HBR's 10 Must Reads on Change Management 2-Volume Collection

Culture Is Not the Culprit

by Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague

WHEN ORGANIZATIONS GET INTO BIG TROUBLE, fixing the culture is usually the prescription. That’s what most everyone said General Motors needed to do after its recall crisis in 2014—and ever since, CEO Mary Barra has been focusing on creating “the right environment” to promote accountability and head off future disasters. Pundits far and wide called for the same remedy when it came to light that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, deemed a corrosive bureaucracy by federal investigators, kept veterans waiting months for critical health care. Cultural reform has likewise been proposed as the solution to excessive use of force by police departments, unethical behavior in banks, and ...