Dimensions of organizational culture during a merger: A quantitative perspective from non-managerial employees

The purpose of a merger is to increase the value of the merging entities into a unified, profitable organization. With the intent of value creation, why does research show that approximately 60% of mergers fail to meet financial expectations? One of the reasons for merger failure is the lack of attention to organizational culture during the post-merger process. Once the merger is official, senior managers get busy forming organizational processes and systems, defining new roles, and distributing duties. During this chaotic time the culture of the organization may be left to emerge on its own. When cultures are unattended, the retention of key talent becomes unsustainable and the level of employee contributions and productivity declines. The purpose of this quantitative study was to uncover during the post-merger process the culture type employees prefer within a newly formed organization. What dimensions of organizational culture are important from the perspective of non-managerial employees to ensure a productive culture emerges? The methodology utilized to answer the research questions was a non-experimental, quantitative survey design using a validated survey to measure the post-merger culture. The survey, developed by Cameron and Quinn (2006), was the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). The data gathered from employees completing the OCAI gained insight into the actual cultural dimensions to the preferred cultural dimensions of the organization during the post-merger phase. The intention for this study was for the senior managers engaged in merger activity to become more aware of culture during the post-merger process and to instill the preferred cultural dimensions to positively impact merger success.