Vickers' The Art of Judgement
| Published date | 01 March 1995 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1995.tb01706.x |
| Date | 01 March 1995 |
| Author | Nevil Johnson |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Political
Studies
(1995),
XLIII,
159-171
Vickers’
The Art
of
Judgement*
NEVIL
JOHNSON
Nufield College, Oxford
Sir Geoffrey Vickers was something of a polymath.
His
education in classics
at Oxford was interrupted by service in the army which lasted for the whole
of the First World War, and from which he emerged with the V.C. as well as
other awards for gallantry. After taking his degree in 1921 he turned to the law
and trained as a solicitor. This was followed by the best part of twenty years
in legal practice in London, work which brought him into close contact with
the sphere of international commercial law and finance. After being engaged
on economic intelligence work during the Second World War he left the legal
profession in 1947 and joined the newly created National Coal Board where
he became Board member for manpower and welfare. Retirement came in 1955,
but by this time he had become deeply involved in the administration of medical
research in both the public and voluntary sectors, and this was to remain a
major commitment for another decade. Meanwhile, retirement also meant that
he
was able to pursue more actively than ever his long-standing intellectual
interests in what in academic circles
would
be called the sociology of organiz-
ations
and management. For Vickers this meant in the first place human
relationships in society, and how human beings ‘fit together’ as systems
differing significantly from natural systems.‘ Out of these preoccupations there
flowed down to the time of his death in 1982 nine books and 87 papers and
articles.
The Art of Judgement
was the second of his books and was published
in 1965. It was reprinted in 1968 and 1983. Of Vickers’ books it was probably
the one most widely praised for its originality when it came out, though it may
be that
Freedom
in
a
Rocking
Bout
which was published by Penguin Books in
1970
had at the time a somewhat wider resonance.’
The
Art
of Judgement
has often been described as a work
of
administrative
theory? But if it
is
such,
then it certainly does not conform in style and structure
to most
of
the modern writing which we might wish to put into that category.
The style is fluent and accessible. Vickers could and did write with great
precision, and he had a gift for apposite literary allusions. Though widely read,
*
Sir Geoffrey Vickers,
The
Art
of
Judgement
(London, Chapman and Hall, 1965).
I
The concern with human systems and the differences between them and all systems which are
either natural or constructed by humans (i.e. as artifacts) endured with Vickers
to
the end of his
life. His last book was entitled
Human Systems are
Dtflerent,
(London Harper
&
Row, 1983).
For example by Professor
W.
A.
Robson
in
a review in
The
Political
Quarterly,
36 (1965),
477-9, who described
it
as ‘the most important contribution
to
administrative theory which has
been
made by a British thinker during the past twenty-five years.’
*
Sir Geoffrey Vickers,
Freedom
in
a
Rocking
Boat
(Hamondsworth, Penguin, 1970).
Q
Political Studies Association
1995.
Published by Blackwell Publishers,
108
Cowley
Road, Oxford
OX4
IJF,
UK
and
238
Main Street,
Cambridge, MA
02142,
USA.
To continue reading
Request your trial