8 Management 485

Please don’t give me a two to three sentence replies. It has to look burky. At least 7 to 8 sentences. Thank you

From this Section is very Important

Responded to discussion topic with well supported and outside research or assigned readings as appropriate, add value to the discussion, and demonstrate student’s understanding of concepts.

Reply needed 1

These are the following issues that merging companies might possibly face: first, is the differences which is one of the main reasons that mergers occasionally collapse prior to the completion of the project.  The differences on both sides of the merging party (i.e., opinion, management style) can cause potential partners to not be able to see eye-to-eye that can result to failure to move forward in the negotiation process.  Second, may be that there are legal issues that the companies may encounter during the merger process.  According to the article titled “What Problems Can a Corporation Merger Have?” it stated “the passage of the Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890, companies in the United States have been forbidden to form any type of business entity that might result in the restriction of fair trade” (Lewis, 2016).  Lastly, is culture in which the organization culture differs from the other.  This may also cause problems for companies looking to combine resources and its efforts. 

Regarding the techniques that security professionals can use to ease cultural differences,  they must ensure to provide security awareness and training to the organization.  They must ensure to involve the top management and getting their support because it is crucial in developing a strong security awareness program.  If management commitment is raised, and the program goals are met by engaging and communication security awareness to all employees, this will result to a much improved security culture environment (Glenda Rotvold, 2008).  In addition, security professionals can bring teams together by understanding each teams’ responsibilities and holding them accountable to their duties.  Also, they must ensure that the IT teams are communicating with it each other and following the security policies that are set in place.  Collaborating is the key that will ensure teams will feel comfortable working with each other (McAfee, 2016).  Concerning the building of a positive team, security professionals must promote team building.  This can foster trust between members.  Each member in the team must trust in each other’s skills and must have the ability to work forward and have the right attitude in accomplishing the mission goals as a team.  According to the report titled “Using Teambuilding to Improve Performance for Geographically Distributed Information Security Professionals” it stated “Trust is essential to building an effective team in a distributed networked environment” (Kent, et al, 2012).

References:

Lewis, J. (2016). What problems can a corporation merger have?. Small Business Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/problems-can-corporation-merger-have-36372.html

McAfee. (2016). How collaboration can optimize security operations. McAfee. Retrieved from http://www.mcafee.com/us/resources/reports/rp-soc-collaboration-advanced-threats.pdf

Kent et al. (2012). Using teambuilding to improve performance for geographic distributed information security professionals. SANS Institute. Retrieved from https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/leadership/teambuilding-improve-performance-geographically-distributed-information-security-profe-34077

Rotvoid, G. (2008). How to create a security culture in your organization. Arma International Publication Information Management. Retrieved from http://content.arma.org/IMM/NovDec2008/How_to_Create_a_Security_Culture.aspx

Reply needed 2

There can be many issues of post-merger integration that plague a company:

“Missed targets. Companies fail to define clearly and succinctly the deal's primary sources of value and its key risks, so they don't set clear priorities for integration.” (Rouse & Frame, 2009)

 

“Loss of key people. Many companies wait too long to put new organizational structures and leadership in place; in the meantime, talented executives leave for greener pastures” (Rouse & Frame, 2009)

 

“Poor performance in the base business. In some cases, integration soaks up too much energy and attention or simply drags on too long, distracting managers from the core business.” (Rouse & Frame, 2009)

 

Another area that needs to be looked at when a company goes through a merger is the culture of the companies. “The ability to combine two organizations with cultures that are seeming opposites of one another requires both planning and a certain level of artistry. Cultural differences can threaten the outcome of a merger” (Lewis, 2016)

 

There is very little to do to easy tension beside give the situation time and watch out for the situations that might be ready to erupt when you dealing with cultures of a business.

One Idea that might help would be to try to develop a few duel core beliefs within my IT personnel. This could be done by doing a survey of “core beliefs. What are the 3 or 5 or 10 most important ideas about the nature of the world and the group’s place” (UC Berkeley, 2006) Or taking the already formed core beliefs and seeing if there are matches and placing them on a new forming new out of the rest. Everyone needs to start on the same page, or get on the same page as fast as possible for a smooth transition.

 

Another thing to do something is to bring in an expert to work out the cultural differences in the agency. A cultural expert could do multiple sessions and even one on one sessions to help pinpoint things that can be done to ease tensions between co-workers and meld things together. 

Many times, people feel they have lack of control when a merger is going through and there are a few things you can do to help with this issue:

 

First, make sure that everyone’s voice no matter how loud or soft, is heard and represented. You are not going to be able to please everyone, however sometimes that is not what is needed for control to be found. Just knowing, that an option was heard, processed, and not dismissed, can do wonders.

 

Second make sure you “Get to Know the Rest of the Team” (Llopis, 2012) getting to know the people you work with builds confidence in them and you, it builds their confidence in your skills as a leader and it builds your confidence in their skills as a worker.  It helps you not jump to conclusions of them and them to pre-judge you.

 

Another thing is to “Clearly Define Roles & Responsibilities” (Llopis, 2012) When you have defined roles and responsibilities it tells people that they are in control of and what they are not. It even gives an indication of what you are in control of or not in control of. These are all things that can help build the IT personnel of the merging companies.

 

Lewis, J. (2016). http://smallbusiness.chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/problems-can-corporation-merger-have-36372.html

Llopis, G. (2012). http://www.forbes.com. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/10/01/6-ways-successful-teams-are-built-to-last/#747be58f268d

Rouse, T., & Frame, T. (2009). http://www.bain.com. Retrieved from http://www.bain.com: http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/10-steps-to-successful-ma-integration.aspx

UC Berkeley. (2006). http://socrates.berkeley.edu. Retrieved from http://socrates.berkeley.edu: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pbd/pdfs/Culture_Diversity.pdf

Reply needed 3

When companies merge, cultural differences may arise and can last for years.  An example of a successful organization that failed to come together culturally is the merger of Compaq and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) that was not successful due to a culture clash that pitted Compaq's high-volume, fast-to-market strategic focus against DEC's more complicated and lengthy sales cycles.  The company’s challenges created by the culturally problematic merger are considered as the reason why Compaq lost it's standing as the number one computer maker to Dell who is its longtime business rival.  These types of issues (cultural differences) can remain an issue for years even if the merger has been successful (LaPlante, 2006).

If there are instances that during the acquisition of a company had more advanced technology than the other (company), my recommendation would be the following: first, is to get your own IT environment in the best possible form prior to initiating any deals.  Second, ensure to have an IT executives that attends any company’s merger meeting to get their views on the process of integrating the systems.  Lastly, these organizations must carefully plan a post merger integration to include the role or roles that the IT team will be involve in and the resources that it may need for such merger (Sarrazin et al., 2011).

References:

LaPlante, A. (2006). Glenn Carroll: How do you successfully merge two corporate cultures. Stanford Business. Retrieved from https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/glenn-carroll-how-do-you-successfully-merge-two-corporate-cultures

Sarrazin et al. (2011). Understanding the strategic value of IT in M&A. McKinsey&Company. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/understanding-the-strategic-value-of-it-in-m-and-38a

Reply needed 4

Culture can play a big role in a smooth merger or a failed merger of a company. “recent studies show the failure rate of mergers is close to 75 percent, and the majority don't produce the expected financial returns for years after the merger has taken place.” (Donnelly, 2011) Why? well part of the reason is the business culture.

 

What to do about this? Well, part of what needs to be done needs to be done before hand. Companies need to, “Do Your Due Diligence” (Donnelly, 2011) Investigate the culture of the other company. “While the legal team is scrutinizing the proposed merger, have someone else take a look at the cultural differences between the two companies” (Donnelly, 2011) This way the CEO can make a more well informed balance, and balanced design is important on whether to merge or not.

 

Another thing to do is, if the merger does happen, “Don't Try to Change Everything”. It is a common error to throw out everything for both companies and start over. However, this can be a fatal flaw, both companies had working cultures taking the existing one and melding them might prove to be more fruitful in the end. Some even say, “You don't need one common culture for everyone to work together” (Donnelly, 2011) so it is better to take a “very mission critical approach” (Donnelly, 2011).

 

In merging two companies and team’s organizations want to “Communicate Expectations”. Communication is the key in any relationship whether it be an organization, or human to human people. No one can read another mind. We must communicate and make sure people clearly understand the expectations of the company.

 

If all these things occur getting the culture of merging companies to fall in line it will hopefully be easier in the long run.

 

Donnelly, T. (2011). http://www.inc.com. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com: http://www.inc.com/guides/201105/how-to-merge-corporate-cultures.html