Merger process and Organizational performance: A case of a merger between Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and Danish Demining Group (DDG) in Uganda and South Sudan

Abstract

The research report was carried out with an aim of establishing the aspects of merger process and post merger organizational performance considering DRC-DDG as the case study. The study commenced with three research objectives; establishing conceptual and mandatory issues in relation to a merger, establishing the post merger organization performance of DRC-DDG and establishing the influence of a merger process onto post merger organizational performance. The respondents for the research study were the employees of the current DRC-DDG in Uganda. Data was collected using questionnaires which were sent online to the respective respondents located in different parts of East Africa. The data collected was analyzed using the SPSS package. From this package the researchers managed to establish a descriptive analysis, correlation and regression analyses. Basing on the analysis conducted, the researcher managed to establish that the pre-merger processes were carried out as expected only that there were some challenges of failing to involve most of the employees. They were however ably represented by their leaders in this. Both preparation for merger and transitional management (components of a merger process) were significantly influential to the post-merger organizational performance. The findings indicate that together they explain up to 36.5% of the changes in the post-merger organizational performance. Basing on this therefore, it was recommended that the merger process be considered seriously when two or more entities, through their leadership, find it wise to merge their operations. Though the influence is 36.5% in the case of DRC-DDG, it could be higher in entities which are not NGOs in nature.

Key words: Merger process, organizational performance, merger, performance