A Secret Club?

There I was, having a quiet cup of tea working on my questions for the meeting with Mr. Fryer when I received the message from Verona Pharmaceuticals (VP’s) investigators that the share price was moving again. The message also said that more information had been gleaned from the hidden camera in the Clinical Trials Unit’s desk computer. The investigation was starting to make progress. It was clear that the poor girl Jules was either very clever, or a pawn. And as for Ronnie, who knows?

Alex, St. Angela’s weary chief executive, convened a case conference to assess the investigation’s direction. It was a large meeting involving VP’s fraud team, the financial authority’s investigative team, and St. Angela’s inquiry team, led by Sue to whom I worked. Our conclusion was that the share price movement was not random and that whoever was behind it was very knowledgeable about how confidential clinical trials information – good or bad – can affect share prices. He or she was probably connected to the traders involved, and smart enough to manipulate the share price through the traders for personal gain. Listening to the discussions, Alex felt the dread of the hospital’s inspectors finding out about the investigation. He needed to keep all this under wraps.

Back in the Rowing Club, sipping tea and chatting with Maria, I learned that Mr. Fryer and Profs Sharkey and Jett met every couple of months at a “special” reception held at the Club. She helped to set out the table for them but unusually there were no guest lists, and no agenda or papers, and it was always held on a Friday night when everyone else had gone home for the weekend. She knew the meeting involved very important people as she was always instructed to use the best china and glassware, and to serve very expensive wine on Prof Jett’s tab. And, unusually for senior clinical staff, they always cleaned-up after themselves so the place was spotless. However, on one occasion, following such a meeting, she found an embroidered sash that had slipped behind one of the chairs. A sash? How intriguing!

The situation looked very murky, and, the body-count was rising. Dr. Tibbles, Prof Sharkey’s senior resident, gone — suspended. Dr. Messenger, Prof Jett’s senior resident, gone — suspended. Jules, Miss Nurse’s pupil, gone — suspended.

And now Ronnie, Prof Jett’s junior on transfer to Manthaven, gone — AWOL, and shortly to be suspended for disappearing while he was supposed to be on duty. They could all easily be blamed by the unscrupulous as they could not defend themselves.

Things were getting clearer. The secret surveillance camera revealed something going on after hours in the Clinical Trials Unit. Helen’s and my own checks revealed important connections and possibly a motive. The VP and financial authority investigation teams found potentially incriminating information in people’s bank accounts and spending habits. We were closing in on possible suspects.

Wheels within Wheels?

Profs Sharkey and Jett had trained together so, although they did not like each other, there was a bond of sorts, a collegial link. Some years before, these two highly competitive individuals had fallen out with each other. Nothing unusual there; amongst such folk it’s normally over competing claims for private patients, a female, or who has the most “success” markers – flash cash, prestigious cars, big houses, fancy suits and shoes. At this time, the competition was focused on who would get a top “Merit” award first and, as a result, which of them would be regarded as the “father” of the (clinical) firm.

Mr. Fryer’s interaction with the Profs was interesting. On investigation, it was found that they had all studied one of their undergraduate modules (physiology) together years ago and Mr.Fryer had remained friends with both Profs ever since. Mr. Fryer was ambitious and liked being linked to such influential people. He too chose his suits and shirts, and his briefcase and shoes, carefully to signal success, wealth and sophistication. He had several expensive holidays a year and ran a big car – facts that prompted the investigators to look into his finances very carefully.

As a pharmacy student, Mr. Fryer had shared a flat with several of his classmates who had all gone on to work in the big multi-national pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Fryer and his pals ran a share buying syndicate; he was the Syndicate’s analyst and runner, collecting the money and placing the bets – buying shares. This was in the days before deregulation, so he could not trade directly. Being smart, he made friends with various traders to make the trades for him and his syndicate. They were known as the “wolves”.

Helen and I planned the interview with Mr. Fryer carefully and cross-checked everything with the VP and finance authority teams. At the meeting, Mr. Fryer was so bland, even boring. He responded to all our questions with logical explanations. He was careful not to overstep the mark and he did not react to probing questions. He had a Teflon quality about him born of an inner confidence that he was clever enough and sufficiently well-connected to see off this investigation. There was no case to answer as far as Mr. Fryer was concerned.

He did, however, make a few comments about Jules, the “silly girl” who got caught. Drip, Drip, Drip. There was clearly no way back for her. She would have to be sacked for what she did. Drip, Drip, Drip.

Having roundly trashed Jules’ reputation, Mr. Fryer put on his sheepskin coat and left the meeting.

Peeling Back The Layers

Mr. Paris and the VP team examined the grainy pictures from their hidden surveillance camera in the Clinical Trials Unit. It looked like Mr. Fryer was working on some files at Miss Nurse’s desk at night – very strange. One evening, suspecting he was there, they crept along the dark corridor and saw a shaft of light from under the door.

They confronted him, red-handed, with the Confidential Files open on the desk. Cool as a cucumber, Mr. Fryer explained that he was trying to sort out the mess Jules had made in the entries and to gather evidence for her dismissal. Drip, Drip, Drip.

Meanwhile, the financial services authority’s team focused on the traders. The share price’s movement seemed to be coming from one particular team. The members were the usual fast-talking muscular types who lived on adrenaline rushes as the share prices moved up and down. They kept themselves up-to-date in their specialist areas and read the analysts’ reports and updates constantly. The specialist pharmaceutical analysts who informed the traders were very impressive; they knew about all the trial pipelines and assessed companies’ risks as each new piece of information became available.

The next case conference examined the issue of access to privileged information. How did market-sensitive clinical trial information about HGH141 leak from the trial centres, including St. Angela’s, to the analysts and traders? Were the analysts and/or the traders the perpetrators who were “pulling” information from the system, thus gaining an unfair market advantage? Or were they being fed selected information pushed by clever perpetrators who were using the traders and analysts to make the markets? Was there collusion between them?

Alex had a million and one things to worry about and most of this went over his head. As far as he was concerned, suspensions and sackings were in train, and he wanted this difficult inquiry shut down. Profs Sharkey and Jett had leaned on him to shelve it so they could put the recent events behind them. Alex was concerned about the hospital’s inspector who was due for a visit soon. VP and the Profs had to be placated.

The problem for Alex, and St. Angela’s top brass, was this investigation was now out of their hands. Market manipulation is illegal. The perpetrators needed to be caught and brought to trial. Jail time and a fine would be the result if convicted. And VP’s reputation would need to be restored at the cost of St. Angela’s.

The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Sue, Helen and I were out of our league in this situation. The investigation had become what organisational development specialists call “a runaway”. The investigation was like an out of control speeding train. The boys from VP and the financial services authority took over and they involved the police. It was seriously criminal.

Using the full range of investigative techniques, they found the source of the information was “friends” in the Clinical Trials Unit. Mr. Fryer was the common point as members of his student share syndicate, the “wolves”, became the analysts who informed the traders. They were life-long friends and naturally shared information over a beer when they met socially. The problem was the information was privileged so it should have stayed behind “the Chinese Wall”. The issue for the investigators was who was the perpetrator, Mr. Fryer or his friends the analysts and the traders; or were they colluding to manipulate the share price?

Mr. Fryer, leader of the “wolves”, was asked about his involvement by Alex. Although he denied everything -after all it is not a crime to belong to a share syndicate- the evidence indicated that his lifestyle did not match his income. Profs Sharkey and Jett weighed in and, despite their differences, backed Mr. Fryer. To give the investigators time, Alex nonetheless decided to suspend Mr. Fryer. VP then suspended St. Angela’s involvement in any of its clinical trials. This was a complete disaster for St. Angela’s reputation.

The story appeared in the financial press. The news got picked up in the professional journals and main press. It went via the press briefings to the hospital’s inspector. It made the television news. Alex could not suppress the investigation, despite increasingly strident threats from the Profs.

As with all runaway trains, the wheels came off. The investigations trundled on and Mr. Fryer retired early on health grounds. He never got prosecuted in the end as VP’s top brass wanted the case closed – too much bad publicity, and the case against him and the analysts and traders fell apart on a legal technicality. The bad publicity caused St. Angela’s to become a target for a takeover or merger, depending how you looked at it. And the Profs agreed between themselves and Alex that this sorry episode should all be forgotten and buried.

For Some, Heaven

The end of the month pay day party was once again buzzing with talk of conspiracies, criminality, and secret societies. There was quite a frisson when Maria held up a postcard she had received that morning. As her friends clustered around her, drinks in hand, she read them the news from Ronnie and Jules. They had found peace at last and they were living happily together far away from St. Angela’s on a lovely beach in Australia. Disillusioned and suspended, they had decided to give up their careers and run away.

How did they fill their days? What were they doing? Anxious inquiries prompted Maria to read on. They spent their days by the sea, surfing when they felt like it, and lazing about on the beach. Ahh they all sighed, in envy: they had found their heaven at last.

Meanwhile, Alex addressed the pharmacy staff at Mr. Fryer’s early retirement party. It was a sombre affair punctuated by Alex’s announcement that he had asked Miss Nurse to take over as the Chief Pharmacist. Profs Sharkey and Jett were content and smiled benevolently on her as she spoke about her plans to calm everything and keep it business as usual. Alex was relieved at this settlement as were the staff. And Miss Nurse had awarded herself a new Alfa Romeo sports car with her pay rise.

Case closed; not much “reward” for all the investigative efforts. On leaving the Rowing Club, Maria called me over. Handing me a bag she said, “I thought you might like this”. Peering inside, I saw the sash she had found. On it was a neatly embroidered Wolf’s face.

Post Script

We are at the end of our consideration about dysfunctional organisations and psychopaths. In the three case studies drawn from my experience over the years, styled in the vein of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lear and Romeo and Juliet, we have seen the ugly facets of organisational politics and psychopathy, and examined struggles for control and power. We have seen that organisational psychopaths tend to have no empathy or feelings about others; use and manipulate others to their own ends; and are amoral. Can the phenomenon be alleviated?

In my experience, no, unless you have an exceptional person with leadership qualities that can articulate a moral line in the sand and plot a course to keep all to the right side of it.

There are two more case studies to come which focus on culture clashes. One looks at Prima Donnas and introducing management principles in creative cultures. The other looks at a merger made in hell and its fallout despite much investment to smooth the changes.

Come back next time for the story of prima donnas in children’s services…