This eye-opening study, based on the authors' direct and personal observation of a bank merger, has three basic analytical focuses: the human issues presented by mergers at both an individual and a cultural level, the organizational issues that these human concerns raise, and the resulting implications for managing the merger and acquisition process. With keen insight the authors delve into a complex web of reactions. The intrigues, cultural clashes, hostilities, and tensions that emerged from this friendly merger are mind-boggling. The dynamics that characterized the dual nature of the merger run the gamut of human responses to a stressful situation: trust and betrayal, openness and deception, hope and despair, support and retaliation - all driven by nascent opportunities or restricted options. This impressive study has many lessons to teach about the role that human resource considerations should play in any large-scale organizational change.

There are thousands of mergers every year and, by some estimates, two-thirds of them either fail or fall far short of expectations. How can leaders keep their merger from becoming a head-on collision? In The Human Side of M&A, Dennis Carey and Dayton Ogden argue that most failed mergers looked good on paper--they made financial and strategic sense--but the crucial human element was neglected or overlooked. Consequently, corporate cultures often clash and wreck any chance that the companies will work harmoniously together. The authors, who have worked with many companies in the process of merging, draw on their unique experience to demonstrate how to address the human side of a merger, revealing pitfalls to avoid as well as best practices to pursue. They describe how to assess the quality of the people on both sides, aligned with the strategy, to determine whom to retain. They argue that the CEOs need to create a new vision for the combined company (one that differs from the visions of the two individual entities). And they stress that it is vitally important to move quickly once the merger is approved so that the new enterprise can hit the ground running on the first official day of operating as a combined company. The book concludes with a rigorous statistical appendix that analyzes some of the most successful mergers of the past ten years, validating the book's underlying theme and conclusions. While the volume of mergers may wax and wane depending on a host of economic factors, mergers will endure as a logical, efficient, and profitable strategy for many companies in a global economy. This book will help ensure the success of those who choose this path.

This book examines the dynamics of the sociocultural processes inherent in mergers and acquisitions, and draws implications for post-merger integration management.

There are thousands of mergers every year and, by some estimates, two-thirds of them either fail or fall far short of expectations. How can leaders keep their merger from becoming a head-on collision? In The Human Side of M&A, Dennis Carey and Dayton Ogden argue that most failed mergers looked good on paper--they made financial and strategic sense--but the crucial human element was neglected or overlooked. Consequently, corporate cultures often clash and wreck any chance that the companies will work harmoniously together. The authors, who have worked with many companies in the process of merging, draw on their unique experience to demonstrate how to address the human side of a merger, revealing pitfalls to avoid as well as best practices to pursue. They describe how to assess the quality of the people on both sides, aligned with the strategy, to determine whom to retain. They argue that the CEOs need to create a new vision for the combined company (one that differs from the visions of the two individual entities). And they stress that it is vitally important to move quickly once the merger is approved so that the new enterprise can hit the ground running on the first official day of operating as a combined company. The book concludes with a rigorous statistical appendix that analyzes some of the most successful mergers of the past ten years, validating the book's underlying theme and conclusions. While the volume of mergers may wax and wane depending on a host of economic factors, mergers will endure as a logical, efficient, and profitable strategy for many companies in a global economy. This book will help ensure the success of those who choose this path.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) experts Tim Galpin and Mark Herndon present an updated and expanded guide to planning and managing the M&A process. This comprehensive book is unique in providing the tools to address both the human and operational sides of integration. Based on the authors' consulting experience with numerous Fortune 500 companies, this resource will help organizations capture deal synergies more quickly and effectively. Augmenting their step-by-step advice with helpful templates, checklists, graphs and tools, Galpin and Herndon provide sound guidance for successfully integrating different processes, organizations, and cultures. The authors also address pre-deal do’s and don’ts, people dynamics, common mistakes, communications strategies, and specific actions you can take to create measurable positive results throughout the integration process. The revised edition not only updates case studies and presents recent integration research, but it also adds new tools.

Florian Frensch investigates which individual characteristics of employees and which dyadic factors of relationship partners affect the cooperation between employees of previously separated firms. The author develops an innovative approach for gathering network data with the help of a dynamic computer-based questionnaire which allows him to conduct a full network analysis of a group of approximately 400 employees on the lower operative level of the firms.

Mergers, acquisitions, and alliances continue to be almost an everyday feature of the contemporary business scene, yet at least half prove to be unsuccessful. The authors show the contribution that psychology can make to our understanding of the merger phenomena - how it affects organizational performance, and how it affects the managers and employees involved. Mergers, Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances is intended as a guide to successful organizational marriage. Great emphasis is placed on the issue of cultural compatibility as it concerns partner selection, integration practices and venture outcomes. The book also focuses on cross-national mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. With the increasing economic activity within the European Union and between the unions of other countries, there is a need to know more about the corporate and national cultures in these strategic alliances. The authors have drawn upon an extensive body of research based on recent cases in a wide cross section of industries across Europe. The book is unique in showing the actual effect mergers and acquisitions have on people, and consequently on the performance of the 'new' organization. It will be particularly relevant for decision makers - those who are involved in planning and implementing a large organizational change, and those responsible for ensuring successful integration afterwards. It would also be extremely useful for postgraduate management students, personnel executives and management consultants.