MARKET-DRIVEN CHANGE IN PROFESSIONAL SERVICES - PROBLEMS AND PROCESSES

This article analyses the processes of market-driven change in two pro fessional service sectors, Research and Development (R&D) and the Nati onal Health Service. Building on these sectors' common experiences, th e article proposes a general model of market-driven change in professi onal services, highlighting the complex and multi-level nature of the process. It is argued that, while market-driven change is an increasin gly practised and observed phenomenon, its complexity has been widely underestimated. For managers, the problem is one of synchrony between different levels in the change process, with the top strategic level p articularly liable to lag changes at other levels. For academic observ ers of new market forms of control, the risk is of repeating the simpl ifications of early 'labour process' analyses of hierarchical control.