Applied research method - topic to be defined out of the assignment Essay

Applied research method - topic to be defined out of the assignment - Essay Example The difference in organizational culture is perceivable and culture has been recognized as a strong determinant of beliefs, attitudes and behavior. The strategic decision of M&A would have to take into account the impact of the differences in culture between two organizations or even between two nations. A high percentage of mergers and acquisitions fail to meet expectations and a very strong argument is that cultures were not integrated. This makes it interesting to know the impact that M&A has on the culture of an organization. To determine the impact of cultural differences when M&A take place, literature review would be conducted. There is a broad stream of literature available but since it is not possible to go through or include the entire database, select academic journals would be used to determine the impact that culture has during mergers. Three academic papers are recent while two papers are decades old. This has been done to understand how the mind set of people has changed over time. Literature review permits quick and easy collection of general information on the issue. The literature review would help to arrive at the research question. Cultural differences have been blamed for high failure rate in M&A but research suggests otherwise (Teerikangas & Very, 2006). Differences in top management styles have been found in top US companies but not in rewards and evaluation system to have a negative performance impact. Functional background had a positive impact on post-acquisition performance. A buying firm’s behavior throughout the buying process is influenced by its national background. According to some authors, differences in national cultures are not an impediment but a potential success factor for M&A. Research suggests that decision-makers give disproportionate attention to strategic fit as compared to integration issues (Olie, 1994). One of these issues is the ‘cultural fit’ where the fundamental differences