Can Two Rights Make A Wrong?: Insights from IBM's Tangible Culture Approach

By Sara J. Moulton Reger

The landcsape of modern business abounds with mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, & internal restructuring as companies struggle to differentiate themselves & maintain pace with global changes.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0131732943
• ISBN13: 9780131732940
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: IBM Pr
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Practical and Substantive

Sara Moulton Reger and her colleagues have done a great service by clearly demonstrating the importance of culture in driving organizational performance, whether that organization is being formed from a merger or acquistion, or is working to implement strategic change and growth. Importantly, they do not fall into the trap of using attributional models, those that attempt to force fit an organization's culture into pre-determined categories. Rather, they treat culture as it plays out in the thousands of daily interactions, the 'way we do things around here,' to determine the norms and behaviors that will guide people in achievement of the organization's business priorities. Their use of Outcome Narratives, Right vs Right, and other powerful tools, all clearly described, are very helpful for getting people focused on desired ends and agreed ways of achieving them. With these tools, people can avoid having the 'violent agreements' that we have found so often in our work while treating culture clashes.

A RIGHT ON & HANDS ON approach to culture transformation that you can apply right now

When you read this book you know that you're getting insights into the realities and challenges of organizational and cultural change from someone who has been on the front lines. Sara Moulton Reger has harnessed the power of storytelling and aptly applied it to developing a process and context that flat out works. This hands-on approach to gaining wisdom AND gracefully maneuvering a culture transformation is essential for anyone at any level involved in a merger, acquisition or re-organization - large or small, global or local.

The book on culture we have been waiting for

Although the importance of organizational culture is evident to me as a change management professional, I confess that I have started to read many books on the topic and have rarely been able to maintain interest passed the introduction. Sara Moulton Reger's book goes beyond the case for dealing with culture: it provides a practical, down-to-earth framework for bringing the challenge of organizational culture to tangible business actions. The book is rich with "real life" case studies that bring the concepts to life. A must read for change management and organizational development professionals.

Organizational Culture Made Concrete

This book is an excellent exploration of a topic that is usually poorly treated, either by being too academic or too simplistic. Reger and her IBM colleagues dive deeply into concrete techniques for uncovering, understanding and reconciling "cultural" issues that inhibit performance. Written for both practitioners and leaders, Can Two Rights Make A Wrong highlights cultural implications of major changes from mergers/acquisitions to organizational changes across international boundaries. As a global change practitioner, I found exciting methods for successfully managing major changes in the book.

Finally a practical book about culture

I really like this book. Easy to read and practical. Many people underestimate the impact of culture clash issues during the planning and implementation of large change programs (outsourcing, acquisitions etc). The book has provided me with a language to talk about culture in a meaty way (without having to use the 'culture' word!) and some tools to do something about it.