Managing (Down) The Tube

Possibly - the historical Andrew Melville got into quite hot water and was put into the Tower for writing such things as: "Sirrah, ye are God's silly vassal; there are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland: there is king James, the head of the commonwealth; and there is Christ Jesus, the king of the Church, whose subject James the Sixth is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king, not a lord, not a head, but a member." to King James VI!

He would probably have ascribed it to some form of infernal device. ;D

More details of the book can be found on the web site of Markle Associates, the book is mentioned in the June issue of "Underground News"

When you have finished reading can you give us on the other side of the pond, your view on this book ?

Well, I finished reading the book several days ago. As asked, my "book review".

I will say, the book needed a small bit of editing - some typos, etc.

I really enjoyed reading it. At the beginning, I learned quite a bit of daily workings trivia someone like myself (from the USA) did not know even though I have lots of books about the LU from all perspectives.

As it moved along, there was a lot of explanations as to why things were and are not working correctly due to mis-management. And some hits on the unions.
But - it does appear the reason for the book is to point out problems - so this was expected.

I have been in unions (among others I was a member of the Glass Bottle Blowers Association - GBBA - [now the GMPI] - thought I was involved with injection molded plastic bottles) and now I am considered a "manager" though really only a technical computer nerd without subordinates. I believe this was a ploy back in the late 1970s to keep computer programmers from striking - at least in the USA.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been in the business world for 40 years. And believe me, many of the situations mentioned from a managerial aspect I have lived through in my industries. Espcecially changing management strategies, slogans as solutions, etc.

Some of the things that were mentioned, say, about lots of SPADs being considered "normal" would make me fearful of riding - if that were really so. I can't say if that is really so, obviously.

I, too, have worked for many bosses with many styles, and some were great and some were awful. Lots in between. But I bet we could all say that.

I recommend reading the book if you want to get one man's career-long look at his job from his perspective on looking back after retiring. And just not take it as the plain black-and-white gospel truth - which I don't think the author intended anyway.

Does anyone actually know of this "Andrew Melville" or is it a psydonym? I've sent off for a copy so will be interested in reading between the lines, so to speak.