In the future, Merger & Acquisition processes will be even more frequent, more rapid, more radical and more global in their implementation. In the context of Due Diligence, the financial chances/risks will be documented with highly competent statistical frameworks. Even so, the (global) partners will not only be bringing in with them products, markets and cost structures but also managers, employees and their own corporate culture, i.e. their own special way of thinking, of viewing markets, of communicating, of motivating and of dealing with situations.

The Global PMI Survey by A.T. Kearney confirms that it is not only the phases of strategic development and candidate selection or of negotiations and the closing that are critical to success but rather and in particular the stage of post-merger integration which brings with it the greatest risks of failure! The successful basis for a successful co-operation is thus a concept for the structuring of the "soft" factors. The focus points here are giving orientation, motivating to change and managing expectations.

"Too often we hire for skills and then fire for personality," says Jack Welch, implicitly criticising personnel decisions which are based exclusively on an assessment of professional and behavioural competencies. Personality characteristics are only rarely scrutinised systematically for employee selection and development. This shows negligence to a certain extent, because a positive behavioural evaluation does not necessarily correspond to individual behavioural preferences, and in the event of greater amounts of deviations the predicted professional success in the target function will be more doubtful than not. For this reason, it is necessary to consider competency and performance profiles systematically in the context of personal behavioural and role preferences - as for example through the combination of personality questionnaires with assessment centres or PE programmes. CONTUR offers in co-operation with international partners the highly developed and exclusively job-related instruments Insights Discovery® and OPQ32. In our work we pursue a comprehensive approach insofar as the questionnaires are not understood as individual solutions, but rather as an integral component of the diagnostics process. Theory and practice bear out our approach: Improved personnel (development) decisions on the basis of unambiguous candidate profiles and detailed specification of measures justify in any case an additional description of the dimension of personality.

For further information, please contact Ulrike Stappenbeck:

Results-oriented customer discussions in Sales & Service

The corporate philosophy at LPKF Laser & Electronics AG, Garbsen, is based on Quality, Innovation, Ecology and Qualified Employees. In order to resume the continuous on-the-job training efforts there, CONTUR held seminars for employees from the both the Sales and Service sectors. The points of focus for the Service seminars were: making one's own services transparent to the customer and taking intercultural aspects into account in light of the global range of work activities. Train-the-Trainer elements continued to be communicated for the purpose of training customers in accordance with didactical points of view. Another focus in the Sales seminars was on discussions with customers, which should be carried out to their conclusions in a results-oriented manner, while at the same time being able to scrutinise oneself and to set individually achievable goals while doing so. Bernd Hackmann, Chairman of the Board at LPKF, summarised the results as follows: "I thought the seminar was very good. My expectations of receiving new tips were fulfilled and there was just as much something there for "new" employees in the area as there was for the "old hands".

Professional support for international collaboration

It is particularly true in the automotive supplier industry that the development of new products is unthinkable without global partners. Now that China has come to be regarded as the world's extended workbench, Japan has become an important partner in the development of special components in the automotive industry. We have identified a few success factors for all those who work together with Japanese partners and suppliers:

A prerequisite for globalisation and diversity is that company employees learn how to handle corporate culture consciously. Where however does culture become evident in the company and how does one proceed in such situations? You will learn more about this trend and the background to it in our series. Stand by for more!

Download Part 1: What is "culturally relevant" in organisations?

on „Accelerate Start-Up“ – einem PE-Programm für High Potentials

"It was a real pleasure to take part in the start up. I felt that it was a great opportunity for teambuiding and the development of new personal relationships. I am eager to continue with the program and look forward to our personal development and the achievement of our team goals."