'Bloomin'-----'
Have the flowers ever been so vibrant as this year? Flowers seem to be everywhere and the colours just amazing. No shortage of bees here on this Uk midlands organic eco-micro holding ('small smallholding'), the wild flower patch undoubtedly helping but well augmented by the rest of the flower gang. The bees, plentiful as they are, seem to be mainly various sizes, shades and hues of the bumble bee - apparently there are 'cuckoo' versions of such bees, relying on the nests of others rather than their own. There's generally quite a buzzing flight of bees just outside an ivy-covered telegraph pole which presumably could mean there's a bee 'nest' within the foliage -good news as so much polination is dependent on bees - nature (still) rules - ?
Here in the UK midlands it's in the middle of a heatwave, not quite as hot as some parts of the world, true, but it has been getting pretty hot (for here) in the afternoons, and even Englishmen haven't been going out too much in the midday sun (cricketers and golfers apart). The veg growing soil here is of the fertile black loamy variety, grand for working and growing, but its downside is that it doesn't hold water anything like, say, a soil which has a clay component, consequently the sprinkler system (i.e hose attached to outside tap with a sprinkler on the end) has been watering the veg plot a time or two. Presumably no shortage of UK water, though - all it seemed to do here all last year was rain.
The veg produce is thankfully looking pretty good this year - think it can be safely said that it's not going to be not too bad a growing year. Currently broad beans, potatoes, spring cabbage, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, radish, spring onions, land cress, spinach, strawberries and raspberries are available for use, with peas, runner beans and purple-top turnips not far away. The early potatoes have been hit by some blight, but the later maincrop varieties, selected on resistance to blight, are, touch wood, looking well and disease free. No other sign of pests or diseases either, touch wood, not even a single blackfly on the broad beans - never been known here in thirty odd years- normally a few of the tiny little beasties about (where do they come from - ?) Growing the beans early certainly seems to help this particular potential problem. Due to the late spring - it still looked like mid-winter here in mid April - everything's been two - three weeks late, but, 'better late than never', and this year worth the waiting for. Maybe even more so in years to come - latest reports indicate that food prices could treble over the next twenty years or so, on top of seemingly most other things on the rise. A degree of 'self-reliance' at least gives a bit of insulation - ?
'bloomin' sore----'
That's a bang on the thumb with a hammer -occupational hazard of self-build projects, the latest one of which is replacing the ten-year old 'temporary' porch over the back door. Getting the timber gathered together from the various piles about here was the first task, which seemed to take a day or two----then of course, the 'making a start' time lag to account for. Under way now, though, the 'fun' goal to see if it can be built without 'on cost', all materials being re-cyclingly sourced from stuff accumulated about the place. So far so good, although no doubt something'll pop up which will cost a bob or two. Being built in stages, some being done most days, as there's plenty else to do, such as picking beans and fruit, weeding, mowing, sowing (eg. spring cabbage seed), digging spuds, thinning swedes (good material for the compost heap), planting out leeks & winter veg plants, and watering - variety being the spice --- ?
'bloomin' 'eck----'
There's been a flurry of letters just recently in the UK broadsheet press complaing about the 'control culture' being used to bring surgeons to heel - the intention apparently is to 'name and shame' poorly performing surgeons by publishing league tables relating to surgery 'failure' rates. One of the biggest area of reservations expressed in the letters from surgeons is that there are many factors affecting surgery outcomes. not least of which being the general way the UK National Health Service is run/administered, it not really seemingly having been seen as totally successful in recent years. Are surgeons being then used in a type of 'scapegoat' capacity - ?
It must be tricky when being held responsible when there are factors out of individual control, and perhaps league tables, for instance are too blunt an instrument? When, for instance, in the past, they were used for comparing schools, many educators complained that the 'playing field' was uneven, as othe factors such as differing catchment areas were relevant and active - the 'disadvantaged' section then becoming demoralised and disallusioned. One area of decision-making in the UK that does seem at times to have been underdone, is the assessment of possible outcomes, particularly in the negative sphere, and hence such problems of 'counter-productivity' could have arisen.
Whether it's appropriate to subject people to 'control culture' methods, is an area which could/ should perhaps be subject to debate - ? Professionals such as surgeons used to be accorded 'self-responsible' status in the UK, and any problems dealt with mainly by themselves acting in a collective body capacity. If in a culture, control methods become paramount, then a longer-term effect could likely be that people are allowed less self-resonsibility, and then actually become less self-responsible, diminishing the quality of the populace and reducing motivation levels of people due to below 'self-status' treatment. One commentator who strongly felt this was the recently deceased Prof.Ken Minogue, who strongly advocated that government had no business in controlling, for instance, citizens moral life - it was there to provide a just and fair framework for people to self-motivatedly 'get on' in life, which is probably akin to a 'freeranger' type of philosphy. Another interesting question to ponder could be why such a level of 'control' is sought and has become so prevalent - ?
This could lead also to the premise that the more a government does 'interfere' via control' methods, the more it is likely to engender de-motivation in the populace, and ultimately over the longer-period, then be counter-productive -- then 'justifying' a further tranche of control measures--- a sort of self-fulfilling 'cycle of decline'. Would the UK NHS be an example of this - ? They used to say 'the best government is the one which governs the least' - ??
'bloomim theory----'
The 'control culture' seems to have proliferated in the UK in recent years, with its heavy use of goals and targets, its use of social pressure as exemplified by league tables (again, they used to say 'comparisons are odious' ---?) and increased use of authority in the workplace - one national UK retail chain, for instance, instituting 'anytime' body searches of their staff whilst at work. Measures such as these, plus some reported increases of staff suicides due to alleged work place pressurisation, presumably begs the question as to whether this has been a 'de-humanising' trend, possibly brought on by the well-documented strong focus on high profit making - ?
There have too been quite a number of reported cases of people changing to more 'freerange' lifestyles due again to workplace pressurisation, and to ebbing levels of , for instance, professional responsibilities and freedoms. What happened to 'leadership', teamwork and team cultures - ? Has the heavier focus on competitivism and short-term profit-making relegated such former 'good practice' practices - ? Employees of one major Uk company complained that whilst the company used to be a good employer and have good customer relations, both had significantly worsened as it changed into a 'profit monster'. Will, though, there be longer-term costs to pay for any such over short-term focus? Researchers have already identified that employee loyalty and trust have been casualties, as perhaps maybe expected, of such 'one-dimensional' profit- seeking policies.
People of the 'freerange' bent, thinking and deciding for themselves, may feel that such pressurised, 'control' workplaces may not suit their particular needs best, preferring to create their own or find more 'supportive' work situations, offering more employee self-scope and recognition, for instance. One researcher in the USA from quite a time back might have agreed with them - he identified the high-control workplace as a 'Theory x' workplace, formed by and based on, he suggested, a mindset of either 'mistrust' or exploitation, of employees, or both. He suggested that employees were often seen by management as lazy, feckless, untrustworthy and irresponsible, therefore needing heavy-ish 'control' measures. This researcher (Douglas McGregor), though, then wondered whether employees exhibiting such unproductive traits were reacting 'normally' to 'negative' work situations (over-pressurisation, poor working conditions, management style etc.), which if correct would then de-value theory x -type judgements. He further posed the question that as need-fulfilling 'mechanisms, why wouldn't humans be naturally self-motivated, all other thing being equal, which lead him to form theory y:
' people, if 'unhindered' and 'un-barriered' (by previous experience baggage etc) are potentially naturally self-motivated, responsible and creative.'
He suggested that employers could bring the self-motivation factor to their business by creating the right conditions in the workplace for it to flourish, and that, for instance, too much in the way of control measures could work against motivated work performance, which, like trust itself, could be a tender plant, taking time and nurturing to bring to fruition, but capable of withering 'in an instant'.
Many, particularly maybe employers, may take some convincing of the longer-term higher productivity of the 'motivation method', preferring the seemingly safer route of the workplace control' method. Those, though, who have witnesses it in practice, can testify to its efficacy, and to its innate humanity. Rural 'freerangers' - farmers, with their smaller-scale, high human contact businesses, often learn't that to push too hard for short-term profits, can be counter-productive in the longer-run. Many of them learn't that working 'with' people, rather than 'against' them, produced better results over the long-run, and lead to mutual understanding and respect, which according to one large UK survey of employees, was the element valued by employees but seemingly missing in modern 'control culture' workplaces. If the whip is being cracked ever louder in the pursuit of ever high(er) profits, the room for employee 'motivated work performance' could be limited - ?
'Bloomin' everlasting - ?'
The whip's never really existed here on the organic eco micro-holding, with 'motivated work performance' and 'labours of love' the orders of the day, and 'work' organised as far as possible to make it enjoyable as possible. Too much and too hard at the same thing seems here to be a recipe for boredom and 'switching off' ('de-motivation'), so it's a case of an hour or less at one job, stand back and admire the progress, then perhaps three-quarters of an hour at a differing task, not of course forgetting that refreshing cup of tea. Not everyone's cup o' tea maybe, but seems to be a system that helps retain interest here and it can be surprising what can get done.
Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co. reputedly invented the production line with the employee standing at one spot and doing the same process many times over, in order to give the employee a sense of achievement, maybe forgetting that perhaps that it could be negated by any boredom involved - ? Maybe he could have also been thinking of his profits --?? Working out work routines and methods can be part of the work process in the self-motivated work scenario, giving the individual a sense of self-responsibility and self-pride in her/his work (see 'A Freerange Approach to Work', available from the 'book' page from this website ) - maybe it's a 'bloomin' shame' that such longer-term orientated motivated work systems seem to be in decline in the modern era of 'work control culture' - ??
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