It is one thing to put on paper words that describe a desired postcombination endstate.
It is quite another to bring those words to life by translating values and norms into action. Even when a combination has temporarily unfrozen their mind-sets, the experience does not necessarily change employees’ underlying beliefs about how to operate and be effective in a new environment. Forces remain pulling employees
back to established assumptions and routines as well as precombination identities, attitudes, and behaviors. So, as the months of combination planning segue into
implementation, HR has a role to play in ensuring that the forces for desired change persevere.