Ricardo Azziz, principal at Strategic Partnerships in Higher Education, or SPH, Consulting Group, has led the merger that resulted in Georgia Regents University, now Augusta University. He notes that while dealing with the mechanics of a merger can be difficult, addressing cultural factors can be even more challenging.
Azziz recalls speaking to a college leader who had helped lead an institutional merger, and the leader mentioned the business proverb “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” However, Azziz disagrees with this statement, citing his own experience leading the merger of a health sciences university with a liberal arts university.
Institutional culture is defined by the beliefs and perspectives of the individuals composing the institution, according to higher education scholars William Tierney and Michael Lanford. Azziz notes that changing the people making up the organization changes the culture – a tactic often used in change management.
Tierney and Lanford wrote that institutional culture in higher education is perhaps most apparent when individuals move to a new campus environment after spending a significant amount of time at a single college or university. This is because cultural differences become more apparent when individuals are exposed to a new set of beliefs and values.
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The success of mergers in industries other than higher education may rest as much, or even more, on culture as it does on strategy. A large share of mergers are not successful, with cultural differences often pointed to as a reason. However, Azziz argues that culture may be more important to mergers in other sectors than in higher education.
He notes that mergers in higher education are quite different from mergers in other industry sectors due to college governance structures, employment contracts and compensation, missions and other key metrics. This uniqueness of higher education institutions means that cultural factors may play a different role in mergers.
Azziz argues that it is not true that you cannot mix cultures in higher education, either through the internal development of different disciplines or through a merger. In fact, most institutions already have and manage heterogeneous campus cultures.
However, he notes that a merger of institutions requires a deliberate and proactive process to understand, empathize with, and help preserve old traditions, values, and narratives, while simultaneously building new ones. This process is critical to the success of a merger.
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Azziz led the merger of a health sciences university with a liberal arts university — two institutions with long, deep histories and extraordinarily different cultures. In the 13-plus years since that merger, the university has had consistent enrollment growth and has increased its research funding.
Ultimately, Azziz concludes that the focus on culture, which requires careful and deliberate consideration and action, is a prudent one. But does culture always trump strategy? Probably not.
Cultural discordance is a significant challenge.
