Mergers and Acquisitions and the Transitions that Can Cause Conflict

Mergers and Acquisitions and the Transitions that Can Cause Conflict

There’s at least a 34% chance that an investment in an organization will be adversely affected by destructive conflict within the team. The statistics – and stakes – can go even higher when the investment is in the form of a merger or acquisition.

The human aspects of post-merger implementation of M&A deals have been studied thoroughly in recent years, and what they find in a large number of cases is that the merger, a good match on paper, fails in the transition process. Many companies focus on the financial and business systems transition, but don’t pay attention to the human factors until it’s too late. Cultures clash, employees leave, production declines, shareholders are unhappy, things fall apart. This has even been dubbed a “merger syndrome.”  A study by KPMG found that “83% of all mergers and acquisitions (M&As) failed to produce any benefit for the shareholders.” The overwhelming cause for failure that was reported? 

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