Nottingham City Council is connecting 135 sites to a network to speed internal communication and give a better service to customers. The new 4.5 million pounds network supplied by BT, will give staff access to the Council’s internal website which contains manuals to help them do their jobs, as well as the latest Council news, information about councillors and departments as well as the City’s employee paper.The initial benefits for customers will be a better service for council tax and housing benefit. From January 2000 agendas and minutes of Committee meetings will be available to the public on line. Later the system will allow on line planning applications and a facility for finding out the progress of a planning application.

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Anti social behaviour, mainly by young males, is a prime target of the Queen’s speech. To meet the growing concern of people in both urban and rural areas that the police are not dealing adequately with the growing trend of anti social behaviour there is a legislative programme to strengthen their powers.The police will be given powers to tackle crime, including drunken, loutish and other anti-social behaviour. There will be fixed penalties for offences of disorderly behaviour in public places, powers to close licensed premises, bans on drinking in public places, and raising the age of child curfew scheme from nine to fifteen. The latter measure has become necessary because few curfew orders have been made with the current age limit and it is children older than 9 years who cause most of the problems.

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Simpson P, Burnard HLeadership & Organization Development Journal, (UK), 2000 Vol 21 No 5

Start page: 235. No of pages: 8

Points to the need for leaders to act at times of organizational change without all the necessary information to make the decision. Considers how leaders should cope with this ‘not knowing’, suggesting that the leader’s role is one of managing the anxiety about the situation, reflecting and learning, and then leading the organization to a ‘place of knowing’. Investigates how leaders can manage this process of learning by discussing a case study of a senior manager in the UK Customs and Excise Department. Describes working with the manager to explore his role, using a systems approach which concentrates on the ‘boundaries’ of the role and how these can be changed. Outlines the changes introduced by the manager to the structure of his department. Underlines the importance of reflection and thoughtfulness in this process, emphasizing that a senior manager’s role is one of thinking and learning, and helping the team through a similar process. Concludes that this can only be achieved if the manager is clear about the purpose of the organization and his/her role within it.

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