Cost cutting is a favorite theme in times of economic crisis. If you save money it’s very good, but if you save on manpower requirements its even better, as manpower is a recurring cost.
After a great and costly victory in World War II, the process of downsizing began in the British Army. One area seeing a reduction was the Royal Artillery. After judging the manpower requirement in field trials it was seen that there was an extra man, being used with each existing gun crew. Nobody could understand why the there was an extra man, whose sole purpose seemed to be do nothing but stand at attention.
It was obvious that there would have been some sound reason as the British Army always had sound processes, created after elaborate research and testing. So the generals decided to figure out why an extra man was doing nothing with each gun. For that they had to go back in time by almost half a century. The 60-pounder artillery gun was in use by the Royal Garrison Artillery in World War I. Weighing 4.4 tons, the 60-pounder required a team of 8 horses to tow it. Towards the end of the war in 1918 the horses were replaced by tractors and Lorries. It remained in use by the British Army till almost the end of World War II in 1944 when it was replaced by heavier artillery pieces.
After a great and costly victory in World War II, the process of downsizing began in the British Army. One area seeing a reduction was the Royal Artillery. After judging the manpower requirement in field trials it was seen that there was an extra man, being used with each existing gun crew. Nobody could understand why the there was an extra man, whose sole purpose seemed to be do nothing but stand at attention.
It was obvious that there would have been some sound reason as the British Army always had sound processes, created after elaborate research and testing. So the generals decided to figure out why an extra man was doing nothing with each gun. For that they had to go back in time by almost half a century. The 60-pounder artillery gun was in use by the Royal Garrison Artillery in World War I. Weighing 4.4 tons, the 60-pounder required a team of 8 horses to tow it. Towards the end of the war in 1918 the horses were replaced by tractors and Lorries. It remained in use by the British Army till almost the end of World War II in 1944 when it was replaced by heavier artillery pieces.
Guess what, the person standing at attention; originally was required to hold the horse teams in World War I. The horses were phased out in 1917 but the horse keeper remained.
The modern day corporate world is littered with such examples of extra manpower built into personal “fiefdom’s”. A constant evaluation of personnel requirement would keep organizations leaner and more competitive reducing the pain of sudden knee jerk terminations.
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