Something’s going on around here
For a tertiary institution to be charged and found guilty of fabricating a restructure to facilitate a staff member’s dismissal is one of the most damning criticisms of academic culture that has ever been made in this country.
What the hell is in the management water our top Hamilton executives are drinking?
We have former Waikato DHB chief executive Nigel Murray currently under investigation by the State Services Commission; we have a university described by emeritus professor Dov Bing as being run by fascists, we have a city council demanding a rates rise to
15.5 per cent despite the chief executive stating in council’s Annual Report
2015/16 that: ‘‘The city’s finances continue to be in excellent shape again. The council has performed better than expected . . . ’’
And now Wintec joins the list of Hamilton organisations raising public concerns about senior management culture by spending $175,000 of taxpayer cash on legal fees to stop CEO Mark Flowers answering questions from the Waikato Times.
Between all these three chief executives – Nigel Murray (DHB), Richard Briggs (Hamilton City Council) and Mark Flowers (Wintec) – taxpayers/ ratepayers are (or were) paying around
$1.3 million combined for their expertise and services.
Can I have my money back?
All three organisations appear to have completely lost sight of the fact they are not corporate bodies with private money to burn. They are funded out of the taxpayers’ or ratepayers’ pocket for public good. We pay for them to act as responsible and accountable custodians of our money.
Wintec spending $175,000 of our money to stop journalistic inquiry into overseas travel and other related (and still undisclosed) issues simply fuels the fire and the smoke is getting thicker by the day.
Whatever is behind the $175K gagging order will inevitably come out and Wintec management would be wise to release a full and frank disclosure of the management issues that required an independent investigation on Wintec CEO Mark Flowers in 2015.
Transparency is needed and Wintec Council’s endorsement and faith in Flowers does little to dampen the fire.
What is public so far is a damning story surrounding former Wintec School of Sports and Exercise Science team manager Dr Don Milham, who was paid out $140,000 in lost wages, costs and hurt and humiliation.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ruled Wintec had ‘‘fabricated a restructure’’ to get rid of him.
Read that bit again: Wintec ‘‘ . . . fabricated a restructure . . .’’
Or, to say it another way, Wintec staff used deceit and deception as a management tactic to: lie to the minister of education and ministry officials, to lie to the academic community and Wintec staff, and to deflect attention away from conduct that is unethical.
For a tertiary institution to be charged and found guilty of fabricating a restructure to facilitate a staff member’s dismissal is one of the most damning criticisms of academic culture that has ever been made in this country.
Those responsible for the restructure fabrication should have no future role in the management of Wintec. This is not a matter for reinterpretation or relitigating the past. They should resign and respect the finding of an independent body (the ERA).
The silence from Wintec Council members on the restructure fabrication should also ring alarm bells.
Professional experience says tertiary councils are among the most dysfunctional of all governance bodies. They are a representative body, and yet, no one in council acted as critic and conscience of the institution to stop the toxic rot from spreading.
One wonders why it took a former Wintec staff member and former MP to blow the whistle instead of governmentappointed council members. Even today – days after the public revelation – not one Wintec Council member has expressed outrage at what has been going on under their governing noses.
Minister of Education Chris Hipkins is now seeking a briefing about the Wintec issues initiated by former Wintec HR staff member Sheryl Richards and former MP Sue Moroney, heroes both of them for taking a public stand.
Wintec Council chair Barry Harris is surprised there is a need for a probe. No one else is.
This is not solely about policy or procedure, Mr Harris. It is about management and institutional culture.
Add in 45 confidential payouts over the past nine years and it suggests something is rotten in the academic state of Wintec and has been for some time.
As a taxpayer, I would like to see an itemised account from law firm Bell Gully.
What did I get for my money and why was it needed when a simple interview if nothing is amiss, would have saved Wintec and the taxpayer 175K?
Wintec is guilty of a serious breach in employment law and it appears there is yet more to come.
I wonder if this sorry episode will be scrutinised in class as a case study when teaching resumes in Wintec’s Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management in 2018?
Do as I teach, not as I do.
●➤ Disclosure: Max Christoffersen was a tutor at Wintec between 2002 and 2009.