Huge firms are the problem

Eileen Riden is spot on. In the same way “location, location, location” applies to property, “management, management, management” are the three most important issues in the success of any organisation.

However, I think we have allowed “big” to become the problem. The Carillions and Capitas of this world became unmanageable, just as RBS was 10 years ago, and the NHS is now, if we are honest. As they grow, organisations add layers

of bureaucracy to try to manage themselves but too often end up with people whose main priority is to keep their job and avoid doing anything innovative. At the top end this has created the opportunity to grab ludicrous levels of pay without taking any risks.

Ms Riden suggests various parties in or around the large corporate failures are not doing their job properly.

Whatever the merits or otherwise of auditors and the like, the buck stops with the directors. I’ve heard within Carillion it had been known for some time it was facing large losses on certain contracts. But maybe this information got massaged or didn’t get to the top because there were too many layers of people concerned with trying to protect their jobs. If so, that structure and culture was the fault of the directors.

Desmond High

Loose Road, Maidstone