Both the Abbott Hospital acquisition and post-acquisition periods were subject to various organizational changes. This acquisition also affected multiple departments within the new organization, some of which became compromised in the process. The acquisition process also brought about some conflicts within various operational and organizational processes, including government and investor relations. After the acquisition was finalized, the most prominent issue was human resource relations, which pitted the Mary Theresa-led team against the former Abbott employees. For instance, there were several problems relating to human resource (HR) management practices. This essay seeks to evaluate the success of the acquisition of Abbott from the lens of strategic human resource best practices. This analysis is mainly conducted in regards to “seven steps to merger success,” as they are outlined by Shepherd (2009), and Tepedino and Watkin’s (2010) guidelines to successful merger and acquisition. There are several outlying factors in relation to Abbott’s strategic human resource approach. First, the handling of employee relations was not addressed strategically. For example, there was a projection that the public and most hospital employees would react negatively to Sister Mary Theresa’s style of leadership. This warning had also been delivered by Dr. John Coletti, the respective Abbott Administrator. The most prominent issue in this case study is the fact that Sister Mary Theresa sought to impose her characteristic authoritative management style at Abbott. A requirement that Abbott employees be interviewed afresh by staff from Mt. Mercy also indicated that the new administrators did not have goodwill in their subsequent dealings with Abbott’s staff. The decision to put all former Abbott employees on probation also had a significant impression on strategic human resource management. Eventually, Dr. Coletti resigned as a result of the unviable nature of Theresa’s human resource management approach. The new administrator continued to stick to her bureaucratic plan, even as HR and financial challenges continued to mount. One strategic HR issue that is prominent in this acquisition is the stipulation that is considered a best practice when addressing employee benefits during a merger or acquisition. According to Shepherd, it is important to “encourage senior management to involve HR/benefits pros in talks about the transaction as early as possible, so HR/benefits leaders are well-informed and have enough time to coordinate” (2009, p. 11). In the case of Abbott, the involvement of HR was undertaken in an unsatisfactory manner. For example, at the onset of the acquisition process, Sister Mary Theresa had requested Abbott’s administrator to stay on as the leader of the employees. However, it later turned out that this decision was not meant to involve Coletti in HR talks, but the concession was extended to the Abbott Administrator as a courtesy. This move was a failure on the part of Mt. Mercy Hospital’s administrators, as their communication with Abbott’s employees was inadequate and ill-intentioned. Some of Sister Mary Theresa’s initial moves included interviewing all Abbott staff members and asking them