Human Resource's influence during a Merger and Acquisition

Disney recently announced they are buying LucasFilm for $4.05 billion in stock and cash.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/disney-buying-lucas-films-for-4-billion/?smid=tw-nytimes

          A company that decides to venture into a merger or acquisition is making a risky decision.  However, the financial return from a successful merger or acquisition can be enormous for a company's bottom line.  A company has the ability to “offer a wider range of products and services to customers, broaden geographical reach and achieve greater economies of scale.” (Griffin, et.al. 2002)  According to the Associate Press (2005), “bankers put together $2.7 trillion dollars worth of announced mergers and acquisitions or about 32,900 deals.” 

Because of the great financial impact of this decision, companies have viewed lawyers, financial analysts and accountants as the top people on their management team capable of providing significant input into the process.  They use these individuals to develop the strategy from the onset.  For that matter, companies usually involve human resources professionals at the integration phase and the implementation phases, which are the two last phases.  In these phases, they likely would not have a significant decision- making role.  The first two stages are where it counts. 

Companies should be reminded that the success of a merger or acquisition cannot solely rest on involving just a few members of the core management team.  Companies also need to focus on the human capital that they will acquire during this process and Human Resources are the right people to involve from that aspect of the merger and acquisition.  The human resource perspective can influence areas supporting human capital that are sometimes mildly dismissed.  They are skilled in dealing and understanding the people issues that evolve in a company and can bring this knowledge and expertise to a very important business transaction.  In addition to the traditional HR duties concerning organizational structure, total rewards, workplace management and legal issues, there’s cultural integration, the communication strategy and change management perspective that needs to be addressed before the merger or acquisition can be successful. This is where the confidential Human Resources Business Partner can help.  The HR impact is where the process is streamlined, made more efficient and bringing them on early can help save money with their collaboration.  They can provide the knowledge, strategy and capabilities to provide a smooth transition process. 

As always, prioritize, set boundaries and live!

Sources:

The Associate Press, “Record year in mergers, acquisition forecast”, www.msnbc.com, February 28, 2006.

Giffin, Andrew & Schimdt, Jeffrey A., “Why HR can make or break your M&A”, February 2002, http://www.towersperrin.com/tp/getwebcachedoc?webc=TILL/USA/2002/200206/2002052308.pdf

Happy Boss's Day!!

Hope you have a stress free, employee's do everything perfect day!!

Here's a great read from Jill Geisler: Ten Secrets your Great Boss never told you!"

http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/leadership-management/what-great-bosses-know/191542/ten-secrets-your-great-boss-never-told-you/

What has been some great advice that you've learned over the years!

PwC Saratoga upcoming webinars

I have been a fan of the PwC Saratoga Institute for years now.  I enjoy reading the information that’s distributed.  It’s informative, focused and relevant.  In the month of October 2012, there are some upcoming webinars that I thought would be useful for HR professionals.   Here is some information on how to sign up:

Saratoga Webcast - Key trends in human capital 2012: A global perspective - Oct. 24 – http://bit.ly/VRqvqQ 

Saratoga Webcast - HR Dashboards - Oct. 30th - 1 PM EThttp://bit.ly/R0u7Rl