[SamirA]

Culture, change and communication play a key role in PMI. Culture and communication can be linked together in many ways, what are the biggest cultural risks in cross-border mergers? How can communication be used to help mitigate cultural risks? Often, I believe it can be management styles which can cause frustration & power struggles and the mentality of “US versus Them” employees’ resistance of collaboration or sharing of knowledge. I believe communication can help mitigate this greatly and leadership to show the way of a new culture to strengthen the company.

[Lorian Micu]

Samir, you are right that “us versus them” is the core risk. In cross-border deals it goes deeper than management styles — it hits decision-making speed, risk tolerance, and what “good performance” even means. A German engineering firm that values consensus and thoroughness acquiring a US startup that values speed and autonomy will clash on every decision, not because either is wrong, but because their assumptions about how work should be done are invisible to both sides.

Communication helps, but only if it is specific. “We respect your culture” is empty. “Your product development cycle is faster than ours — we intend to keep it that way, and here is how” is credible. The best practice from the IMAA material: identify the specific cultural dimensions that matter for synergy delivery, measure the distance, and intervene only where the gap threatens outcomes. Not everything needs to converge.

Leadership modelling is the multiplier — people watch what leaders do, not what they say.

[Shane Bullen]

I’ve experienced the “us vs them” dynamic you describe. It’s typically strongest at acquisition and then tails off, however in my case, a four‑year integration prolonged the divide of different teams and ways of working, sometimes creating a competitive view and making relationship‑building harder. Notably, this was between two entities with broadly similar cultures; so with a larger cultural gap, the effort to align would be significantly greater.

[Finn Staal]

Communication can be a powerful tool if you provide sufficient and constant information on what-and-why and how to execute the merger. This also includes acknowledgement of the acquired organization and what contribution the new colleagues will make to combined setup. Bringing people together from the 2 organizations already in the Sign-to-Close phase (if possible – and virtually can work) will kickstart the integration and the learning process of each others culture and way of doing/thinking.

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