Organizational Culture in Bank Mergers & Acquisitions Hema Bajaj Hema Bajaj is from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai Email: hemabajaj@rediffmail.com, The author examines the important role played by cultural factors in mergers and acquisitions. Analyz- ing the case of acquisition of one bank by another, it examines the cultural issues that had the poten- tial to arise when two alien cultures came together after commencement of the integration process. It was found that similarities/dissimilari- ties between two cultures were not analyzed before the decision to ac- quire was taken. The study also found that as the two banks had very different cultures and needed high degree of integration, threat of cultural conflict was very high. It was however prevented by the management of the acquirer by fol- lowing a proactive acculturation strategy Culture Defined For anthropologists and other social and behavioral scientists, culture is the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another. In other words, it is the totality of socially trans- mitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. These patterns, traits, and products are considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population. Taylor in 1871 (as cited in Taylor 1958) defined culture as: “Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense is that complex whole which includes knowl- edge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits ac- quired by man as a member of society”. Organization Culture Like society and other groups, orga- nizations also have a way of functioning, constellation of beliefs, values, habits, norms of behavior and nature of interrela- tionships that are unique and form the culture. Organization culture is defined as, “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 45, No. 2, Oct. 2009 229