When Two Health Care Organizations are Merged into One—Staff Attitudes in a Change Process

The purpose of this study was to investigate staff attitudes towards the merger of a primary health care facility and a general hospital in the Province of West Finland. The questionnaire was answered by 597 (68.8%) employees. The majority of the respondents are ready to carry the merger through, but the vision is not clear enough. T-test indicates significant differences between the staffs in the two organizations. However, the manager's responsibility in a change process is to focus on the dialogue between the staffs as well as to anchor the vision for the future possibilities of development.