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commonly used in the world of commercial management, could be adopted by the Church as a whole or the Diocese in particular. Theoretical ideas are already developed and what is lacking is opportunity to try them in practice. (Some organs of the Roman Church already do use such techniques quite widely (P9) .) Within the Diocese a proviso must
be added that it might necessitate employing outside experts or consultants. The question of propriety however is more fundamental and one on which there is a continuing debate within the Church. Dryden opines "One of the main tenets of industrial, commercial and business enterprises is that an efficient and effective organisation should employ its resources at the place of maximum or optimal return. The Church and the diocese does not necessarily do this and it is questionable whether this should be its overriding criterion" (T5) .
Not overriding perhaps, but would not a clear idea of what was the optimum allocation, even if for policy reasons it was deliberately not fully attained, be of considerable assistance in pursuing the principal objective? Many organisations survive successfully without intensive market appraisal and carefully controlled cashflow - as indeed the Church of England itself has done for a far longer period than many organisations which have adopted those policies. But in the face of the present situation - oft described as a 'crisis' - it is one thing to consider and reject (or only partially adopt) such principles and quite another never to consider them at all, wishing the problem off on to a lower level in the hierarchy, ("We believe that the laity...are ready to respond with generosity" (B14) ). Dryden himself continues to concede
"...without adequate financial return the enterprise cannot operate. ...the Church...too has to obtain some financial return for her investment of resources, both human and otherwise" (T5) . But it was
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