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HR Planning - Merger (Stonewall Case study) Essay

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1. In 2008 British Wallboard, the parent company of Stonewall has seen enough of the volatility in the Canadian construction materials market and sells the company to a competitor, US Corp. Its subsidiary, Canadian Wallboard, and Stonewall will merge into one organization. What are the benefits of the merger to British Wallboard? US Corp? Canadian Wallboard? Stonewall? (10 marks) A merger is a consolidation of two organizations into a single organization. [1] There are certain benefits that derived from the merger, which would also boost the operations and financial performance of the organization. Benefits That Will Be Experienced By the Four Companies: The Stonewall Company and the Canadian Wallboard Company, as the main wallboard …show more content…

(10 marks) Along the course of merger, all the four companies may face risks: The immediate risk associating with the merger is concerning merging the two different cultures of Stonewall and Canadian Wallboard. During merger, culture shock may occur when key practices such as decision-making practices, compliance and autonomy, leader behaviors and management style, which define the way of working, dramatically change. Employees feel that their loyalty to companies are betrayed, and their status relationships are threatened. Culture shock will result in decreased productivity, lowered employee morale and trust to management, drained organizational adaptation, and less innovation. [8] Moreover, merger of the two companies carries along risks to human resources as it increases in insecurity among employees, lower levels of satisfaction at work, less affective commitment, and a loss of trust in the firms and management teams. Those issues would lead to difficulty in bending cultures, reductions in service levels, poor motivation and loss of key people and clients, and eventually impede the ability of the two companies to achieve their longer-term objectives and result in the failure of merger. [9] Another major risk that Stonewall and Canadian Wallboard need to face in the merger processes results from the fact that the processes themselves are complex and time-consuming. The effects of a merger may last for years. Moreover, merger

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