Change in process: bringing about change in health care through action research.

A 2-year action-research project aiming to facilitate the management of change was carried out in a district general hospital. Hospital managers and senior ward nurses had very different views concerning the source of challenges and problems within the hospital organization. A case-study of nurses' experience of change at ward level was produced as part of the diagnostic phase of the action research. The results of the case-study indicated that general managers and professionals had different agendas for change but that there is common ground between them.