leadership matters
TBy Karen Stone, CHRE his month’s cover story is all about
mergers and acquisitions (M&As)
– an area in which HR has a
critical role to play to ensure a
company’s success.
When we read about M&As in the
news, so often the focus is primarily on
the business aspects of this occurrence.
What are the financials related to the
deal? Will there be any dramatic fallout
within the industry? Will the competition
bureau intervene? When the news consid-ers
the human capital lens of M&As, it’s
focused on the headcount impacts, and
even then, only if the headcount reduction
is significant.
The impact to people (employees) is a
pivotal concern for HR practitioners when
it comes to mergers and acquisitions.
Managing employees’ questions, their anx-ieties
and the uncertainty around their
future can be very challenging. Leading
the process of change well should be of
upmost importance to how our profession
adds value. I would argue HR has an in-valuable
stake in the success of an M&A:
promoting a culture of resilience.
HR should be the promoter of a posi-tive
organizational culture – and it can be
challenging in times of M&As. When any
two distinct cultures from two organiza-tions
join together into a new entity, a new
set of challenges requiring expert human
resource support exists. It can take many
years for two separate organizations to as-similate
into a single shared culture and
to operate as one common “identity” –
and the process is shaped in large
part by how effectively HR
practitioners utilize and
advance strategies
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Promoting a Culture
of Resiliency
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ JUNE 2017 ❚ 5