Workarounds That Work: How to Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work

8When Cultures Clash

When two organizational cultures collide, the aftermath can include differences of both style and substance. Cultural clashes can occur between companies doing business together and can even occur within a single company when departments function differently. What makes cultural differences so challenging is the not-so-obvious fact that culture is just the way things are inside your organization. Rarely does anyone think about how that culture operates; people simply live and conduct business inside it. In many respects, culture is the water in that old Zen saying, “The last thing a fish notices is water.”

When cultures clash, rather than saying to one another, “It looks as if we perceive or do things differently,” most people ...