Even companies that appear to be very similar can have different corporate cultures, and those cultures can be hard to integrate when companies merge or are acquired. Managing cultural change is critical to the success of a merger or acquisition. This paper discusses what culture is, how to assess it, and how to integrate two different corporate cultures. It also focuses on effective communication and human resource practices required for successful transitions in mergers and acquisitions. Prior studies in this area have been identified and analyzed. Findings show that the neglect of due diligence factors of culture and human resource compatibility hampers the transition and effective integration of the new entity.

Since 1990 there has been a substantial increase in Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activity. Although M&As are different legal transactions, they tend to be treated synonymously in the literature, primarily because in practice a merger is rarely a marriage of equals (Cartwright & Cooper, 1996).

A merger is the joining or integration of two previously discrete entities. It occurs when two companies integrate to form a new company with shared resources and corporate objectives (Ghobodian, James, Liu, and Viney (1999)). An acquisition occurs when an organization acquires sufficient shares to gain control or ownership of another organization.

No Organization is immune to the `urge to merge' that is sweeping the business world. As more and more consolidations are announced, the interest in knowing about the details are also increasing. Or perhaps our interest is piqued by what we know of the previous consolidations, including the effect on Corporate Culture.

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