Skip to content

ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Enabling success: talent management

Halden Bank is merging with Orrin Insurance. Halden has a hierarchical, rule-driven culture with strong role clarity; Orrin has an informal, innovative culture with little hierarchy. Management wants to retain Orrin's talent and avoid cultural conflict but expects each unit to keep operating in its own way, with only financial reporting integrated. Using acculturation approaches, which is being proposed and what does it imply?

This is separation. Both organisations retain their own cultures and only financial reporting is combined. That lowers conflict and helps retain Orrin's creative talent, but it limits synergies and shared learning across the merged business, unlike assimilation, integration or deculturation, which all involve cultural change.

  1. AAssimilation, implying Orrin staff fully adopt Halden's culture
  2. BIntegration, implying a new blended culture is built from both
  3. CSeparation, implying the cultures coexist with minimal change, lowering conflict but limiting synergy and shared learningCorrect
  4. DDeculturation, implying both cultures are abandoned

Explanation

Each unit keeps its own culture with only limited integration, which is separation. This reduces cultural friction and the risk of losing Orrin's talent but limits cross-fertilisation and synergies. Assimilation would impose Halden's culture and integration would blend both.

Did you get it right without looking?

One question tells you little. A timed set on Enabling success: talent management shows your real accuracy, how long you take and where you lose marks.

Practise Enabling success: talent managementFree diagnostic mock

More Enabling success: talent management questions