Tucker's views on the subject of the separation of the three types of institutions engaged in meteorology, universities, research groups and the service departments—particularly the last two—are set out in an article[79] published in 1976.

In this paper, he suggested that the departments were dominated by pragmatism, driven by the need to get the forecast out on time. Everything was assessed in terms of its utility in achieving that goal and that long-term projects were generally viewed poorly from that perspective. On the other hand, according to Tucker research scientists reacted strongly against such short-term pressures, preferring instead to adopt long-term approaches to the questions confronting them.

Included in Tucker's solution to this dilemma was the suggestion that management should discourage name-calling by either side and, instead, encourage each group to see the other as a partner in the process of formulating and tackling the issues facing them. He also suggested the adoption of flexible management techniques capable of acknowledging the differences between the groups, but still able to treat them equally so that neither side felt neglected. In addition, he noted the necessity of establishing an appropriate interface between the parties, but admitted that it was easier said than done. It would seem that Tucker was speaking from personal experience here since, as has already been pointed out, this was one of the major problems facing CMRC and the ANMRC.

Bureau of Meteorology