In this article, we present the findings of a longitudinal study of coerced implementation
of a practice in the face of a low degree of fit between the practice and an
organization’s culture. Contrary to current predictions stating that a lack of cultural fit
will eventually be resolved through adaptation of new practices, our findings portray
the implementation of culturally dissonant practices as an ongoing process involving
the mutual adaptation of organizational practices and culture. Our emerging model
describes the cultural changes induced by the coercive implementation of new practices
as involving a partial change in shared beliefs and behavioral patterns and a
more general enrichment of the cultural repertoire of organization members.