16th December 2010, 01:48 PM
Well said Invisible Man and Timber Wolf. I agree with what has been stated about the anachronism that are county field units. I spent five years of my field career in such establishments and witnessed many cosy chats between the county DC archaeologist and the managers of the field section discussing particular projects (all based within the same building) . As a consultant I know clients who dislike this set-up, and I'd like to praise all the Council's out there who farmed out their field units years ago.
The skill sets, experience and abilities of archaeological field staff would be in no way compromised by being separated from thier 'mother' organisation. All they'd be asked to do is compete with other units in what would be a much more level playing field. Although county units do not have a monopoly of local work their lower overheads makes for unfair competition.
Other advantages? - perhaps some of those staff who are less than productive would not be protected by council regulation any more and would be easier let go off under a standard private sector contract. This wouldn't hurt companies ability to be more competitive. At my old Council place of work the useless or disruptive were kept hanging around, being more useless and generally soaking up overheads.
Gnome King - archaeology, in the big scheme of things, isn't a service for the community; it serves those practising it and has an intellectual fringe benefit for that narrow band of the public who express an interest in it. The production and improvement of knowledge will not be impaired by a loss of Council ties. There is little evidence to suggest that those companies which operate fully in the private sector are any worse at producing good output than anyone else. A fair bit of poor product was turned out by my Council unit, partly (and this is just my personal opinion) because of the blase attitude of the staff, who knew that no matter what they churned out they knew their chances of getting the boot was pretty minimal. Private companies have to compete with each other, and there is a bigger onus on delivering good quality reports to win back repeat business from clients. Competition is good for all as people try harder. If a private company is rubbish at what they do; they fail and go under.
I also hope you're not seriously equating the service provided by the Forensic Investigation Unit to the 'importance' of archaeology. Relative to the FIU, archaeology isn't important.
The skill sets, experience and abilities of archaeological field staff would be in no way compromised by being separated from thier 'mother' organisation. All they'd be asked to do is compete with other units in what would be a much more level playing field. Although county units do not have a monopoly of local work their lower overheads makes for unfair competition.
Other advantages? - perhaps some of those staff who are less than productive would not be protected by council regulation any more and would be easier let go off under a standard private sector contract. This wouldn't hurt companies ability to be more competitive. At my old Council place of work the useless or disruptive were kept hanging around, being more useless and generally soaking up overheads.
Gnome King - archaeology, in the big scheme of things, isn't a service for the community; it serves those practising it and has an intellectual fringe benefit for that narrow band of the public who express an interest in it. The production and improvement of knowledge will not be impaired by a loss of Council ties. There is little evidence to suggest that those companies which operate fully in the private sector are any worse at producing good output than anyone else. A fair bit of poor product was turned out by my Council unit, partly (and this is just my personal opinion) because of the blase attitude of the staff, who knew that no matter what they churned out they knew their chances of getting the boot was pretty minimal. Private companies have to compete with each other, and there is a bigger onus on delivering good quality reports to win back repeat business from clients. Competition is good for all as people try harder. If a private company is rubbish at what they do; they fail and go under.
I also hope you're not seriously equating the service provided by the Forensic Investigation Unit to the 'importance' of archaeology. Relative to the FIU, archaeology isn't important.