Rebuilding Behavioral Context: A Blueprint for Corporate Renewal

In their Fall 1995 article, the authors discussed the four elements necessary to establish a behavioral context that rejuvenates a company's employees ? discipline, support, trust, and stretch. In this sequel, they trace the common threads in successful companies' transformation processes ? simplification, integration, and regeneration. In an extensive study, they discovered that carefully phased or sequenced processes were more effective than sudden frenzied commitment to the latest management fad. Along with a phased approach, the successful companies recognized that the real challenge in transformation was to change people's attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors. Only when managers committed to the long-term effort required to establish the four characteristics necessary for a new behavioral environment were they able to create companies that could renew themselves.