In an era of deregulation, technology, foreign competition, and merger mania, corporations are forced to respond to a changing corporate culture climate. Traditionally based on a top-down structure, corporate culture--loosely defined as the sum total of how employees and management think, feel, act, or do not act--is changing toward a structure in which power is shared at all levels. When companies undergo complex reorganization, employees, who may be resistant to change, need to be continually informed for maximum operational effectiveness. When employees envision change as a means of retraining or redevelopment for the survival of their jobs and their organization, they are more tolerant of their company's position. Businesses are also adapting to change by welcoming innovation with entrepreneurial, participatory management styles. Companies such as Xerox, Campbell Soup Company, General Motors, and Whirlpool encourage entrepreneurial thinking and employee-owner teamwork to solve problems of organization and production. Yet even with increased employee independence, organizational goals and objectives should be defined clearly so that employee teams have a specific direction to follow in their daily decision making. With these guidelines, the work system can shift to a more participatory, innovative managerial system where managers switch from status decision-makers to contributing coaches, placing the corporate ball in the workers' hands. (Sixty-one references are appended.) (MM)