Managing Change in Organizations We would like to start with some facts to show the importance of managing cultures in the organization and how the lack of change management could haunt companies in terms of mergers and acquisitions. The challenges associated with the merger, and therefore the change, of two organizations are enormous and always require many resources and the right people. According to Business magazine “The successful fusion of cultures is difficult, traumatic and crucial. Individuals and companies with different histories, values, expectations and beliefs are asked to adopt a unified perspective and serve as a cohesive unit. This is made more difficult by the fact that in almost all merger situations there are perceptions of “winners” and “losers,” as well as fear and uncertainty about the future. The stakes are great. Quite simply, mergers often fail, and culture clashes are a major reason for this failure. A ten-year study of 340 major acquisitions found that total shareholder returns for 57 percent of merging firms were below industry averages three years after the merger (Lublin and O'Brian, 1997). Other studies conclude that over 60% of mergers fail in their intended purpose (Carleton, 1997). And according to the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal it clearly demonstrates that success in merging cultures (i.e. in preventing “culture clash”) is fundamental to obtaining positive results from the merger. Indeed, many management experts cite culture clashes as the primary cause of merger failures (Lublin and O'Brian, 1997). Several recent mergers have suffered from culture clashes. For example, the successful merger between Harty Press, an old-style printing house, and Pre-Press Graphics, a high-tech desktop publishing firm, was jeopardized by a serious culture clash (Welles, 1994). Culture clashes following the merger between Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas knocked Boeing off course, with its stock well below pre-merger levels (Bernstein, Reinhardt, & Browder, 1998). Similarly, Burlington Northern's $4 billion acquisition of Santa Fe Corp., the largest in history at the time of its completion, became one of the industry's most disappointing, largely due to unexpected cultural gaps. Many other culture-related merger disappointments could be cited. Then it is clear that managing culture is so important and in this article we will discuss why managing change is so difficult and why there is always resistance to it. We must note that employees do not always welcome change and these are the main obstacles, as demonstrated by numerous studies conducted over the years.