OVERVIEW 

When British citizens or subjects sing with gusto "Land of hope and glory, mother of the free", I have strong reservations about the laudable sentiments being expressed.  My experience is that a citizen, though perfectly law-abiding and in good standing with society at large, can have his freedom unwarrantably curtailed.

This story of secret Britain has been over 50 years in the making.  Such a time span is not unusual when covert processes are being exposed - the cryptographer responsible for sending coded radio messages across the English Channel during World War 2 did not publish his account until 1998, 53 years after hostilities ceased.

In contrast with what happened in the war, the processes described in A Disrupted Life are on-going and the revealing from time to time of new information about past events has enabled a fuller explanation to be made of what was taking place.

The most convincing explanation of the extraordinary events which have severely disrupted my life is that in the U.K. there existed in the period following World War 2, one or more top-level schemes for identifying and developing individuals for public office or for other kinds of service at national level.  The processes employed amount to a gross abuse of human rights in the field of career development.

Early experience of HR Issues in Career Development

The human rights content in career development first came to my notice in connection with the retention by Industry of valuable specialist staff and the recruitment by Industry of University professionals possessing knowledge and skills which were in short supply.  Industry needed them and it would do whatever was necessary to retain or obtain them.  It was later that Establishment processes and an International dimension became apparent.

Two scenarios based on personal experience have been written up as Case Studies A & B.

Essentially, the Industrial company sought to override the choice made by the specialist and the methods it used featured the following:-

1. boundary crossing - e.g. the choice of the specialist to work in one organisation was subjected to interference by an external organisation,

2. the use of a network relationship - e.g. the interference was on a pal to pal basis between members of staff in the two organisations,

3. behind-the-scenes interference - the pal to pal arrangement was confidential and unrecorded.

In Case Study B an additional feature was employed, namely:-

4. a psychological method of influence - e.g. to bring about a move 'sticks' were arranged in one organisation to complement the 'carrots' from the external organisation.

The general view of managers on a management course to whom I put Case Studies A and B was that there were no human rights issues if the 'target' did not know what was taking place.  I did not agree but in any case I became aware and strongly objected to the methods of getting me to the top.

Methods of influence i) to iv)have been used since time immemorial but what was new in the 20th Century was that beginning with Pavlov's experiments with dogs and applying the results of later research into the broad field of behavioural technology, a number of models or concepts were available for changing or controlling human behaviour.  The application of these models, together with other developments, led to the use of Advanced Organisational Behaviour (AOB) techniques of management.

War Overspill into Peace

World War 2 created particularly favourable conditions for the peacetime application of behind-the-scenes AOB techniques to career development and leadership schemes.

Numerous training programmes were instituted to make Armed Servicemen, support staff and civilians more effective in their roles in the war effort.  The importance of identifying and developing good leaders was widely recognised and was featured in many wartime training programmes.  War-time operations brought about the development of age-old techniques of intelligence gathering and communication.  A significant part of the war effort was clandestine e.g. SOE support of resistance movements and the associated sending and recognition of coded messages.  Psychological warfare and elaborate deception scenarios were also employed.

With the end of the war came de-mobilisation of Armed Services people and the release of civilians for normal peacetimes duties.  They brought with them into civilian life diver skills, attitudes and other attributes which they had acquired during their war service.

Peacetime Britain was in dire economic straits.  Ideas about training and developing personnel for peacetime tasks abounded as never before.  Thus we got programmed learning and educational technology.

Probably the most important feature of the training scene came under the general heading of Behavioural Technology.  Thus there was surge of interest and activity in psychological processes and behaviour modification.  There came into being such specialities as Group Dynamics, T-Groups and Sensitivity Training.  These were applied to a wide variety of fields - for example Churches of various denominations became interested and produced their own versions such as Clinical Theology.  H. Leavitt's book "Managerial Psychology" became the 'bible' of managers.

Total Training

Within the Behavioural Technology field the most important development from the point of view of the career development of top-level leaders was the application of the ideas of B.F. Skinner.  His researches and his books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom & Dignity were very influential.  The eavesdropping on conversations between German scientists in a village-like Mansion, which led to The Prisoner TV series was also significant.

Out of this miscellany of ideas was born one or more schemes for career development, the essential feature of which was to control the environment of a 'target' individual to bring about behaviour change and develop advanced skills.  Case Study B epitomises a very basic, elementary form of the behavioural change process.

In a free society the total control of an individual's environment implicit in a Skinner type of scheme cannot be attained.  Much however can be achieved by:-

Environment Mapping  An individual's sources of information can be mapped - e.g. what newspapers and journals does he/she read, what TV programmes does he watch?  In many cases article or interviews of general interest but aimed at an individual can be inserted.  Likewise an individual's social groupings can be mapped - e.g. what organisations does he belong to, what are his interests?

Intermediaries  When the sources of information and social groups of the 'target' are known, various kinds of intermediaries - agents for intelligence and/or influence - can be arranged.  In Case Study A the intermediary between Industry and University was on a social network basis.  In Case Study B the relationship between Industry and University was strengthened by recruiting an intermediary (the Faculty Administrator) to an Industry committee.  The war added numerous useful and wide-ranging associations and friendships to those which would normally be obtained in civilian life and this could be of great value in obtaining intermediaries for the career development scheme.

Intermediaries can be of several types and carry out a variety of functions.  In one case recruitment can take place of a person in situ or in another instance a collaborator can be planted e.g. placed in proximity organisationally, socially or physically.  A planted intermediary will generally have something in their background or interests in common with the 'target' - e.g. went to the same educational institution - so that there could be bonding.

Indirect communication  For a scheme which has to be covert, indirect communication is a vital necessity.  Communication by hints, spontaneous coding, symbols and the like is a skill we are good at in the U.K. with well documented examples from the time of Elizabeth 1st.  But the practice goes back much further in history - for example one instance around 2000 B.C. is well described in 1 Samuel 20 of the Old Testament.  Again, the use and the awareness of indirect communication was greatly intensified by World War 2 - for example by the cross-channel signals and the work on the Enigma messages - and provided post-war talent in that field.

Electronics  The application of electronic technology was a major feature of post-war engineering developments and was a key factor in controlling the environment of an individual, e.g. by obtaining intelligence from electronic surveillance devices and in using computers to handle information required for and generated by a scheme.

A Total Training System

The following synopsis sets out a scheme or system which aims to provide as near total control as possible:-

Introduction  The need for training for key posts.  Economic importance. In-job training versus simulated environment.  The TT-Group concept.

Selection of trainee  Advisability of early selection. First-order matching to final job requirements.  Assessment of personality characteristics, professional and social abilities.  Vetting of political inclinations.  Assessment of professional, social and family contact potential.

Setting up a TT-Group  Selection of initial work area for trainee.  Methods of ensuring transfer of trainee to selected work area.  Establishing a communications network.  Ensuring collaborative relationships with ‘escape’ outlets.  Forming a training committee.  Appointing a training supervisor.  Recording and disseminating data.

Communications  Security considerations.  Use of indirect communication techniques.  Use of intermediaries.  Types of intermediary - unwitting, voluntary, paid.  Recruitment of intermediaries. The role of intermediaries in broadening horizons and skills.  Identification of indirect communication source.

TT-Group Operation  Passive observation of trainee's habits, preferences, behaviour. Establishing areas for trainee improvement.  Use of communication network to influence trainee.  Importance of stress in executive development.  Reward and punishment approach to behavioural change.  Crisis generation and observation of effect.  Determining reaction to enticement, fear, coercion, "chance" meetings.  Building up trainee's status and prestige.

Failure Procedure  Causes of failure - trainee awareness, inadequate supervision, changed requirements, breakdown in system integrity.  Examination of alternatives, e.g. hold pending alternative opportunity, persuade to continue, reverse build-up, change to another TT-Group program, divert to congenial obscurity.

The above is a condensed version of a synopsis which is provided in full in the AOB section of the website.

Scheme Organisation

The Industrial Scheme for career development as it applied to me, was organised by English Electric, one of the largest Groups of Manufacturing Companies in the U.K.  The Chairman, 1st Baron Nelson of Stafford, and to some extent his son were involved and the Director of Personnel had a leading role.  Knowledge of what was going on was limited to a few other Directors, particularly those concerned with Engineering.  A few of the top executives of some of the subsidiary companies also took part and it was one these, pursuing a hidden agenda of his own, that wrecked my own Industrial career development.

Although initially it was Industry making the running so far as my experiences were concerned, it is possible that there was also an Establishment involvement at that stage.  The Group had extensive contacts with Government Departments, especially the Ministry of Defence.  Also, one of its main subsidiaries, Marconi Company, had many contacts with the Intelligence & Security Services - for example wireless operators on board ships, trained by Marconi (which was called Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company), acted as intelligence sources as they travelled over the world and a number of special devices required for surveillance were designed and manufactured in a special unit of the company.

There was one Director of the Group who was particularly closely linked to the Establishment and who played a part in the Industry Scheme and subsequently.  This was Lord (C.P.) Snow, the academic and author.  He was probably the key link between Industry and Establishment.

Considering now the organisation of the Establishment Scheme, very near the top level in U.K. society there must exist a small number of people who work together to run one or more TT-Groups.  In essence the working group is an undeclared secret organisation.

Being near the top, the channels available for communication are quite exceptional and some, with our monarchical system, are unique.  By these methods, considerable influence can be brought to bear on individuals and organisations, without authority and accountability and virtually untraceable back to source.  The working group is motivated by goodwill in meeting the needs of the U.K. and is at pains to operate with wisdom, objectivity and diligence but it has to be said that its methods of influence are prone to errors, are highly susceptible to subversion and are a negation of open democratic processes.  Indeed, as in the Industrial scheme, the efforts of the group were undermined by other interests acting unscrupulously against it.  The clandestine and unaccountable nature of both the working group and counter-group meant that when things went wrong there was no redress.

Corroboration

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All the above will help explain my career development scheme, which came into operation around 1959.  50 years later I wrote a journal of a full year, the iconic 1984.  The journal is preceded by summaries of some key events prior to 1984.  The 1984 journal is recommended for next reading.

Alternatively, A Disrupted Life (ADL) gives a chronological account of my life and Advanced Organisational Behaviour (AOB) presents many of the concepts and techniques used in the career development scheme.