Learning plays an essential role in raisingawareness of cultural dynamics in a combination(David & Singh, 1993; Shrivastava, 1986).In a rare field study of managing culture inM&A, Schweiger and Goulet (2005) examinedthree levels of cultural learning during anacquisition—none, shallow, and deep—andfound an interesting relationship betweenthem and the subsequent integration ofplants in an acquired firm. In the case of nolearning, they found, not surprisingly, no relationshipto eventual integration success orfailure. By contrast, deep cultural learninginterventions, involving cross-company dialogue,culture clarification workshops, andthe like, had a strong, positive effect on integrationsuccess. Measured results includedgreater cross-cultural understanding, smootherresolution of cultural differences, more communication
and cooperation between combiningparties, and greater commitment to the combined organization.