Employees try to benefit from slow mergers
Janek Oblikas, management consultant, MMC
Article in Estonian business monthly "Management"

Slow mergers can become costly for a company, since employees try to benefit from these changes.

There are more mergers of companies, departments or teams taking place in Estonia at this time.  Managing employees who are used to different management style can be a challenge for the new leader.  The success of such a merger will be clear usually in the first 100 days.  People are starting to wait for changes immediately after the changes.  Waiting for the changes can be more painful than the actual changes.

Most presumably the new boss will start to change the organizational structure of the company.  Some people will lose their jobs, some will get more work, some will get new bosses.  Not so many people like such changes.  Employees try to gain from the "structure game", try to turn the process to their benefit and start spending time for office politics.  Unfortunately less time will be spent for working.

Employees waiting for a positive change will be dissapointed, if nothing will change soon.  Slow mergers will probably affect the most those employees who are more eager to change things. 

The manager responsible for merging two teams should be ready to make quick changes even with a price of potential mistakes.

In order to speed up the merger integration, possible synergies from merger must be identified as soon as possible.  If there is a pre-determined strategy for the merger then the also the synergies will be found faster.

Another mistake often made in integrating mergers is the lack of communication. New manager must communicate with as many employees as possible.  Communication is a two-way process.  New team must have a chance to speak about the problems and influence the changes to be made.  At the same time the reasons for the changes must be clearly communicated as well.  No news is bad news, meaning if information is not given at the right time, then employees will look for information by themselves.  Alternative truth about changes in the company can be born, which might be more believable for employees than the actual truth behind changes.

New manager shouldn't forget communication with the old team as well.  Since most managers like new challenges, there is a risk that old team will be left without a leader.

Communication doesn't mean only listening and speaking.  Employees must have a chance to impact changes, then changes are accepted faster.

It could be a good idea to set up project teams that includes people from both teams to be merged.  Such teams will force employees to talk to each other more.  Talking will lead to trust and trust will lead to cooperation.

Although the merger integration will include similar problems, there are always specific problems depending on the actual situation of the companies to be merged.  There is no simple and ready-made solution for a merger integration, the solutions will be developed individually taking into account the specifics of the merger.

The merger integration should take place in steps:
- strategic decision to expand
- market research, identification of potential markets
- identification and assessment of potential acquisition targets
- due diligence, negotiations
- communication about the merger and changes
- decisions about the merger integration team
- analysis, identification of potential synergies
- selecting targets and measures for the merger
- rearranging the processes and management systems
- organizational structure changes
- motivational and salary system changes
- teamwork investments
- assessing results

The merger integration should be handled quickly
- first, it should be clear why two companies or departments must be merged.  What do the owners gain from the merger? Clear targets mean faster and better results.
- make the changes fast, if possible within the first three months of the merger.  Nobody likes the changes, waiting for the changes can become stressful and harm the initiative of the employees.
- communicate as much as possible with the employees of both companies.  Give them a chance to influence changes.
- accept, that it is not possible to avoid mistakes.  But fast decisions and changes with some mistakes can be better that slow changes with no mistakes.