Organizational Culture

Two books on organizational culture and why it is often impervious to technological fixes:

In "Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture", Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn report that as many as three-quarters of re-engineering, TQM, and strategic planning efforts fail or create problems that could kill their companies. The most frequently cited reason: neglecting the organization's culture.

People also look to leaders of internal “herds” for guidance and adoption of new ideas before enlisting themselves. In "More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places", Michael Mauboussin discusses the herd mentality of complex adaptive systems, such as teams of product developers. He shows that certain conditions must be in place to engender change or have an effect on such groups, and that if any of these factors is violated, the result is inefficiency, failure of the system, increased risk, and decreased quality.