1.2 What operational problems arise from having to manage this diversity? The prison service provides an excellent example of the complexity of stakeholder requirements, to some extent reflecting the mixed task it faces.

Society requires the service to carry out potentially conflicting activities:

● to ensure that ‘dangerous criminals’ are locked up for the safety of society

● to provide a regime that will punish wrongdoers as a means of payment for their crimes

● to support inmates, providing counselling and training to rehabilitate and reform them, to reduce the likelihood of re-offending.

The principal stakeholders and their requirements are as follows:

● Government ministers with responsibility for the prison service will be concerned to fulfil manifesto promises while meeting spending targets.

At the same time they will be concerned about stories of prisoner escapes or drug abuse that may be damaging to their personal reputation, possibly forcing their resignation