Organization cultural element is a critical issue in mergers and acquisitions. Over the years, mergers and acquisitions have become a global spectacle and a popular strategic choice for the growth and expansion of companies. Organizational culture emphases on the manner in which corporate partakers’ experience and make sense of organizations. It forms the simple conventions and beliefs that function unconsciously and are shared by the organization members.
Amazon Acquisition of Whole Foods and Methods of Managing Culture
Amazon, an e-commerce giant, acquired Whole Foods in 2017 in a bid to help increase its shares of US grocery sales, a market that was dominated by traditional supermarkets such as Wal-Mart. Through the acquisition of Whole Food, Amazon will need to find a way of handling and managing culture (Taylor, 2017). Companies may use different ways such as integration, assimilation, deculturation, and separation in a bid to resolve conflict as adapting to their cultures following an acquisition or merger (Wheelen et al., 2018).
Integration and separation are the ideal methods of managing culture for Amazon and Whole Foods. Through integration, both companies can build on equal trust with each other’s cultural strengths and weaknesses, thus creating a culture that is best for both companies. In integration, there is the minimal imposition of a change of culture on any of the company, hence, both cultures are preserved in the resulting culture.
Amazon is known to have obsessively a culture that is customer-centric, while Whole Foods has always assumed the idea of conscious capitalism with a well-balanced set of commitment to customers, investors, employees, and communities. Whole Foods has a business culture that honors inclusive decision making. Each Whole Foods store is inspired by the community that surrounds it hence a localized culture is core to what it is as a brand (Taylor, 2017). One of the best ways to slowly merge the Amazon and Whole Foods cultures is by creating employees and customers’ stories. Amazon may exhibit who they are and what they are passionate about in their business. Separation would also be a good choice, whereby the two companies may remain distinct entities with reduced exchanges of culture or the practices of the organization (Chmielecki and Sulkowski, 2017).
Goal Displacement and Possible Remedy to Prevent it
Goal displacement refers to a shift in a company’s goals in the course of time (Wheelen et al., 2018). For example, various government schools may decide the teachers’ performance by punctuality and attendance rather than the way of teaching and the realized results or instead of having the recommended twenty-five students in a class; the number may be increased to forty. Thus, instead of the original goal of promoting learning, it’s overtaken by the goal of making money. Another example is a conversation of cinema halls into party palaces due to lack of audience since movies are now readily available in compact disks and cable- TV.
One of the ways to prevent goal displacement would be through conducting performance audits to identify fabrications or even lack of basis for the actions taken. It is crucial for organizations to set goals that are specific, tangible, and focused on limiting goal displacement, and avoiding vague goals, which enhances goal displacement. The objectives and goals set should be quantifiable, and the organizations should ensure that information systems provide not only timely but also valid information (Granito, 2016).
In conclusion, cultures are essential aspects of organizational growth and are an integral part of mergers and acquisitions. Goal displacement, on the other hand, may happen at various levels and for many reasons but can be prevented.
References
Chmielecki, M. ". (2017). Organzational Cultural in Mergers and Acquisitions. Journal of Intercultural Management, 8(4), pp. 47-58
Granito, F. (2016). Goal. Institute for Digital Transformation. Retrieved from: http://www.institutefordigitaltransformation.org/beware-of-goal-displacement-ensuring-value-in-the-digital-age
Taylor, B. (2017). Amazon, Whole Foods, and the Future of the (Old) New Economy. Harvad Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2017/06/amazon-whole-foods-and-the-future-of-the-old-new-economy
Wheelen, T. H. Hunger J. D., Hoffman A. N., Bamford C. E. (2018). Strategic management and business policy. Globalization, innovation and sustainabilty
(15th ed.). London: Pearson
