The factory system enabled production workers’ time to be used more efficiently. The new communications technologies seem to have lifted productivity in America, (though there is not much evidence of that here yet) enabling non-production workers to use their time better.Companies recognise that they have to identify how different types of worker can operate more efficiently, because of the new technologies. What they often fail to do is to establish systems that enable their people to pass on best practice in a structured way. So here is a suggestion, based on the principle behind the Christmas break phenomenon.Companies should first identify whether their networking communications system is best practice. The easiest way is to compare it with that of other companies, using a pretty obvious check-list.This would start with simple things such as e-mail practice – do people send too many? – and lead on to more fundamental issues such as meeting practice – who calls them? Why? Are there too many or too few? How, and where, could the new technologies substitute?In an increasingly networked economy, adopting best practice in communications is enormously important.But the reflectors need to figure out ways of using the new technologies better, too We are all learning as we go along. But figuring out how to get the best out of technologies that most of us don’t fully understand is pretty hit or miss.At the moment most of us rely on word-of-mouth- a method of communication tried and tested since human beings learnt the art of speech.

But it is haphazard, and wise companies should encourage their less-networked people to share their own tricks in a more orderly way.How so? What about a semi-social function, properly structured, with the specific aim of getting the non-networked to share their techniques of knowledge management? The office party with a purpose – better than some of the office party ideas over the last couple of weeks.
More from Hamish McRae. Dr Wordsmith, our living-language expert, was here yesterday – and I’m glad to say he’s here again today! All yours, doc. Dr Wordsmith, our living-language expert, was here yesterday – and I’m glad to say he’s here again today! All yours, doc.
Dear Dr Wordsmith, I was wondering if you have any views on the derivation of the name of the Italian conductor Claudio Abbado.Dr Wordsmith writes: Well, I take the view that life is too short to worry over-much about the origin of the names of famous conductors.Dear Dr Wordsmith, OK, but I think you should make an exception for Claudio Abbado…Dr Wordsmith writes: I did once look up Otto Klemperer in a German dictionary to see if there was such a word in German as a “klemperer” One who klempers, you know. But I can’t remember if there was.Dear Dr Wordsmith, The thing about Claudio Abbado is that…Dr Wordsmith writes: I have a vague feeling that it, or a word very like it, meant a “plumber”.

One doesn’t quite see a famous conductor going through life as Otto Plumber, does one? Although I suppose the actor Christopher Plummer went through life calling himself Plummer. And after all, we in England had a conductor called Sargent, which is quite an inferior rank even to John Major, yet no one ever looked down on Malcolm Sargent, except Sir Thomas Beecham. And his name, after all, comes from Beauchamp, meaning “fairfield” Sir Thomas Fairfield.. it doesn’t sound right. Then again, Schumann was one of the great German composers, and his name means only “shoeman”, or “cobbler” Robert Cobbler! “What’s in a name?” they sometimes ask Perhaps quite a lot. Next question!Dear Dr Wordsmith, Actually, you haven’t answered my first question yet. Have you ever considered the derivation of “Abbado”?Dr Wordsmith writes: No. Why should I?Dear Dr Wordsmith, Well, it occurs to me that the last two letters of his name are “do” Dr Wordsmith writes: Is that all?Dear Dr Wordsmith, No.

It also occurs to me that “do” is the abbreviation for “ditto”.Dr Wordsmith writes: Right…Dear Dr Wordsmith, So, therefore, his name is also “Abbaditto”. Which could be written down in another way as “Abba-abba”.Dr Wordsmith writes: Still with you, I think…Dear Dr Wordsmith, Well, do you not think it extraordinary that a famous Italian conductor should be named after a Swedish pop group, twice?Dr Wordsmith writes: Not at all. What is extraordinary is that he is named after an Anthony Burgess novel.Dear Dr Wordsmith, I’m sorry?Dr Wordsmith writes: Perhaps you are not aware of this, but one of Anthony Burgess’s many novels was called Abba Abba. I think I am right in saying that he wrote the novel well before the Swedish group came into existence.Dear Dr Wordsmith, Are you trying to say that the Swedish group actually named itself after half of an Anthony Burgess novel? Or perhaps even after half an Italian conductor?Dr Wordsmith writes: No, of course I am not! Are you not aware to what “abba” refers?Dear Dr Wordsmith, Well, I’m not sure I really…Dr Wordsmith writes: It is a rhyme scheme. When we say that the opening lines of a sonnet are “ABBA”, we mean that the first and fourth lines rhyme, as do the second and third.Dear Dr Wordsmith, I get you! And it also refers to the shape of a pop song.Dr Wordsmith writes: Does it?Dear Dr Wordsmith, Yes, indeed. When someone writes a 32-bar pop song, it is usually divided into four lots of eight bars. The third lot – the middle eight – is usually different from the other three, and musicians then say that it is an “AABA” shape.Dr Wordsmith writes: Is that the usual shape?Dear Dr Wordsmith, Yes, it is.Dr Wordsmith writes: Then perhaps we are lucky that Mr Burgess did not write “Aaba Aaba”, or that the Swedish group is not called Aaba.Dear Dr Wordsmith, Or the conductor is not called Claudio Aabado…Dr Wordsmith writes: I cannot stand any more of this.

In 10 minutes’ time I will be at the bar of the journalists’ local, the Printer’s Widow. Any reader who cares to buy me a round of Christmas cheer will be very welcome.Dr Wordsmith will be back again after Christmas. Don’t forget to keep those questions coming in!
More from Miles Kington. It is by no means the most sexually explicit advertisement of recent months. True, the angle of the knees and the nearby phallic thrust of a high heel rub against an observer’s perceptions with lascivious intent. True, too, that the thrown-back head is a long-standing sign of ecstatic abandonment – whether it’s in Bernini’s statue of Saint Theresa or a top-shelf glamour pose. But nothing really tells you whether Sophie Dahl, star of a poster campaign for Opium perfume that has just been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, is waiting for sex or recovering from it.