An unhealthy state

Several recent scandals have revealed severe problems in the management culture at one of the UK’s most esteemed organisations
 

 
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has a worldwide reputation as a source of first-class drama, entertainment and investigative journalism. Over the past few years, however, the Corporation has suffered a severe bruising to its public standing following a number of incidents that have called into question both the standards of its journalism and of its quality management systems.
 
Two critical incidents revealed systemic failures in corporate communications from the top-down, the bottom-up and even from side-to-side. So serious were these incidents that they led to the resignation of two director generals and one chairman of the board of governors. The second director general resignation occurred after he had been in office for only 54 days. Following internal and independent investigations into these incidents, serious questions can be raised about the management culture of the BBC. But has the Corporation learned necessary lessons from these inquiries? Let’s take a look at what happened.
 

Barrie Gunter

Several recent scandals have revealed severe problems in the management culture at one of the UK’s most esteemed organisations