Acquisitions and Mergers

Employee Surveys as a Management Tool for Merging Work Cultures

Mergers, acquisitions, and significant changes in business strategy serve as catalysts for assessing the nature of organization work culture and identifying where and how it needs to change. SPR Center has a special reputation as an expert in using employee survey and other organization information to assist management in achieving the unification of different company cultures or shifting an existing culture in new directions.

The first step in this process is assessment. This involves taking a snapshot of the merging organizations in terms of employee attitudes, values and perceptions. The results are used to identify the significant gaps between employee work culture perspectives within and between the merging organizations, and between employees and senior management. An organization culture snapshot is typically obtained through a workforce survey and employee discussion sessions (focus groups). Additional steps in this initial assessment include interviews with select first and second tier management, and a review of pertinent documents to identify other factors that may impact the culture change effort (e.g., prior merger activities).

Out of this assessment SPR Center produces a complete data and word picture for senior management, detailing current culture styles, barriers to change, and recommended change strategies. Then, using discussion forums, SPR Center consultants help management develop a broad consensus around assessment findings, and turn discussion results into a final plan of action. Ongoing tracking of progress and working with management on midcourse corrections to the plan are all part of the service.

The end result is a tremendous sense of shared ownership for the new organization vision and positive outcomes for the management team and workforce.

Related Topic:

• Employee/Climate Surveys