I am attempting to get a secure on-line questionnaire out to as many people with Internal Quality Audit responsibility in UK organisations as possible

The survey uses secure technology and any responses  will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and in accordance with the strictest ethical guidelines set out by the University of Portsmouth

The link to the questionnaire with a full introduction is as follows: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=wJePViGsM4ZfF3gF0w1rMQ_3d_3d

Thank you for your kind consideration
John Parr
University of Portsmouth
Student No: 402006

Post from: Capable People Blog

Maximising Organisational Value from the Internal Audit Program

Pigs on competence and training

Never try to teach a pig to sing – it wastes your time and annoys the pig

Pigs on subterfuge and spin

You can put wings on a pig, but that don’t make it an eagle

Pigs on auditing

Arguing with an auditor is like mud-wrestling with a pig. Pointless and half-way through you notice the pig is enjoying it

Pigs on performance measurement
You can’t fatten a pig by weighing it

May the pig be with you …

Post from: Capable People Blog

Management improvement piggy style

So what has got us talking about all of this? Check out this thread on today’s BBC website. Seems like the UK Government is keen on adopting a preventative approach to health care provision and has dared to suggest that if some people looked after themselves a bit better, then that might mean fewer trips to the doctors to put themselves right. Sounds good, but not everyone agrees whole-heartedly it seems

The case for…
The population is growing. A huge amount of health care resource is being spent on largely preventable medical conditions. What’s more, the life style causes of these problems are continuing to drift in the wrong direction, suggesting that the situation will get a lot worse before it gets better. The resource consumed by these preventable problems are reducing our chances to meet other challenges such as waiting times, MRSA, early diagnosis of potentially serious but treatable conditions and others

The case against…
Help!!! Save us from the “Nanny State“!!! How dare the Government tell us how to live our lives? I’ll eat, drink and smoke as much as I blimmin well like. It’s my life to live as I choose and be damned with all of you smug politicians with all of your laws and restrictions, and your penny pinching

Oh, and by the way, when I do need medical treatment (which may well be with increasing frequency – what’s it to you?) I expect it to be the best in the world, immediate and free

Guess which side of the fence we’re on

Post from: Capable People Blog

An unpopular preventative action

In particular I was were struck by the message of the book “Fooled by Chance: The hidden role of chance in life and in the markets” . What’s the central sacrilegious message of this book? A lot of our greatest business icons might just be a bit fortunate. Our beloved Dragon’s Den-ers may just be lucky? Surely not, they always get it right, don’t they? But then again Rachel Elnaugh’s luck did desert her a bit a while back. It is difficult to know what lessons we are supposed to be learning. You can pick up any number of “how to” books by business gurus at any airport, but it is difficult to determine sometimes whether to treat them as technical manuals or a lesson on the art of publicity. After all, in many cases the name is the draw. But hold on a moment, how does this celebrity status sit with Jack Welch’s view on iconic leadership, where charisma rules. In his words, staff may have “their face towards the CEO and ass towards the customer”

Anyhow, this stirred something way back in the darkest recesses when I used to read a few odd books. The Celestine Prophecy, for example, which does not so much deal with randomness and chance, but more with the creation of the right type of attitude and circumstances and relying on the belief that this will bring about good things in a sort of fatalistic way. Ultimately it is still a cause and effect doctrine (ish). But more … erm … New Age. But there is a view there that an attempt to control is more effort than what it’s worth and if you trust to luck (ish) things will work themselves out. Apparently Adolf Hitler was also a great believer that most things just sorted themselves out. Time to change the subject

Buddhism works on similar principles of cause and effect, from micro to macro level, Butterfly Effect and all that. However Buddhism’s quite Newtonian when you look at it in a physical context of action and reaction. That’s why I like it and think the Dalai Lama is a top bloke. Not that I’m religious in any way (Capable Blog is a secular site). It’s just that it’s difficult to conceive that the world would be a worse place if the DL was in charge

So let’s make some attempt to pull together these ramblings with the chaos at the top of this blog. While Buddhism is rooted fundamentally in cause and effect, it does not attempt to unravel or predict at a macro level, not because it’s chaotic, but because it’s just too complex. It generally encourages everyone to look after their own little corner and suggests that everything will form an aggregate of harmony from all it’s little bits of goodness. Sort of. Nice isn’t it?

Post from: Capable People Blog

On chaos, cause & effect and control