Changing Organizational Cultures

Abstract

This article addresses mergers in a nonprofit setting through a case study and a discussion of the literature. It addresses some commonly overlooked, though highly essential components of successful mergers: people. Nonprofit human service agencies are fundamentally changing the way they do business. The environment on which they depend is evolving rapidly, forcing many organizational and cultural changes. Mergers of nonprofit organizations operate similarly to those in proprietary settings, particularly around employee issues. Oftentimes the beginning phase of mergers creates workplace ambiguities for workers. In a merger, the culture of each organization must advance a deeper understanding and respect for the other's differences before the staff of each organization can build trust and communicate effectively as one team and create its own new culture.