Craig Brandist (¡°The risks of Soviet-style managerialism in UK universities¡±, Opinion, 5 May) highlights the striking similarity between Soviet industrial management and the current administration of UK universities. I take exception only to his translation of krugovaia poruka (not porukha) as ¡°esprit de corps¡±, which surely denotes the positive honour of a group rather than the negative mutual cover-up in which the Soviet staff were engaged.
Melochnaia opeka (not opeika) ¨C literally ¡°meticulous guardianship¡± ¨C can mean ¡°micromanagement¡±, but mikromenedzhment is now more usual.
It may be that today¡¯s UK HR staff ¡°generally don¡¯t do irony¡±, but I found that Soviet university ¡°managers¡± thrived on it, especially when the vodka bottle was open.
R. E. Rawles
Honorary research fellow in psychology
University College London
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