YP Letters: Box-ticking mentality is end of common sense

People paddling in Hebden Beck at Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, as hot weather continues. Has too little common sense been used in the heatwave?

THERE have been increasing examples of a lack of common sense being applied to a wide variety of situations, such as individuals being compelled to wear a blazer despite the hot weather.

I feel that much of the problem lies in the ‘box-ticking’ mentality which has crept in since job descriptions were introduced.

These betray an accountants’ approach to management  where everything must have a costed box.

The problems arising from job descriptions is that, as well as defining what the job holder does, they also automatically define what he or she does not do.

Another aspect is that this situation can give higher management an opportunity to sit on or claim the credit for a good idea, should anyone have  the temerity to think outside their box.

Another contributory factor is the use of the term “human resources” – which is about the most inhuman way to describe the workforce.

When I started work, the department concerned was the personnel department, a somewhat more human way  of describing their reponsibilities.

Whatever happened to good old common sense?