Change from Within: The Case of Canadian National Available to Purchase

Given the right combination of people and pressures, change can happen, and quickly too. How a company, faced with a legal order to implement an affirmative action programme, implemented change in every unit of the company is described. With strong support from the CEO and a capable and insightful equity officer, the percentage of women at Canadian National, a transportation and communications conglomerate,rose from 6.7 per cent in 1984 to 9.7 per cent in 1986, breaking a long tradition of male intransigence at every level of the company.