Merger Acquisitions
Merger/Acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions are a product of change. ... ” (Bruckman) The purpose of this paper is to identify issues that could affect an organization in the event of a merger/acquisition and strategies for dealing with these issues. ... Managers face many people-issues when a merger is announced. “The majority of all merger/acquisitions fail, according to studies by Harvard and the AMA. ... ” (Bruckman 4) An organization can dramatically increase their chances of a successful merger or acquisition by paying careful attention to the people-issues and by carefully reviewing some of the lessons learned from some of history’s most notable business mergers. During a merger, people can feel vulnerable and helpless. ... During a merger, anxiety is usually one of the byproducts of uncertainty. ... Concern for one’s livelihood and their family’s security is a major cause of anxiety in a merger situation. ... Executives may have strong loyalties to their previous company and/or colleagues and subtly create situations to prevent the success of the merger. ... If left unchecked, they are the source of much frustration and in extreme cases the failure of the merger. Sabotage as related to mergers and acquisitions addressed in this paper is the willful tapering of employees’ morale to potentially negatively affect productivity. This may be due to a multitude of circumstances but in this paper, the focus is on the feelings of uncertainty and anxiety due to a merger. One might consider the use of an internal merger consultant. ... Another option might be the use of external merger consultants who are hired on an as-needed basis. The purpose of contracting in the planned merger process is to clarify goals, roles, ground rules and the use of resources. The external merger consultant relies on letters, proposals legal contracts. ... Advantages of an external merger consultant include their intimate knowledge of what companies face during a merger, experience with working through many mergers, proven plans in merger strategies and experience with what does not work during a merger. ... Research for this paper has identified that the failure to manage the people side of a merger can lead to the problems that a company is trying to avoid. The main contributor to this kind of failure has been identified as poor communication between leadership and employees regarding merger related issues. Specifically, the failure to communicate thoroughly the benefits, risk, and objectives of the merger before, during and after the merger can lead to the loss of employee focus and result in less organizational productivity.