UK
workers don’t need to watch the cult comedy series The Office to see management
incompetence – they can see it at work, claims Secretary of State for Trade and
Industry Patricia Hewitt.
Hewitt
said there are too many UK managers like David Brent – the incompetent,
double-speaking, boss from hell, played by Ricky Gervais.
Brent
made viewers cringe as he confused, upset and danced with his demotivated staff
while trying to implement his unique management style.
"Too
many people at work have had experience of bosses a bit like David Brent. They
are actually in the minority, but we need fewer of them," Hewitt told the
GMTV Sunday programme.
She
said the productivity gap between the UK and its global competitors is largely
due to poor managers.
The
Institute of Directors reacted angrily to Hewitt’s claims, with business policy
adviser Richard Wilson saying the characterisation was out of date.
He
said British managers are among the best in the world and have improved
immeasurably since the early 1980s.
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John
Philpott, chief economist at the CIPD, said there is a management problem and
that senior managers are just as culpable as those on the shopfloor.
"David
Brent is an overused clich‚, but there are a lot of managers that use the
rhetoric of HR, but fail to put it into action. The top bosses don’t seem to be
aware of the links between productivity and people management," he said.
