Episode description

In today's podcast, Rob and Toby start to discuss the impact that positive and negative emotions can have on the success of any M&A integration.  And to be clear, we are not talking about the bigger picture of 'culture' although that does have some bearing on the topic.

What we are talking about are those situations where emotions such as fear, envy, anger, frustration (clearly all negative) and elation, enthusiasm, comfort, and certainty (positive) start to appear in both individuals and groups as they react to the news of the merger/acquisition.

Rob expresses a view that in many M&A deals the topic of emotions is relegated to the back burner and only tackled in a reactive sense when the smelly stuff has already hit the fan. Moreover, Rob suggests that emotional reactions need to be considered as a certainty in any post-deal scenario and that there is a need for managers at all levels to be capable of recognizing, identifying, and managing emotional behaviors long before they become a problem. 

Do you agree? Should more attention be paid to managing post-deal emotional reactions or do you think this is sufficiently well managed in most cases?