The negative consequences of culture change management: Evidence from a UK NHS ambulance service
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 7 January 2014
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the culture change management programme in one UK NHS ambulance service, documenting various perverse consequences of the change management and suggest further research implications.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the literature on “culture” and “culture change” and identifies several perverse consequences of a culture change management programme through an in-depth case study analysis, based on interviews with trust staff and policy experts along with non-participant observation. Study was given ethical approval by the local NHS research ethics committee.
Findings
Significant negative consequences of the culture change management programme in the ambulance service are systematically documented. The paper argues that any worthwhile study of organisational culture change management must take into account the perverse consequences of such a process and its overall impact on employees.
Research limitations/implications
These findings come from detailed investigation from only one large ambulance trust in the UK. However they have significant implications for the organisational “culture-performance” debate.
Practical implications
The paper draws out several policy and practice implications from this empirical study. Any meaningful evaluation of culture change initiatives should be seen not only in relation to success in achieving planned objectives, but also by keeping in mind negative consequences of culture change programmes.
Originality/value
This paper makes an original contribution in identifying and systematically documenting the disjuncture between stated and unintended consequences of ambulance culture change management programme, which will be of value to academics, practitioners and policy makers including theory building.
Keywords
Citation
Wankhade, P. and Brinkman, J. (2014), "The negative consequences of culture change management: Evidence from a UK NHS ambulance service", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 2-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-05-2012-0058
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited