
the
hierarchy
has
been
seeking
to
consolidate
its
own
position
of
elitism
and
power
under
the
guise
of
’management’,
of
which
it
has
httle
experience
in
real
terms.
Increas-
ingly
there
is
a
polarisation
of
these
standpomts
that
threatens
the
Service.
I
see
no
good
reason
why
a
good
deal of
personal
autonomy
and
accountability
should
not
remain,
provided
our
modern
Service
is
structured
sensibly.
To
my
mind,
it
is
the
lack
of
a
consistent
and
effective
structure
that
causes
the
pre-
sent
day
problem.
If
the
Service
as
a
whole
does
not
seem
to
know
where
it
is
going,
how
can
its
officers
be
anything
but
confused?
It
may
not
be
easy
to
solve
this
prob-
lem
with
no
one
person
at
the
helm,
but
it
ought
to
be
possible
to
work
out
some
criteria
for
those
who
are
to
become
the
Service’s
managers.
As
I
know
from
recent
attempts
to
gain
seniority,
there
are
at
present
no
such
criteria.
There
is
no
proving
ground
such
as
&dquo;acting
up&dquo;
which
exists
in
some
organisations
to
ascertain
suitability
to
manage,
and
similarly
no
independent
board.
Purely
arbitrary
factors
exist
that
will
differ
from
area
to
area
and
vacancy
to
vacancy,
such
as
size,
age,
sex,
colour,
religion,
qualification
-
anything
may
decide,
but
like
the
parolee
the
candi-
date
is
never
told.
Proven
ability
to
man-
age
resources,
organise,
administer,
sup-
port,
enable
and
lead
may
carry
little
weight,
yet
observation
leads
me
to
believe
that
it
is
the
absence
of
such
factors
which
cause
staff
to
lose
con-
fidence
in
their
management.
The
fire
of
discontent
thus
fuelled
increases
the
cycle
of
mistrust.
It
is
in
such
a
climate
that
revolution
with
its
particular
ideology/new
orthodoxy
thrives.
There
are,
however,
those
who
feel
that
the
old
orthodoxy
still
has
some-
thing
to
offer
in
this
day
when
exciting
new
areas
of
work
are
opening
up.
Given
that
there
are
things
worthy
of
consid-
eration
in
both
the
Management
Structure
Review
and
the
Minority
Report,
the
main
need
just
could
be
for
the
Probation
hierarchy
to
develop
con-
sistency
and
re-assess
its
need
to
estab-
lish
an
ethos
that
is
caring
and
suppor-
tive,
an
enabling
organisation
having
as
its
members
managers
able
to
handle
present
day
resources
in
a
way
that
engenders
confidence
and
evokes
enthusiastic
service.
But
can
it
rise
to
such
a
challenge?
Yours
faithfullv.
TERRY
SCARBOROUGH
Bedford
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