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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 4 (August 1, 1932)

[section]

To utilise the services of a staff of approximately 15,000 employees in such a way as to obtain the maximum of efficiency in the conduct of business, with the minimum of friction in the internal working of the organisation, is a major problem in the management of the Railways. How the problem is dealt with by the Staff Division, working under the direction of the Staff Superintendent, Mr. A. Urquhart, at Railway Headquarters, is told briefly in the following article.

The successful working of any large organisation essentially depends on having the most efficient men in the various positions. It will be readily appreciated, therefore, that the problems associated with the employment of a staff of approximately 15,000 men in the multitude of occupations associated with a railway system extending from Opua in the far north to the Bluff in the extreme south, are many and diverse. The staff must be utilised in such a way as to enable the requirements of business to be met as they fluctuate from day to day.

It is probably safe to say that every permanent employee of the Department takes a keen interest in matters connected with staff administration, and it may be of interest to record the impressions gained in a visit to the ground floor section of the Head Office building in Featherston Street, Wellington, which accommodates the Staff Division. Passing along the main corridor and through a swinging glass door we reach the domain of the Staff Superintendent who, with an assistant and staff of correspondence and posting clerks, devotes his activities to administering the policy of the management in relation to the staff.

We find the Staff Superintendent, Mr. A. Urquhart, in his office, surrounded by telephones and official papers, grappling with major administrative problems, making decisions and issuing instructions to his staff in the short intervals between the visits of numerous callers, who wait upon him to discuss official business. It is a busy Division, as can be seen from a tour of inspection of the offices which accommodate Mr. Urquhart's Divisional Staff.