This article authored by Nancie Zane and Kenwyn K. Smith explores the lessons extracted from the parallel processes enacted in the relationship between two consultant groups hired by Eastern (a large financial institution) to kick off a major culture change initiative. The inevitable conflicts between these two consulting groups, selected because they had very different missions and modes of operating, mirrored deeply impacted systemic tensions within Eastern, such as the desire to change and the wish to remain fundamentally unaltered. The consultants' public struggles to overcome the obstacles to their collaboration helped Eastern surface several latent and intractable tensions threatening its culture change initiative. The processes highlighted here are pertinent whenever multiple organizations or groups attempt to assist a third institution.
This article analyzes layers of meaning that are embedded in the concept of diversity in a financial institution. It examines the discourses about diversity that emerged over 2½ years, during which a CEO was intentionally trying to change his organization’s cultural norms and to become more sensitive to “valuing people.”
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