Ward Managers' Attitudes towards External Consultants in Ashworth,a Special Hospital,1992–1994

Abstract

This case study elaborates the aftermath of the Blom-Cooper Inquiry (1992), which forced the special hospital, Ashworth, into a radical ‘culture change’. To this end, two groups of external consultants—a management consultancy and a professional task force—were introduced into the hospital. Newly established ward managers were to spearhead the organizational change by bringing social and clinical order to the wards over which the higher management had lost control. Few studies have mapped out the interaction between segments of an organization and expert outsiders. In this study, the interaction of the ward manager to the newly appointed external management consultancy and task force was analysed. It was clear that ward managers rated poorly the efforts of the management consultancy and task force—it was considered that they were not giving value for money. The task force rated slightly more favourably than the management consultancy. The fact that the management consultancy did not have ward credibility in this closed forensic setting was attributed to low prestige. The management consultancy also failed to fulfil the organizational ambitions of ward managers, who wished to be central to the hospital's major decision-making process.