The right time to do the right thing
by Bernard McGrath, Inspection Validation Centre

Last year I told you about a book I had read. It described game theory: zero sum and non-zero sum games. The book described how non-zero sum games,  ie where both parties win even if one wins more than the other, drive the development of civilisations. However, when the discrepancy between the wins becomes too great, then civilisations are heading for a fall.

Not so long ago I was watching television. The news showed a picture of a banker who had been paid an awful lot of money in order to secure his expertise and to compensate for the weight of the responsibility he would carry. But his expertise and sense of responsibility had been found wanting. So he had taken a large pay-off and then the powers that be were surprised when he refused to pay it back. Later that evening, I watched as a group of young men set off from a makeshift, but secure, base camp that was their home for six months. With what may be considered a normal wage as remuneration and literally at the risk of life and limb, they expertly applied their skills and knowledge to successfully achieve what the same powers that be, as mentioned earlier, had asked them to do.

The juxtaposition of the images of a smug banker and the gaunt soldiers hit me: the win-win has gone too far out of kilter. Our society is showing the symptoms of a civilisation prior to collapse! My first reaction was one of anger. Why has the situation been allowed to go this far? Why has no-one grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and initiated the necessary corrective action? But I could afford to be angry. I don’t work in retail, nor manufacturing. I have sufficient work at the moment and there may be new opportunities in the future with the possibility of new nuclear power stations being built.

Then I spoke to a few engineers and heard their observations on the impact of the credit crunch: plant closures with job losses. But the same machine that persuaded people that the good times would never end is now being used to disguise bad news beyond recognition. So these closures go relatively unnoticed except by those immediately affected. My anger quickly turned to frustration. What can I as an individual do? There is a temptation to think that I am powerless to affect any significant change and adopt an 'if you can’t beat them join them' attitude. Unfortunately, this is the attitude that got us so deep into the mess we are in.

If you are expecting me to now offer the solution to this mess, then I am afraid I will have to disappoint you. I don't know what the answer is. However, I do have a few suggestions to make. In any situation which goes wrong, the important thing is to learn the lessons and, without over compensating like the banks are doing at the moment, take steps to avoid the same mistakes in the future. We humans are particularly poor at learning lessons, which could be a topic of a future article!

It is obvious that greed and failure of proper governance are to blame for the current difficulties that we all face. Greed, motivated by selfishness, and the culture of looking after number one first. The antidote is to adopt the opposite behaviour and to give community a high priority. Community, as the name implies, requires communication. That is, communication based on the freedom to raise concerns and have them properly considered. This immediately removes the secrecy behind which those who just look after their own self-interest like to hide. It also magnifies the impact from that of a single individual to that of a larger and less vulnerable body.

Community also provides support in difficult times like the one we currently face. I have not yet heard of any job cuts in the NDT industry but, if the recession continues apace, then it is unlikely that the industry will escape unscathed. Community has a big part to play in supporting anyone who is affected in this way and luckily one of the communities which we all belong to is the NDT community. Most jobs are found through networking and BINDT Branch meetings give the ideal opportunity to network and find out where potential opportunities can be found. They also provide social contact with people with a common link – NDT. The PANI project showed that ultrasonic operators score lower on ascendancy (self-assurance) and sociability (need for others) than a norm group of UK employed males. So the tendency, if you are job seeking, may be to avoid contact with your peers. I know that doing this is counter-productive and can lead to greater stress and associated difficulties. NDT has never struck me as the most secure of professions and, with the prevalence of contract work, networking will only bring you into contact with many people who have experience of similar circumstances.

A sense of community is a powerful thing. It is what motivates those soldiers to leave the security of their base. So let us not despair and do nothing. By working for a community we can restore the win-win balance and improve the future for ourselves and others. As Martin Luther King Jr said: "The time is always right to do what is right".

Please note that the views expressed in this column are the author's own personal ramblings for the purpose of encouraging discussion within the NDT Newspaper. They do not represent the views of the IVC, Serco Assurance or the HSE who funded the PANI projects.

Letters can be mailed to The Editor, NDT News, 1 Spencer Parade, Northampton NN1 5AA. Fax: 01604 231489; E-mail: ndtnews@bindt.org or e-mail Bernard McGrath direct at Bernard.McGrath@sercoassurance.com