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

Nowadays, nearly every business leader recognizes the crucial importance of culture. But, in many organizations, attempts to handle culture issues remain “squishy,” unfocused, and unlikely to bring any value or results. Now, IBM’s leading experts reveal the way to make culture tangible to everyone involved—and how to effectively deal with a variety of culture challenges.   Can Two Rights Make a Wrong? leverages the lessons learned during IBM’s $3.5 billion acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting: insight that IBM has crystallized into a powerful methodology for transforming business culture.   The authors introduce “Business Practices,” an actionable surrogate for “culture” that business people can identify with, gauge, and act upon. Then, one step at a time, you’ll learn how to apply IBM’s practical culture transformation techniques in your unique environment. You’ll discover common patterns that lead to culture clashes so you can resolve or, better yet, prevent them. You’ll learn to clarify your expectations so people really “get” it—and do it. You’ll gain the way to measure culture change progress in terms everyone can understand and buy into.   Whether you’re involved with M&As, joint ventures, major transformation, internal restructuring, or any other initiative where culture is important, this book can help you take culture from a worrisome risk to a competitive advantage.   Business Practices: the unseen hand that propels action Uncover what makes your organization unique Right vs. Right: What to do when good options conflict Understand and manage the source of culture clash Outcome Narratives: Get to the right place, the right way Clarify your desired future, clear the obstacles, measure progress, and deliver results  

Table of Contents:
Foreword xxi Preface xxiii Acknowledgments xxv About the Author xxvii Contributing Authors xxix   Section I: The Basics 1 Chapter 1: Introduction–An Overview of Tangible Culture 3 Chapter 2: We Can’t Do This the Traditional Way–IBM’s Acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting 17 Chapter 3: Traditional Approaches to Culture Transformation–How Others Have Dealt with the Challenge 33 Chapter 4: How to Get to the Right Place the Right Way–Outcome Narratives 49 Chapter 5: The Good Thing That Can Cause Big Trouble–Right vs. Right 67 Chapter 6: The Unseen Hand That Propels Organizational Action–Business Practices 85 Chapter 7: Putting It All Together–The Business Practices Alignment Method 103   Section II: The Application 119 Chapter 8: Mergers and Acquisitions– Managing the Common Sources of Culture Clash 121 Chapter 9: Alliances–Finding Ways to Leverage Your Collective Capabilities 143 Chapter 10: Major Restructuring–Gaining Sustained Value from Your Reorganization 163 Chapter 11: Major Transformation–Addressing Your Plan’s Hidden Barrier 181 Chapter 12: Key Decisions and Everyday Business–Extending Tangible CultureInto the Operational Parts of Your Business 203   Section III: The Projects 225 Chapter 13: The Co-operators–Using Business Practices to Clarify Expectations 227 Chapter 14: Sales Pipeline–Using Right vs. Right to Differentiate Issues 241   Epilogue 251 Appendix: About the Contributors 255 Index 268  

About the Author :
Sara J. Moulton Reger began the journey of writing this book as the practice executive responsible for IBM Organization Design and Change Management consulting. In 2002, she helped to lead integration of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting acquisition, and later joined IBM Services Research to hone the integration experiences.   Sara has been a management consultant since 1988, specializing in business transformation, organizational change, culture transformation, and governance at IBM and other leading consulting firms. She has published on a variety of topics, including business culture, business complexity, governance, On Demand Business, e-business, communications, project risk management, change management, quality, and financial management. You may contact her at www.tangibleculture.com.   This book includes important contributions from members of IBM Business Consulting Services, IBM Research, and the Institute for Business Value.