Of Mergers, Marriage and Divorce

Mergers and acquisitions frequently result in job losses. At the same time, many organizations experience an unplanned and often undesirable exodus of talented personnel post merger or acquisition. Objective merger reselection procedures can play a useful role in guiding organizational retention decisions, but such procedures are likely to take time and may be ineffective in stemming the more immediate post‐acquisition drift. Individuals may leave the organization because they find themselves incongruent with the new culture; but they may also leave because they are uncertain, confused, or finding themselves in an ambiguous working environment. Discusses the similarities between merger and marriage, and outlines three types of organizational marriage and their implications for culture change.