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By Kathryn C. Church, Cheryl D.
Foss, and Peter J. Swanson
The number of mergers and acquisitions
seems to be steadily rising over the past decade. However,
with industry examples like AOL Time Warner, Cisco Systems
and Washington Mutual, we need to ask the question – is
there a secret for success? While the magical answer may be
elusive, there are several principles executives can follow
prior to merging or acquiring another company that will help
ensure success. While consulting with companies regarding
merger integration, we have found that the keys to a
successful merger lie in the planning prior to the merger
and managing the integration of the two companies after the
merger.
WHAT IS
CULTURE?
A formal definition of culture is a
“pattern of shared basic assumptions,
learned by members of an organization or
group in solving their external problems
of survival in the environment and
internal problems of integration.
Culture is considered the glue of an
organization. It is the collective
attitudes, beliefs, symbols, and
behaviors of the organization’s members.
Simply put, culture is “the way things
are done here.”
Cultures develop over time. They are expressed in the
myths and stories that become important to retell, and are
embodied in the language of the organization. Organization’s
cultures go through stages -- from formation to stability to
maturity. Over time, beliefs and assumptions develop to act
as filters, regulating the flow of information in the
environment.
WHY IS CULTURE
IMPORTANT?
In today’s organization, culture is taken for granted as a
management issue. Managers, employees, and executives all
want to understand where their organization is going and
that their efforts contribute to its success. An
organization’s individual identities are cultivated by
internally identified heroes, shared common values, and
recognized rituals and symbols. When organizations do this
well, align their culture with their strategic direction and
operate out of a set of shared values, they become
unstoppable. They are much more able to achieve business
results rapidly and effectively. In addition, when a strong
culture exists, employees are often more productive - they
do not need to wonder what their next step in any given
situation. They also tend to feel better about their work,
confident that their work on any given day is important to
the success of their organization.
CHANGING
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Every organization has a unique culture.
When an organization goes through a
significant change of any kind, all of
the old myths, assumptions and beliefs
are called into question. Will those
things that were important in the old
still be important? Will people still be
treated the same way? Will we continue
to do things as we have, as we relate to
each other and work together? The goal
during a major change in the
organization is to have a planful
examination and re-negotiation of the
culture.
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Process.
The process for changing or aligning culture is one that
calls for:
- Understanding the cultural assumptions and beliefs of
merged companies or new leaders
- Sharing the myths of merged organizations or with new
leaders
- Identifying the behaviors and actions that make up the
culture
- Building a common language for all to begin to use as
we build a vision of the new culture (one where everyone
would like to work)
- Deploying the new language (as expressed in the
vision, mission, values, and principles) across the
entire organization in a very deliberate manner.
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Simply put, corporate culture is “the way things are
done around here.” Ignore it at your peril. |
Deliverables.
The products of the culture change process are:
- New vision for the organization
- A set of new values that expresses how people wish to
work together
- A set of guiding principles that operationalize those
values
- Clear roles and responsibilities
- Mechanisms for coordination and integration within and
across the organization
- A clear action plan for culture change tied to the
vision, goals and objectives of the organization
TOOLS
The tools for changing culture include, but are not
limited to:
- System-wide audit and review.
The purpose of the audit and review is to understand the
problem from the outside and solve it from the inside.
You can use observation, questionnaires, interviews,
group self-studies with facilitation: these are most
useful if the groups selected represent microcosms of
the organization.
- Design workgroups:
Organization design workgroups help achieve widespread
buy-in if the changes have full executive support but
are not top-down. Such workgroups should be charged with
the actual design, representing a microcosm of the whole
organization (including people from all levels and
functions within the organization), and have top
leadership involvement. Out of such groups, new,
charismatic leadership often emerges, along with new
ways of doing things.
- Confidence Building Measures:
Create a cadre of change agents (see work groups notes
above) and train employees and managers in
communication, negotiation, and conflict management
skills. In addition identify sites for collaborative
interventions (pilot projects) and publicize successes.
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About the authors:
Kathryn C. Church
(kathyc@strategicfocus.us), a partner in Strategic Focus
Associates, has over twenty years experience in the
design and facilitation of comprehensive organizational
change with an emphasis on strategic planning, work flow
design, employee motivation, team building and multi-party
disputes; the ultimate objective of these efforts is to
create a healthy, results oriented workplace. She coaches
top executives, has helped individual managers and staff
understand how to thrive in dynamic and uncertain
environments and has developed landmark employee assistance
programs in both the private and public sectors. She is
co-author of “Whole-Scale Change: Unleashing the Magic in
Organizations.”
Cheryl D. Foss
(cherylf@strategicfocus.us), a partner in Strategic
Focus Associates, has successfully consulted and
provided coaching with organizations for the past twelve
years in the areas of whole system change, strategy
development, process design, organization design, employee
motivation, team building and increasing collaboration, all
in service of achieving rapid business results. Cheryl draws
from her experience as a leader and manager as well as her
years of consulting experience, offering her clients a
powerful balance of operational expertise and consulting
expertise.
Peter J. Bryan Swanson
(pjbswanson@aol.com), Partner, Carr, Falkner & Swanson
is a former Commissioner of the Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service and played a key role in developing
that agency's Alternative Dispute Resolution program. For
over 14 years, Pete has worked domestically and
internationally on the cutting edge of collaborative process
management as a mediator, facilitator, trainer and
consultant. He has achieved notable success in public policy
mediation, dispute systems design, and training. Pete has
lectured and written extensively on these topics.
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