Ambitious managers are like sharks. They need to keep moving or they die.

This is why they change jobs so frequently. Eighteen months is not too short a time, and three years is more than long enough in one job.

Managers on their way up are expected to be dynamic and energetic and the evidence of this is the amount of change they introduce.

If you want to get ahead you have to be dedicated and hard working to give the appearance of being very active, whether or not all this activity leads to any measurable improvements.

Restructuring is an excellent way of demonstrating big changes and for creating a huge amount of activity. This, of course, is the equivalent of shifting the office furniture around. After much discussion and a few sweaty hours things look different.

The opportunity may even have been used to have ‘a bit of a clear out’ but nothing has really changed. A few people may had changed seats; one or two may have a slightly different view out the window, but the reasons given for change - greater efficiency and a better way of doing things - are not much in evidence.

Leaders are judged by their ability to make change happen and managers by their enthusiasm for change. Change is very much on the current agenda, driven by the demands of making budget savings; and what better way to make those savings than by a management restructuring?

But will the latest management restructuring make the savings claimed? Will this be enough or will most of the saving still have to come from services cuts?

Will the costs of management early retirements and voluntary redundancies make this an expensive exercise? Will the disruption to services caused by distracted managers and the loss of management expertise be justified by improved services?

Ambitious managers won’t hang around to find out the answers to these questions.