If Culture acts as an Immune System against Change, the 'Cure' is...

... On-Boarding.

Not just 'orientation' but proper, state-of-the-art on-boarding.

In a Harvard Business Publishing interview, Michael Watkins explains:
"The biggest reason why people fail and underperform has to do with the culture and politics of the organization. And culture functions like an immune system [...], it's there to keep foreign bodies out and to preserve the integrity of the organism. But the problem is when you try to bring people in from the outside, you can have an over-reactive immune system, and if the people coming in don't understand the culture, don't understand the politics, they're really going to generate a kind of immunological reaction that can really be terribly destructive, not just for them but also for the organization.

So I focus [on] three things in on-boarding beyond the orientation world:
1. How are we going to help this person adapt to our culture?
2. How are we going to connect them to the right people and form the right relationships?
3. How are we going to be sure that we really align expectations in every direction, so that they are set up for success?"

Here's the link to the entire interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6wetuKbW-E&feature=sdig&et=1256293116.45