§ 18. Mr. C. Smithasked the Postmaster-General how many officers of his Department have specific responsibility for staff management, being described as staff controllers or having comparable responsibilities; how many of these officers have had specific training in personnel management; and what contact is maintained between his Department and any outside body concerned with the study of this subject.
§ Mr. Wilfred PalingThere are in round numbers upwards of 20,000 officers in the Post Office who have specific responsibility for staff management. Of these some 8,000 received specific training in management and supervision in 1947–48. Contact is maintained with the British Institute of Management and other bodies engaged in the study of management.
§ 19 and 20. Mr. C. Smithasked the Postmaster-General (1) what arrangements have been in operation during 1948 for members of his staff to have training in managerial matters at institutions outside the Post Office, for instance at the Administrative Staff College or comparable centre; and whether he will provide in schedule form information about the number of members of his staff in grades running to a maximum above £450 a year who attended courses on such management subjects during 1948 showing in each case the grade of the officer concerned, the nature of the course, and the duration of course respectively;
(2) what arrangements exist in the Post Office for the training in management, 280W including personnel management, of members of his staff in the intermediate grades, such as telephone manager and comparable grades, and the higher administrative grades, such as regional directors, and controllers or directors of sub-departments respectively.
§ Mr. Wilfred PalingTraining for personnel management in the Post Office is based on the Report of the Assheton Committee (Cmd. 6525). Paragraphs 32 and 33 of the report deal in particular with the question on training for personnel management and staff supervision. Note has also been taken of the opinion expressed in the report of the Special Committee on Education for Management—"The Committee wishes it to be clearly understood that there is no implication in this report that young men or women can be trained as managers in industry or commerce by following certain courses of study at technical or commercial colleges. Theoretical study alone cannot make a manager."
A specialised branch of the Personnel Department has been set up at Post Office headquarters to develop training in the Post Office, to lay down policy and to oversee its execution. Contact is maintained with the Training Division of the Treasury and the following outside bodies:
Full advantage is taken of the facilities provided centrally by the Treasury for training administrative cadets and others in staff management, and 30 officers of the Post Office attended these courses in 1948. No outside body is known to operate a comprehensive course of personnel management completely relevant to Post Office needs, but advantage has been taken of existing facilities as shown in the following table. There have been in addition many non-recorded instances of attendance at lectures and discussions.281W
- British Institute of Management.
- Industrial Welfare Society.
- Institute of Personnel Management.
- National Institute of Industrial Psychology.
- Institute of Industrial Administration.
- Industrial Management Research Association.
- Office Management Association.
- "T.W.I." (Training Within Industry) Associations (regional).
- Association of Training Managers.
Organisation Providing Course Subject of Course Officers Attending Administrative Staff College General business administration Principal. Commonwealth Fund Fellowship Three months' advanced management course at Harvard University, U.S.A. Assistant Staff Engineer. National Institute of Industrial Psychology. Selection (in 3 parts)— 1. Introductory Principal. Senior Executive Officer. 2. Interviewing Principal. Senior Executive Officer. 3. Intelligence testing Senor Executive Officer. Conference on Selection Methods Staff Controller. Senior Executive Officer. Superintendent (Postal). Morley College (in co-operation with the Institute of Personnel Management). (a) Joint Consultation in Industry 3 Principals. (b) Approaching the Individual Problems Principal. (c) The Personnel Officer and the Social Services. Principal. Ashridge College Industrial Leadership Executive Engineer. Engineer. Roffey Park Rehabilitation Centre Human Relations in Industry Executive Engineer. Engineer. Institute of Industrial Administration (a) Summer School for Management Teachers. Executive Engineer. Engineer. (b) Administration Engineer. Responsibility for personnel management in the Post Office, with its large and widely distributed staff, necessarily devolves upon many senior officers,—assistant director general, regional directors, controllers of departments, assistant secretaries, staff controllers, principals, regional and area engineers, head postmasters, telephone managers and others. They have all graduated in the actual practice of the art of management and are chosen for proved ability in this field as in others. In most cases no specific training in personnel management is, or, apart from refresher courses, is likely to be given in the later stages of an officer's career, but as time goes on and the lines of training, particularly at the cadet stage, established since the war, are progressively developed, an increasing number of officers reaching these positions in the future will have received training as well as experience in the handling of managerial problems.
The emphasis placed on training in all fields of activity since the war is new and the system in the Post Office must still be regarded as at a comparatively early stage in its development, but a promising start has been made and the 282W best way of developing theoretical training for management in the future will continue to be closely studied in the light both of Post Office and outside experience.