As Chief of Police on Black Saturday, Christine Nixon practiced what she had been taught at university, that being, management by delegation. It's a well know theory of management and no doubt Christine Nixon was a good student at Harvard University.
The outrage the public feels about her behavior on that day has nothing to do with whether she fulifilled her obligations or duties as chief of police. The outrage that can't find words to express itself is that she lacked compassion. She didn't show any compulsion to even make the pretence that she cared about what was happening on that day. That is not a reason to accuse somebody of negligence of duty. What we should be reflecting upon is the way we train managers to unload all of their duties by delegation.
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4 comments:
I don't know the entire story...would there have been some higher purpose served - something more she might have done by changing her plans? If she had been a male, would a haircut and a meeting been considered callous? Somehow, a woman getting her hair "done" sounds frivolous and vain while a man getting a trim sounds expedient. Perhaps I'm missing something.
In terms of delegating is it fair to point out that this woman does not look like she could run to the center of trouble? I guess they could fly her in on a helicopter. But, she is not showing dedication to her mission when many people have to disperse and regather only to make room for her being airlifted in.
Delegation does not entirely make supervision obsolete. There are still areas of responsibility.
Yes the bottom is there to make the top look good (c'est la vie)
Not knowing what her responsibilities include in the matter of managing "Black Saturday." If the police officials under her were failing in their tasks, certainly her input should be in a corrective or instructive role.
President Bush went through a similar blame catching over Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana because New Orleans local response was virtually non-existent and leaderless, and state governorship decided to make it a opportunity for partisanship over corrective, instructive leadership. Ultimately, somehow, Bush is to blame for New Orleans having police officers on the paytoll and food and medicine stockpiles that all only existed on paper.
I don't know what the details are of this situation in Australia, but make sure witch hunts only find witches, as it were.
But, I live in a country governed by politicians who looked at sending troops off to war without armor and the clusterfuck of Katrina and said "let's put government in charge of health care."
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