MERGER & ACQUISITIONS     CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Singapore - Integrating organisations in a merger is difficult but Dow Chemical Pacific's HR director Butch Clas has a few critical aces up his sleeves to help HR overcome the challenges successfully.

According to Clas, who takes care of the diversified chemical company's SE Asia and ANZ human resources operations, there are some key factors to a successful merger. They are preparation in dealing with systems and knowledge transfer, setting key metrics for success, and above all, creating the right synergies for the newly integrated businesses. For Clas, good synergies include improving the bottom-line and engaging the leaders and employees in the cultural change.

With a recent Watson Wyatt survey indicating 70% of acquisition deals fail to achieve anticipated synergies, it's becoming a critical knowhow for HR professionals in charge of integrating the organisations. For instance, there might be an excess of business functions such as human resources, finance and marketing during a merger so HR needs to figure out the new organisation's key requirements and the number of people impacted. "You need to have an idea of what you're trying to accomplish for the bottom-line."

The trick, says Clas, is objectifying the process as much as possible to ensure success. HR needs to sit the top management down to first define the new organisation clearly and understand its people inside out. "Try to have a good discussion about that, then make sure you get different people talking about that [synergy] when it gets farther down the lower levels of the organisation."

Understandably, HR finds it a dilemma whenever they face a possible merger. Besides the normal workload, there is the additional preparation needed to help employees adapt to the changes. "HR is probably groaning a little bit because they know there is going to be a lot of work, uncertainties with employees when you go through a merger," says Clas. Likewise, there is always that risk of retrenching oneself after the merger.

Hence, it's especially important for HR professionals to be as proactive as they can and procure an inventory list of best practices and policies around the world. That's even though the organisation isn't planning to do a merger right now, says Clas. "Because when you are doing due diligence, you don't have a lot of time to make those type of judgements. You got to be market-ready and flexible in your approach."

________________________________________________________

More quality Lighthouse titles

Get your marketing department up to speed with Asia's most read marketing site
marketing-interactive.com

Want to get on the right side of the procurement department?
Direct them to Procurement Asia