Mergers and Acquisitions: The Importance of the Human Factor

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been one of the most popular strategies that CEOs have used to increase stakeholder value. Unfortunately, most M&A deals fail to add such value. In fact, many M&A deals cause a loss in value, in part because organizations struggle with human resource issues – such as cultural integration and high turnover – during these periods of organizational transformation. The growing skills gap threatens to make this even more problematic and could increase the already high failure rates. This paper identifies some of the most common human resource issues and presents a plan for how leaders can better manage the human factor to ensure that future or in-flight M&A activity will be successful.