Employee Engagement Expert Available to Explain Why Most Corporate Mergers Fail Neglect of the human element in post-merger

integrations means that over 60% of corporate mergers fail. Alan Crozier from The Ghost Partnership explains why. Glasgow, Scotland, September 23, 2011 -- On average, only 32.4% of M&A activity can be described as a success. In fact, in something like 60% of cases the acqui ring company fails to cover the cost of capital. The lack of effective post-merge r integration is behind the failure of most corporate mergers, says Alan Crozier , one of Europes leading organisational communication consultants. There is an o bvious focus on getting the deal done, identifying efficiencies, and of course c apturing the revenue stream. But companies dont change people change them. And th e human side of the change agenda is often the Cinderella at the party. The CEO needs to start the communication and involvement process before the ink i s dry, and have at least a 100-day plan for getting everyone in the business on the same page as far as the business direction is concerned. The key question em ployees have is of course, what does this mean for me? Here honesty and timeliness are crucial. When people dont know what is happening, they will on average spend two hours a day in fruitless and typically negative discussion with colleagues. This is where value-destruction starts. Crozier, a founder of Glasgow-based consultancy, The Ghost Partnership and autho r of a new book: The Engagement Manifesto bases his assertions that many employe e engagement initiatives are fundamentally flawed on research and years of consu lting in this area, particularly in times of change. Crozier has over 30 years experience in advising blue-chip companies in the UK, Europe and the US on employee engagement through business transformation, merger s and acquisitions. He has addressed conferences on these topics in Europe and N orth America. ENDS (background info follows) CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS Bio: R. Alan Crozier Crozier formed Q4 consulting in 2002 and in 2010 he also became a founding direc tor of The Ghost Partnership, a company formed to bring together the experience, expertise, skills and resources of expert consultants with complementary disci plines in performance through people. He has recently been appointed to the Governments Task Force on Employee Engageme nt set up by the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) in the afterm ath of the report by David MacLeod and Nita Clarke on employee engagement and it s benefits for organisations and employees. He was previously with Watson Wyatt Partners where he was responsible for their strategic communication and employee engagement consulting capability throughout Europe. From 1989 1999, Crozier was deputy practice leader for Mercers communication prac tice in the UK. Crozier was International director of accreditation (Europe & Middle East) for t he International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) 2008-2010 He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and an Accredited Business Communicator (the professional qualification of the IABC). He has served on the steering board of the Corporate Identity Group and the prof

essional advisory board of the MSc in Corporate Communication Management at Salf ord University Crozier is a contributing author to: The IABC Handbook of Organisational Communication, published by Jossey Bass, New Y ork, May 2006; Integrating HR and Marketing Strategies, published by ICFAI University, July 2006 Crozier has addressed conferences in Europe and North America on employee engage ment, employer branding and related topics. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS: https://picasaweb.google.com/PHPRphotos/TheEngagementMani festoRAlanCrozier?authkey=Gv1sRgCMr6z-_g-L6FFw The Ghost Partnership http://www.ghost-partnership.com/index.new.php Founded in 2010 by four senior business leaders to offer a systemic approach to employee engagement to facilitate, support, and embed change; and deliver powerf ul and sustained business performance through people. Organisations with engaged employees enjoy lower absenteeism, lower costs of att rition, fewer reportable accidents, less wastage, better productivity, and signi ficantly out-perform their less engaged counterparts . The Ghost Partnership use research-based strategies and have proven that their e mployee engagement methods work to deliver increased and sustained improvements: in PLCs to boost Total Shareholder Returns; in Mutuals, to deliver enhanced member value; in Professional Services to boost Partner profit. The Ghost Partners are: John Nicholson Position: Director Alan Crozier Position: Director Andrew Cooksey Position: Director Bill Mitchell Position: Operations Board Contact Us: For further details, or to request media comment, interviews and exclusive artic les, contact Penny Haywood Calder at PHPR Ltd on +44 (0)131 669 5190 or email: p ressline@phpr.co.uk. Communications House, 3 Lower Joppa, Edinburgh, EH15 2ER, S cotland, UK. http://www.phpr.co.uk Contact: Penny Haywood Calder, MD PHPR Ltd Glasgow, Scotland 0131 669 5190 penny@phpr.co.uk http://www.phpr.co.uk