Bridging the Divide: A 10-Step Guide to Integrating Contrasting Cultures After Merger

Coca-Cola

As one of the most iconic brands in beverage history, Coca-Cola has captivated consumers for over 130 years with its fizzy sweet Soda, which is loved by over 1.9 billion people daily. However, the recent merger with Wisconsin’s beloved Sunny Soda Company, a small family-owned business known for its retro glass bottled sodas, poses critical challenges in uniting contrasting company cultures.

Sunny Soda Company

Integrating the decentralized, entrepreneurial atmosphere cultivated for decades at Sunny Soda with the rigid corporate structure and standards that have accelerated Coca-Cola’s global expansion will test the leadership’s ability to forge unity. Failure to establish cohesion risks declining performance, talent losses or dysfunction that could tarnish Coca-Cola’s standing as a leader in the industry.

Overview of Coca-Cola

Founded in 1892, Coca-Cola has over 400 brands and sells beverages in over 200 countries. Known for its strict guidelines and standardized operations, Coca-Cola has achieved success through consistent quality, ruthless efficiency, and aggressive global expansion.

Overview of Sunny Soda Company

A family-owned craft soda maker founded in Milwaukee in 1954, Sunny Soda won over Wisconsin residents with nostalgic glass bottled sodas using original recipes but struggled to expand outside the state. Sunny Soda runs in a decentralized, entrepreneurial way with flexible processes.

Checklist

1. Conduct cultural analysis. Surveying employees to map current cultural traits, norms, and pain points aids in creating an integration strategy. This first step is critical to map differences between existing company cultures that must be bridged. Leaders need to understand areas of divergence to craft targeted integration strategies (Marks & Mirvis, 2010).
2. Communicate a shared vision. Executives clearly broadcast a vision and priorities, and forging a new culture eases uncertainty. This is to Communicate a shared vision: Broadcasting strategic priorities reduces uncertainty by giving employees a roadmap and sense of direction amidst the ambiguity of merging cultures (Appelbaum et al., 2017).
3. Model desired behaviours: Leaders who demonstrate collaborative behaviour and ethics establish organizational values in action. It creates a tangible example for employees to emulate, enabling culture change (Schraeder & Self, 2003).
4. Align on values and conduct policies Companies jointly defining corporate principles to shape decisions fosters unity. Defining joint standards for decision-making and codes of conduct creates unity by replacing disjointed approaches with consistent shared norms (Clampitt & Downs, 1993).
5. Offer diversity and ethics training. Educating personnel on respecting differences and integrity standards guides inclusion. Workshops build inclusion competency and underscore expected integrity standards, facilitating sensitivity and harmony between merging groups (Ellis, 2018).
6. Platform new ideas. Creating channels for sharing wisdom across legacy divides, like mentor networks, builds cohesion (Gupta & Kemelgor, 2000). Platform new ideas: Channels for cross-pollination like mentorshipcirclements break down silos, spur innovation and bring personnel together (Gupta & Kemelgor, 2000).
7. Review performance systems. Updating evaluations to reward cross-cultural cooperation motivates integration. Updated evaluations requiring cross-cultural cooperation incentivize integration by formally recognizing it as a priority metric (Ellis, 2018).
8. Plan a “One Team” kickoff event. Gathering employees to celebrate working as one unified organization inspires belonging. Offer diversity and ethics training: Workshops build inclusion competency and underscore expected integrity standards, facilitating sensitivity and harmony between merging groups (Ellis, 2018).
9. Publicly highlight collaboration. Consistently spotlighting cooperative efforts in all communications demonstrates cultural emphasis. Offer diversity and ethics training: Workshops build inclusion competency and underscore expected integrity standards, facilitating sensitivity and harmony between merging groups (Ellis, 2018).
10. Continuously seek input. Conducting quarterly “culture conversations” to evaluate challenges and progress sustains momentum (Gupta & Kemelgor, 2000). Offer diversity and ethics training: Workshops build inclusion competency and underscore expected integrity standards, facilitating sensitivity and harmony between merging groups (Ellis, 2018).

References

Appelbaum, S. H., Gandell, J., Shapiro, B. T., Belisle, P., & Hoeven, E. (2000). Anatomy of a merger: behaviour of organizational factors and processes throughout the pre‐during‐post‐stages (part 2). Management Decision, 38(10), 674–684.

Clampitt, P. G., & Downs, C. W. (1993). Employee perceptions of the relationship between communication and productivity: A field study. The Journal of Business Communication (1973), 30(1), 5–28.

Ellis, K. M. (2018). Managing mergers and acquisitions through corporate culture risk and integration. In Corporate Culture Risk (pp. 79–100). Springer, Cham.

Gupta, V., & Kemelgor, B. H. (2000). The effects of organizational learning and innovativeness on firm performance. International Journal of Innovation Management, 4(04), 417–438.

Marks, M. L., & Mirvis, P. H. (2010). Joining forces: Making one plus one equal three in mergers, acquisitions, and alliances. John Wiley & Sons.

Sarala, R. M., Junni, P., Cooper, C. L., & Tarba, S. Y. (2016). A sociocultural perspective on knowledge transfer in mergers and acquisitions. Journal of Management, 42(5), 1230-1249.

Schraeder, M., & Self, D. R. (2003). Enhancing the success of mergers and acquisitions: an organizational culture perspective.