I would have thought the entire OFSTED system was a prime example of
counter-productivity - built on confrontation, thoroughly demotivating for
staff and leading to spurious reporting and conclusions.
Michael Shepherd
Research & Development Manager
Avon Health Authority
(0117) 9002652
[log in to unmask]
and School Governor
> ----------
> From: jay ginn[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To: jay ginn
> Sent: 04 September 2000 15:05
> To: [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Fwd: Counter-Productive Systems: Call For Data
>
>
> > >From [log in to unmask] Mon Sep 4 13:26:45 2000
> >X-Sender: [log in to unmask]
> >To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> >[log in to unmask],
> > [log in to unmask]
> >From: Edmund Chattoe <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Counter-Productive Systems: Call For Data
> >Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 13:23:03 +0100
> >Sender: [log in to unmask]
> >X-AntiVirus: scanned for viruses by AMaViS 0.2.0-pre6
> >(http://aachalon.de/AMaViS/)
> >
> >Counter-Productivity: The Proliferation of Counter-Productive Procedures
> >in Organisations
> >
> >The US film Falling Down, in which an individual's efforts to accomplish
> >everyday tasks were frustrated by a sequence of "micro-obstacles",
> >produced a chorus of "me too" responses from the public. The society
> >portrayed was one in which the human capacity for co-operative behaviour
> >had been eliminated and replaced by apathy, fear, mistrust, streetwise
> >individualism and sheer bloody-mindedness. Significantly, the laws, rules
>
> >and practices ostensibly designed to prevent a descent into the Hobbesian
>
> >nightmare actually contributed to the chaos, trapping people in
> impossible
> >Catch-22 situations.
> >
> >However fanciful such Hollywood portrayals are, the exasperation of the
> >anti-hero (though not his violent reaction), had resonance for people,
> >seeming to echo their own experiences of hassles arising from
> >counter-productive rules.
> >
> >We would like to test whether there is indeed a proliferation of such
> >hassles and to what extent they can be attributed to different causes.
> >These include declines in co-operative behaviour, the use of bureaucracy
> >as an implicit mechanism of control, unintended consequences in complex
> >systems, inflexibility and diseconomies of scale, introduction of
> >quasi-markets and so on.
> >
> >We are therefore asking for narrative accounts of counter-productive
> >systems that people have encountered as a preliminary source of data. We
> >are sure there are plenty in universities. Two examples may help to
> >illustrate what can happen:
> >
> >1. Libraries, in response to loss of books (which has grown as student
> >grants are cut), may decide to charge fines. Students may then resort to
> >tearing out pages rather than risk a fine. Other users then find that
> >pages are missing and new books must be purchased. The extra work of
> >collecting fines, monitoring or repairing book damage and buying
> >replacement copies must be added to the load of librarians. To prevent
> >further damage, surveillance systems may be introduced and so on.
> >2. Internal quasi-markets, in which each cost centre (department, school
> >or unit) charges others for services, mean that helpful advice and
> >informal assistance given across these boundaries becomes hedged around
> >with rules and accounting procedures. Staff shrink from the paperwork
> (and
> >ideology) of selling their services and interdisciplinary projects are
> >stillborn. Rather than providing an accurate picture of flows between
> cost
> >centres, the control system simply chokes them off.
> >
> >If you have examples of counter-productive practices, please send them
> to:
> >
> >Edmund Chattoe, Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, 3 George
> >Street Mews, Oxford, Oxon, OX1 2AA, <[log in to unmask]>.
> >Jay Ginn, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2
> >7XH, <[log in to unmask]>
> >
> >We would also welcome comments on these ideas. Have others put forward
> >something on these lines? Is there existing research we should look at?
> >(Our preliminary bibliography is available at:
> ><<http://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/counterp.html>http://www.sociology.ox.ac.
> uk/counterp.html>.)
> >Finally, we are also happy to receive other forms of written or visual
> >data: sets of rules, impossible memos, examples of excessive attempts at
> >control, policy web pages and so on. All data received will treated in
> >strictest confidence.
> >=========================================================================
> >Edmund Chattoe: Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, 3 George
> >Street Mews, Oxford, Oxon, OX1 2AA, tel: 01865-278833, fax: 01865-278831,
> ><http://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk>http://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk, Review
> >Editor, J. Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS)
> ><http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS/>http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS/,
> >"So act as
> >to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in another, always as an
> >end, and never as only a means." (Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles)
> >=========================================================================
> =
> ></blockquote></x-html>
>
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