[William Bouwman]

Hello everyone,

A lot of times company culture is referenced. Either as a leading cause of failure or something the acquirer should plan ahead. I experience clashing culture in my own company but never thought the culture trainings, communications and such seemed to be very effective. Most effective seemed to be when the teams got merged, new outside hires entered the team. Through this process a new culture formed over time.

I was wondering if anyone has examples of more effective culture integration that can be done in an early stage but is effective.

Thanks

[Erin Gray]

I think a key way to handle cultural integration is to understand that a new or modified culture will be formed. My company has experienced this with three acquisitions and each have brought in a new element to our overall culture. The underlying necessity for a cultural integration is to have key values the captures the overall culture that the target company needs to compliment.

[Ashley Hooton]

Assessing and merging the cultures I believe is one of the key challenges in an acquisition. I think it is key to include team members outside of management and that have been with the company for different period of times to help understand the current culture. Once we understand the culture, we have to evaluate the similarities and differences. I then think the key element is communicating what is changing and staying the same to the team members. Another key element is integrating the employees and giving them a platform to build relationships.

[Author]

Posts