Financehome Little new thought or leadership from the top is possible under these circumstances, and the executive stratum is quick to reflect this outlook. 3. There is a wide gulf between the directors and executives and employees. Before the First World War this did not matter was even an advantage; between the wars the seeds of doubt were sown; now the management has no following amongst the 'lower orders'. 4. Staff consultation is unknown. Any member of the staff, either in the Head Office, the factory, or out in the field, is expected to do anything, go anywhere, and may be expected to uproot his home and move at no notice; there is some surprise that some of the junior staff have put out roots and have problems like children's education to consider. Ideas are never sought from the staff; at all levels of junior and senior management it would be undignified to seek advice from a lower level. 5. Good men are not retained. Promotion is slow. Steady, reliable types are preferred for the executive strata indeed, no one with drive and imagination stays long enough to be considered for a top post. Directorships are, as they always have been, open only to members of the family or family connexions. Although the training of the lower grades of shop assistant is quite good, there is no training for general management, and no rotation of staff between the retailing, factory, and administrative sides of the business to give a promising young man an overall view. 6. No comprehensive plans are made for the future. The Company has been built up and expanded as a matter of expediency has, in fact, flourished on expediency. Why should it not continue in this way? 7. The size of the organizational unit has grown too large for the calibre of man available to control it. Here, then are some of the ingredients of failure. How is it that they are present in many companies which are to all external appearances successful and which have not yet failed? It is true, as was said at the beginning of this case history, that such a Company is in a fool's paradise. The tempo of business is increasing and new management methods, both tangible and intangible, are challenging complacency. There are still too many businesses in Great Britain which are resting on the laurels of the past and living in the days of their forefathers. Management Tomorrow THIS closing chapter is really an extension of the earlier one on training for management. The men and women who are learning today will be leading tomorrow. There is a great deal of current speculation about the kind of people who are going to be required to cope with the management situations that will assuredly emerge as the new technologies enable more and more of the routine, mechanical part of most business operations to be done by fewer and fewer. 'Management development' for all the somewhat austere implications of the phrase is, and rightly so, a midtwentieth century business preoccupation. Financehome