Joining Forces: Making One Plus One Equal Three in Mergers, Acquisitions, and Alliances

Chapter VII. Managing People Through the Transition

While those involved in combination planning busy themselves with collecting data, analyzing options, and formulating recommendations, others in their organizations wait to learn their fate. Even when the majority of people understand the rationale for the combination and sense that some truly productive potential can result from joining forces, they retain a constant concern for self-preservation and an equally constant craving for information about what is going on around them.

Many executives label the transition period the "twilight zone" between the old and the new: it's murky and can be scary for individuals who long for stability and their accustomed norms. Confusion and uncertainty reign ...