I discovered there’s a culture battle at the office. It’s the result of a massive industry consolidation. I hope you can follow this tale. Game of Thrones may be easier to understand.
Company A announced a bid to acquire company B, one of its smaller competitors. At the same time, Company C, the second largest company in the sector, was trying to merge with Company D, the biggest player in the industry. Regulatory issues squashed the merger of Companies C and D. Company A and Company C decided to merge while Company A was still trying to buy Company B. Company A completed the merger with Company C, along with the purchase of Company B, on the same day. Company A paid $71b for the two companies. The result is chaos and the formation of the number two player in the industry. Company D is still the top dog. Now, three companies are simultaneously trying to come together as one.
The employees of Company C feel that they are superior to the employees of Company A and Company B because their company was bigger than the other two. Customers hated Company C so its identity was abolished with the merge. This move only made C employees resent A and B employees. Company B employees have a “whatever” attitude as they were the smallest of all the companies. Company B employees are grateful to still have jobs. Company A employees resent Company C employees because of their superior attitude. Company A promptly eliminated much-loved perks at Company C like working from home, along with flex hours. They also instituted a business attire dress code which forbids jeans and eliminated casual Friday. None of this helped morale or attitudes.
Three corporate cultures, three sets of systems and three ways of doing business all coming together as one with 40% of the workforce consisting of consultants and contractors. What could possibly go wrong?
Rumors are now circulating around Company A’s possible acquisition of a privately-held industry competitor. Why not add a fourth corporate culture into the mix?
The Corporate Slave 