The Royal Mail

Written by Colin Breed and published in Lowdown Article on Fri 18th Dec 2009

As usual during the run up to Christmas I have been visiting the Royal Mail sorting offices in the constituency. They seem as busy as ever but with considerably heavier bags of parcels due to the rise of internet shopping. I expect this trend to continue so we should be looking at ways of coping with new demands. Clearly, the size of letter boxes is causing some problems. Perhaps it is time for builders and architects to start designing secure boxes for the delivery of large items along the same lines as those created many years ago to enable external reading of meters.

The Royal Mail nationally remains in a difficult position with an urgent need to modernise but unable to find the right plan or convince its thousands of workers of the need for change. Although we did not suffer strikes in our area, many postal workers went on strike in October and November. A combination of mismanagement and government interference has meant the nettle has not been grasped.

The decision to split letters and parcel operations was in retrospect ill-advised. They then disposed of the old Royal Mail name and insignia paying vast amounts of money to a company who came up with the name "Consignia", something that meant nothing to anyone, and was probably one of the most disastrous re-brandings ever attempted.

Most business professionals realise organisations have two different systems. The first is technical, including organisation structures, control systems, financial management and production. These can usually be redesigned to meet new demands or business. The second is social systems, which includes business culture, shared values, informed alliances and social networks. These systems cannot be re-engineered or re-designed so easily. Change here has to evolve on an incremental basis, so that changes have time to bed down before proceeding to the next. It is by nature a longer term process.

The problem at Royal Mail is that it has at its heart two different and competing cultures and visions. The management believes in the need to modernise in order to compete with the private sector and foreign rivals, but the front line workers do not share this vision. They have deep loyalties to their customers and rightly argue that many, especially the elderly, rely on their services. Unfortunately, both appear to want to fight to the end to defend their position. Overcoming defensive routines and changing culture to enable transformation to take place has always been the toughest of challenges.

The next few years will be painful for many institutions in the financial services sector. Radical change, restructuring, new goals and strategies will have to be embraced by many organisations including the Royal Mail. It is unlikely plans by either Labour or the Conservatives to privatise Royal Mail partly or fully will solve the issue, only wash it off of Government hands.

The current situation is causing considerable harm to the business and ultimately the two warring factions will have to come to a sustainable agreement. I hope it is sooner rather than later.