LONG ago I reached the conclusion that there is an optimum size for every institution or organisation. Once this optimum size is exceeded you can expect to see problems setting in and efficiency and economy declining.

My view is that the person at the head of any business, charity or service must keep in close touch with what is happening at the sharp end and this requires personal effort rather than just relying upon the reports from subordinates or statistics. When looking to make management decisions, you simply cannot beat first going to the places where the organisation interacts with the customers or clients and listening to their views and the opinions of the staff.

The fact that so many at the top of organisations are either keeping themselves in the dark or being deliberately kept in the dark about the actual weaknesses of the outfit they are heading is very common. In fact, it is so common that a television series has been based on this very fact. I refer to the programmes under the title Undercover Boss. The theme of the programme requires the top man or woman to disguise themselves and deceive some of their staff that they are newly recruited to work at the lowest end of the organisation. Having gleaned valuable information on how to strengthen the organisation, the disguise is abandoned and the boss reports to the senior management team or board of directors, revealing facts that in a well run organisation they should have known anyway!

The larger an organisation grows, the more effort and time is required by the boss to monitor performance and assure themselves that the decisions it is their job to make are sound and likely to lead to success. Many bosses of very large concerns find it easy to avoid putting in this effort by hiding behind the size of the organisation and keeping themselves remote from the real action.

It could be argued that the top boss is entitled to receive accurate information from his/her subordinates but so often this does not happen. What subordinate is going to run to the boss with a report that indicates their own failures and weaknesses? I have also seen with my own eyes the dangers of top bosses surrounding themselves with sycophants that tell the boss what he or she wants to hear rather than the truth that is often harder to accept.

An example of a business that is clearly failing to satisfy a huge tranche of its customers is BT Openreach.

The communications watchdog, Ofcom, has become so concerned about the ever growing list of complaints it is receiving about BT Openreach that it has initiated a public consultation on the matter of splitting BT from Openreach and making them into two separate companies. This seems to nod towards my theory that companies can become too large for their own good and Ofcom appears to fear that this is just what has happened to BT Openreach. Top bosses within BT Openreach have reacted very negatively to Ofcom’s suggestion and I suppose this is to be expected. Who is likely to be happy about a national watchdog guarding the interests of your customers telling the world that you are failing?

How interesting it would be if the top executive at BT Openreach had the courage to offer himself for the Undercover Boss programme. This is very unlikely to happen but I am sure that Ofcom would welcome the views of all readers of this column on whether or not BT should be separated from Openreach.