Blair mcpherson
Preston .Lancashire
.Blair McPherson is Director of Community Services at Lancashire County Council. He has worked as a Deputy Director in social services and as a senior manager in a large Housing Association. He has been a member of the Professional Executive Committee of three Primary Care Trusts and works closely with a range of organisations in the voluntary, community and not for profit sector. His management career started in Birmingham City Council where he acquired his passion for equality and diversity and his recognition of the need for high quality management. He is a regular contributor to the professional press with over 100 articles published. He is author of An Elephant in the Room: An Equality and Diversity Manual published in 2007 and UnLearning Management: Short stories on modern management published 2009 and People management in a harsh financial climate published in 2010l by Russell House Publishing. Follow Blair on
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Recent activity
Comments (12)
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Comment on: Transparency over salaries
I am not sure it is particularly helpful to know what the top jobs pay since the majority don't realistically aspire to these posts. What we really want to know is what colleagues earn. I know this is a big issue in the private sector where often no body knows what any one earns and managers negotiate individually with their boss for a pay rise. Some one doing the same job as you in the same office can be paid more. Not so in the public sector every one doing the same job gets the same pay. Or so we use to think before Job Evaluation (JE). We now know that despite working for the same organisation the going rate for the same type of post was different in Education to Social Services and different again in Environment. What's more there was a difference across the organisation in holiday entitlement, sick pay and overtime rates. Even the length of the working week was different. This seems a lot more significant to a lot more people that what the chief executive is paid. Blair
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Comment on: 25,000 jobs cuts - BBC survey
It would seem councils are falling over themselves to show their determination to save money by cutting posts. But this determination is matched by equally confident statements that services particularly to the vulnerable will not be reduced. The politicians certainly don't want to alarm the electorate immediately prior to an election. So front line posts will be protected the focus is on cutting up to 20 percent of management posts. Most organisations will start by asking who wants to go and with the current state of moral in the Public Sector hope it’s not too many. Blair
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Comment on: Cuts will 'cripple and damage health and morale'
Yes we are up for the challenge. However there is a widespread feeling that the main political parties are not being candid about the size of cuts the public sector faces and particularly Local Councils from 2011/12 onwards. At this point we step of the cliff .Some councils are already preparing for radical management restructurings which will see large scale compulsory redundancies. We don't have the experience or the language to capture the impact this will have. We will certainly face problems of moral as we drive through changes in the way people work, increase spans of responsibility, change terms and conditions of employment come to terms with an ongoing pay freeze and live with increased job insecurity. Opportunities certainly but also some very painful adjustments.
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Comment on: Performance pay to be extended
Isn't performance rated pay what bankers get? Blair
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Comment on: Retaining staff morale through a pay freeze
Two facts seemed to influence morale: the quality of leadership within the organisation and the people management skills of line managers. Yet I have obsered no direct relationship between the level of morale and the individuals commitment to doing a good job for the service user. This seems to be because people's commitment in the public sector is to the client/service user rather than the organisation. They don't pull out all the stops for the organisations reputation, to hit Government targets or to make senior management look good, they do it to make a difference to an individual's life. They can be fed up with the way the profession is treated and feel undervalued and unappreciated by the organisation, but they will still do their best to help the individual because this is why they joined the profession in the first place. Or at least this has been my experience in the past. I am less sure this will always be the case in the future. It's not just about the gradual erosion of goodwill over many years, rather it is recognition that as professions have broadened their intake, we can no longer assume that the prime motivation is to make a difference. Increasingly, people come to work as nurses, teachers and social workers, not as a vocation but because these professions are considered good careers with a certain amount of social status. Such individuals will be keen to see the status and rewards maintained. Blair
