The Culture Club

Ann All spoke with Sara J. Moulton Reger, a management consultant since 1988, specializing in business transformation, organizational change, culture transformation and governance at IBM and other leading consulting firms, and author of the new IBM Press book "Can Two Rights Make a Wrong?"

All: Do most companies recognize that business culture is an important part of their identity?
Reger: Companies recognize [corporate culture] as important, but they don't know what to do about it. In their previous experiences, maybe it felt soft and squishy rather than like doing real business. It's pretty easy to say, "I'll think about this another day." Also, there are so many definitions of culture. We like to say that if you get 10 people together and ask them what it is, they'll probably give you 12 different definitions.

We've found that sometimes the easiest way to help people start seeing culture as tangible and relevant to the business is by first talking about what we call business practices, the unwritten rules that guide peoples' actions. They are really what make a company unique. Many companies use the same business techniques and processes, but they don’t execute them the same way. They can serve as an efficient surrogate for culture. We try to get people to say things like, "Here's how we make decisions here." Through asking the right kinds of questions, you can render this type of tacit stuff as explicit.

All: The title of your book describes a situation that occurs when two executives or groups from different organizations have conflicting "right" approaches. What's the best way to deal with this?
Reger: Sometimes there are situations where you can say, "I have the right answer for achieving a business objective. You have a different answer that is also right. Both are right answers, but they clash with each other." A good way to deal with this is to discuss it with constructive terminology. Say, "OK, I'll hear you out." That is the best way to begin understanding what the clash is about and to be able to select one or the other approach or to find a way to blend them.

All: Are there certain situations that frequently involve culture clashes?
Reger: There are four situations where companies tend to be at risk for culture clashes. In addition to acquisitions and mergers, there are the other cases where business organizations come together in some kind of partnership or alliance or joint venture. Then there are the instances where companies implement shared services and also the times when there is a major restructuring or transformation of the business. Beyond the "Big Four," there is every day; culture is around us all the time. We've included a specific method for dealing with each of the Big Four in the book; ways to take one or more of our concepts and hopefully use them to understand the situation better and make better decisions.