управление

According to Google Translate the most frequently used Russian word for "Management" is:

управление

(pronounced upravleniye)

...it also translates as CONTROL.

SORRY, BUT I JUST HAD TO USE THIS PIC AGAIN

Just where have Business Schools gone wrong if the evidence of their own "Management", through the influence of "professionals" in key roles, the metric-driven measurements that are REF, TEF and KEF, and the subservient attitude of staff (I won't call them "Faculty") looks more like управление than the best practice our management teachers impart in their courses?

100 years and counting...

Visitors to Barcelona in Spain (and I count myself as such) marvel at the vision, splendour and pure magnificence of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, Basilica of the Holy Family.

It'll be finished in 2026...apparently.  Picture by E.Thik

Like so many huge projects it has had its ups and downs over the last 100 years but is now nearing completion.  One thing has sustained the builders, sponsors, churchmen and tourists over the years is the vision of just one man and the ability for his vision to be communicated to all.

• How many of us can say that we even understand the "vision" of the organisations we work for?
• How many "visions" have been re-thought, changed, cancelled, re-calibrated or updated over time?
• How many "visions" have been changed simply because of the 5 year contract of the "visionary" and the need to show some outcomes before the next job beckons?
• How many "visions" are marred by the over-enthusiastic use of the SMART target?
• How many, and here's the biggest concern, have changed their "vision" but have failed to communicate it clearly to those charged with putting it into operation?

So - KEEP IT SIMPLE AND BE PATIENT.

Achieving something lasting and worthwhile takes longer than you think.

Never mind the quality - feel the width

On NSS* results day this year I found myself in the Lavabos of a Spanish airport.  Whilst attending to Nature's call I was rudely interrupted by a loud beeping noise - a rapid and annoying discharge just behind me.  When I was able, I turned around to find a grinning cleaner pressing the smiley face on the "satisfaction monitor" multiple times.

I WASHED MY HANDS BEFORE TAKING THIS PICTURE

Regrettably, the washbasins were not the cleanest I have ever seen and, clearly, the cleaner had spent more time at the beeping station than at work.

How I would have loved to explain to her (but my Spanish is very poor) that it's not the satisfaction score that really counts but the actual quality of the work undertaken.




* for non-UK readers and for those who try to avoid all acronyms the NSS is the UK's annual undergraduate student "satisfaction" survey.  Blogs passim such as Satisfied but Unemployable and Helpful Translations for new HE staff explain this in further detail.