JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for RADSTATS Archives


RADSTATS Archives

RADSTATS Archives


RADSTATS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

RADSTATS Home

RADSTATS Home

RADSTATS  2000

RADSTATS 2000

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

FW: Counter-Productive Systems: Call For Data

From:

[log in to unmask]

Reply-To:

[log in to unmask]

Date:

Tue, 5 Sep 2000 10:25:15 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (62 lines)

> >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 .....

There is one example that will shortly affect all members of the list - and
other mailbase lists.    Members will have to change the address from
mailbase to something called jisc-mail - or something like that.    Only a
minor inconvenience.   But if we ask why this has happened 
we find that it is a quite irrational example of the operation of what Jay's
message calls 'internal quasi-markets' in academia.

The mailbase system was established at the University of Newcastle and has
been run from there for about a decade with funding from the Higher
Education Funding Council.    HEFC decided that they might be paying
Newcastle too much, so put out the running of the system to tender.

The suprising winner of the tendering system was the Central Laboratory of
the Research Councils (CLRC).   Suprising because CLRC gets most of its
money from the Engineering and Science Research Councils, and the CLRC
mission statement is wholly concerned with
promoting science and technology and Britain's competitiveness.   See
<http://www.clrc.ac.uk/Home/>

The HEFC decided that because the CLRC tender was lower than than of
Newcastle that ' the management of the University of Newcastle ... did not
want to have the contract as much as CCLRC did'.   

Why did CLRC want this contract - given its mission statement of promoting
science and technology?   Is it that CLRC is treated more generously by
public funding than the University of Newcastle and were overstaffed?   

So there is disruption, if not more serious consequences, for the mailbase
staff in Newcastle.  Employment is moved from the starved north to the
overcrowded South.   Everyone will suffer from the inconvenience of
switching from mailbase to jisc-mail.    All the references that members of
this and other lists have given to discussions or files on the mailbase
system will shortly have to be changed.    Everyone will have to learn what
JISC stands for (Joint Infrastructure Standing Committee) and may have to
try to explain this to mystified visitors. 

Perhaps most important, what we think of as the mailbase system, will be run
by an organisation that has no commitment to the social sciences or the
humanities.

I hope this example gets top academic prize for 'Counter-Productive
Procedures in Organisations'  because I would not like to think that there
have been many procedures in academia that are more inept or more damaging.


Ray Thomas, Social Sciences, Open University
Tel: 01908 679081 Fax 01908 550401
Email: [log in to unmask] 
35 Passmore, Milton Keynes MK6 3DY 





%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager