Aligning Human Resources and Business Strategy, 2nd Edition

Chapter 16

Mergers and Acquisitions

I know that what looks good on paper can easily turn sour in practice, and very many mergers have failed – why? Because a merger is ultimately more about people than balance sheets. We need to bring together two groups of people and build a new organization which is more than the sum of its parts.

(Sir Michael Bett, former First Commissioner of the Civil Service)

This chapter is based on the Mergers and Strategic Alliances research project carried out by Roffey Park Management Institute since 1997. The first phase of research focused on the human aspects of mergers and was based on in-depth organizational case studies. Organizations studied from the commercial sector include examples from the financial services, ...