M&A Assessments

This section of our site provides M&A assessments on culture, risk, talent, and leadership plus post-merger-integration surveys and acquisition integration questionnaires.

PRITCHETT's Merger Integration Certification Workshop attendees and Paid Website Subscribers can access all these resources. They can also download all the playbooks, books, articles, checklists, case studies, presentations, webinars, research, videos, tools, and templates on MergerIntegration.com.

M&A Due Diligence Culture Assessment Results
M&A Due Diligence Cultural Assessment Results
Free

Human Resources (HR)

Observations/Conclusions from the Data

  • HR operates with minimal favorable impact on the operations or the culture of the organization.
  • There is data that indicates a gap in the strategic and tactical elements of a representative high performing HR group.
  • Specific areas of opportunity include:
    • Performance management process and system
    • Onboarding program
    • Personnel development
    • Recruitment/selection

Implications...
Interview Guide to Gather Feedback on Merger
Feedback on Merger: Interview Guide
Free

The objectives of this five-page document are to collect and summarize information to guide the merger integration effort and provide a channel for feedback.

5-page guide includes questions such as:

  • What is your perception about the general feeling in the organization related to this deal?
  • What do you view as the biggest risks associated with pulling together these organizations?
  • What do you view as the highest priorities for integration (e.g., integrating the systems, resolving client overlap, etc.)
  • Complete the following sentence….I wish everyone on the leadership team realized ______
  • What might be some important “home runs” and major successes that the combined company could achieve in the near term ...
Cultural Due Diligence Assessment
Cultural Due Diligence Assessment
Free

A systematic search for strengths, weaknesses, and culture wild cards

15 culture assessment questions to identify strengths, weaknesses, and wild cards.

  1. How do people feel about being merged/acquired?
  2. What would be your (or others’) major concerns about being acquired or merged?
  3. What are the defining characteristics of your company? (What’s distinctive? What differentiates you from other organizations in general? From the competition?)
  4. Describe the company’s core values. (What does it believe in?)
  5. What do outsiders not know/realize about this company?
  6. What are its idiosyncrasies? 
  7. What are the unwritten rules around here?
  8. What aspects of the culture are most important to people here? (What do they hold sacred?)
  9. Where in the organization do the dominant subcultures exist?
  10. What are the company’s negative or undesirable cultural attributes? (What aspects of the culture need to change? ...
How to Conduct the Operating Style Analysis plus the Operating Style Analysis Word Template
How to Conduct the M&A Operating Style Analysis plus the Operating Style Analysis Word Template
Free

The 3 page document discusses how the Integration Team should conduct the Operating Style Analysis in order to understand the similarities and differences between the two companies.

The 2-page Operating Style Analysis Word template follows the instructions.
Merger Integration Risk Analysis
Merger Integration Risk Analysis
Free

A penetrating look at key pressure points that impact the integration process.

A penetrating look at key pressure points that impact the integration process.

  1. Amount of expected consolidation or integration
  2. Alignment/compatibility of the two organizations’ business strategies
  3. Extent to which the two organizations have been competitors
  4. Financial pressures confronting the merged organization
  5. Level of confusion or ambiguity regarding the merged organization’s power structure
  6. Geographical distance between the merging organizations …
Operating Style Analysis

Operating Style Analysis (Part I)

An inquiry into the day-to-day operating fundamentals that reflect the cultural basics of how the business is run.

  1. What aspects of the way your organization operates contribute most to its success/effectiveness?

 

  1. What characteristics of the way your company operates most hamper or interfere with its ability to compete?

 

  1. List the company’s operating strengths.  (What does it do best?)

 

  1. What would you identify as the company’s operating weaknesses?  (Where is the company most vulnerable or least effective?) ...
Culture Analysis

Operating Style Analysis (Part II)

A survey focused on cultural traits in eight areas that are often determined to be mission-critical.

1. Spending Habits: Frugal or Free Spending
Comments regarding this issue: __________________________________________
 

2. Decision-Making Process: Deliberate or Expeditious
Comments regarding this issue: __________________________________________
 

3. Power and Authority ...
Four Levels of Change Survey

Four Levels of Change Survey

An assessment of how an organization’s culture influences its ability to function as an adaptive system.

An assessment of how an organization’s culture influences its ability to function as an adaptive system.
M&A Culture Assessment

M&A Culture Assessment

Free

3-page assessment for use during due diligence that calculates the degree of cultural differences in key areas.

Listed below are a number of cultural dimensions and indices that are organized across a continuum.

Step 1: Review each cultural characteristic and place an A in the column that most closely represents your perception of the Acquirer’s culture.
Step 2: Place B in the column that most closely represents the Acquired Company’s current culture.
Step 3: Calculate the absolute difference between each rating to determine the largest culture gaps ...
Cultural Due Diligence Assessment Results

Cultural Due Diligence Interview Results

This 14-page document includes actual responses to 17 questions about the current situation, company identity, perceived culture of both companies, and the expected changes as a result of the merger. 

1. How do people feel about being merged/acquired?

The corporate perspective is different from the field’s perspective. Here at headquarters the questions are, “Is there room at the inn?” and “Will I go to Atlanta?” In the field, people are wondering if they will have to work for less money. Some are angry that it came to this. Did the CEO and the SVP just sell us out? People’s emotions run the gamut from “How could you do this?” to “What took you so long?”

It’s no shock that we merged, but people are set back on their heels that it is this acquirer...