Employers: Consult With Your Workers

Chronicle (Levin), 11 May 1949, Page 5

Employers: Consult With Your Workers

(N.Z.P.A.-

Reuter ,

Copyrigfit)

Received Tuesday, 7 p.m. n LONDON, May 10. Addressing the British Institute of Management, Sir Miles Thomas, formerly one of the principals of the Nuflield oi'ganisation ahd now de-puty-chairman of British Oversbas Airways Corporation, said that loyalty and pride of purpose w.ere the two chief essentials of good work. "You can try to huy them but you only get a band of mercenaries, " said Sir Miles. "It is much better for mariagements to earn their workers' respect so that the whole of thepersonnel becomes imbued with the team spirit and a full understanding of the ohjective. Joint consultatioh f with workers is no political shibboleth. It is the natural evolution of an industrial democracy." Sir Miles said nationalised industries had much to learn from privat6 enterprise. They must learn to_ accord proper fireedom of action and responsibility to local managements and to establish a properly defined chain of responsibility. "The remote overlord is a poor substitute for a properly briefed lOcal mahager, ' ' said Sir Miles. "When shorn of all • ideological dogma, the actual business of managing a state enterprise must follow th'e sartie hard and ruthless rules as any other."