The Three P's in Nonprofit Human Service Mergers: Strategic Response to Coping with a Crisis

COVID-19 has heralded a health and socioeconomic crisis that has made it difficult for nonprofit human service organizations (NPHSOs) to play their social roles and achieve their goals. This article examines how the merger of NPHSOs can serve as a strategy for coping with an organizational crisis caused by external extreme events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focused on eight mergers of Israeli NPHSOs. Using in-depth interviews and a survey methodology of senior managers and board members who have participated in the merger process, we explore the motives, challenges, and key processes characterizing these mergers. The findings are organized around three stages in the merging process - the Three P's in human service mergers: Pre-merger, when the motives and barriers were examined; Process, where decision-making mechanisms, issues of belonging and identity, and coping with conflicts and trust-building were examined; and Post-merger, where attitudes toward the outcomes of the merger and its success in various organizational areas were assessed. The findings also point to a lack of proper preparation and orientation for the merger, ego struggles between managers and workers, and the need for socializing the employees to the merger. We conclude by discussing the importance of planning for and attending to the human capital in the merged NPHSOs, the need to build a shared sense of belonging, and the value of shaping a new and shared organizational culture. Implications to theory, practice, and policy are discussed. Executives of nonprofit human service organizations considering a merger in response to a crisis should prepare, orient, and socialize executives, board members, and employees before entering the merger process; part of this socialization should include emotional dimensions of trust building, respect, and empathy.Executives should establish mechanisms for shared decision-making and for coping with conflicts.Executives and board members should collaborate to plan the merger strategically (i.e. establish goals before initiating the merger) to make the process more efficient, effective, and adjusted to expected and unexpected events in the external environments.Umbrella organizations, infrastructure organizations, government agencies, and funders should develop knowledge and support systems to help organizations consider mergers.Funders should be engaged in due diligence to assess the organizations' financial and economic resilience before the merger. They should also consider the synergies of the merger and its added value to the beneficiaries before entering the process.