The negative consequences of culture change management

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.

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