Managing Cultural Differences When Merging Companies

Excerpt from Making Mergers Work

Introduction
Corporate Culture: The Organization's Personality
The Difficult Task of Culture Change
The Time Window for Change
The Impact of Mergers on Corporate Culture

Introduction

The biggest obstacle to successful merger integration is conflicting corporate cultures. The disturbing statistics of merger failures document the problem: Between one-half and three-fourths of the deals that are done never measure up to original expectations.

The companies find they can’t live together. Sometimes they stay together, only to fight and feel miserable because their organizational values and lifestyles are incompatible.

Corporate Culture: The Organization's Personality

Just what is “corporate culture”? Why is it so important? How does it exert such a profound influence over an organization and the way employees think, feel, and act? . . .