Conflict and Change 243
circles” and “virtuous circles.” In a vicious circle, a single cultural system is
imposed on another, and the results are a reinforcing downward spiral of problems.
For example, if only individuals are recognized in tasks requiring teamwork, per-
formance declines for both the individual and the group. In virtuous circles, on
the other hand, there is a new “third thing” that emerges from the conflict. It has
its own reinforcing patterns of success because it has drawn positive features from
different value systems to create higher levels of performance—in this case, a
team with distinctive and productive cultural norms of its own. The answer is
not to create a series of disjointed compromises between the different cultural
systems, but to find a new integration of values and ways of thinking.
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner use a number of case studies to show how
value reconciliation functions in a variety of other challenging organizational
contexts, not just clashes in cultural values. Many of these have to do with issues
of purpose and vision. We learn, for instance, that the genius of the business idea
behind Dell Computer involves a reconciliation of opposites. Dell entered the
personal computer market late, when many of the supply channels to the con-
sumer were already filled with competitors’ brands. In response, it came upon a
new idea for the computer world: direct sales to the customer. The challenges
were many. How could less personal service command competitive prices? How
could the customer’s desire for a machine built to order be combined with the
techniques of mass production? In traditional strategic thinking, there would
have been but two choices. Either you provide low-cost products or you offer
expensive premium models designed to meet the customer’s tastes. Yet Dell
embraced both sides of the dilemma. Since its cost structure is less than half of
that of its competitors, it can sustain an advantage in pricing. It also offers cus-
tomized products through direct differentiated relationships with its customers,
powerfully aided by the Internet. “One important reason Dell can do both is that
it orders its components in mass quantities from its suppliers, achieving economies
of scale, and also co-designs its computers with its intended customers... in unique,
customized configurations” (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 2002, 245). This
is a virtuous circle, contradictory on its face, of mass customization.
THE STRATEGIC RESOLUTION OF STRUCTURAL
CONFLICT IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
One should ask what companies that make products or offer commercial ser-
vices, even sophisticated ones, have to do with higher education. The answer is,
more than one might think. In all these cases there is evidence of a method of
conceptual analysis and problem solving that is intimately tied to a set of stra-
tegic master images concerning the purpose and the vision of the organization
in a changing environment. In drawing on these resources of self-definition and
purpose, which typically circulate around narratives of identity, the resolution of
the value conflicts shows conceptual depth and complexity, subtle differentiation,
and creative insight. They reveal the ability of participants to gain intellectual dis-
tance from their challenges, to reposition their own reflections, and to think about