28th May 2008, 12:42 PM
I like that idea! Posterity! Plus it would make anyone who wasn't writing up the sites really obvious! And Mr Waloff doesn't have my money, I did my business and management training a long time ago and got quite enough of it then!
Not sure I agree with the anti-archaeologist point, if the management are also archaeologists, but I based on what you've said I assume you've been in contact with a lot of managers etc who aren't (although perhaps were). It is important to say that most of the RAO stuff is not about saying 'things must be done this way' but about saying 'you have to have thought about this and have come up with a statement of how you work which you can then be tested against, and that way of working has to be compatible with the codes of conduct and standard and guidance of the IFA'. (sorry, that was a bit long winded!) Becasue it is a quality assurance system, but no pair of organisations operates in the same way, let alone all of them!
All in all, and this applies to the course, the RAO scheme, the IFA, individual organisations and most other things in archaeology, very little is perfect or even well on the way to that, but I think it's better than nothing. I'm always happy to discuss alternatives though!