Consolidated Transition Plan
Consolidated Transition Plan
Abstract
To successfully compete in today's aggressive business world, businesses are often conducting merger/acquisitions to remain competitive within their respected markets. During such a transition, several business relational components must be considered while matriculating personnel and resources within one architectural design. Various methods and theories may assist all companies involved in a merger/acquisition plan to maximize the overall benefits and achievement of unifying separate entities into a highly specialized organization that has a distinct sustainable competitive advantage.
Introduction
This consolidated transition plan will focus on four components that are an essential part of a successful merger/acquisition. These distinct components, organizational behavior issues, motivational theories, transition, and human resource policy, which all share common features and work in tandem during the transition period and offer both the management and subordinate levels to matriculate with less stress, thus, elevating performance, productivity, and overall job satisfaction.
Organizational Behavior Issues
Issues that may arise from a merger/acquisition and the impact that it may have on the employee base within the current organization are highly important characteristics that must be addressed during such a transition. The focus will be aligned with the human elements that may arise, the issues that could develop, and what could be done to motivate the employee base to accept change, in order, to have a successful takeover.
It is important to note, that according to Stephen Robins, "Organizational behavior is concerned with study of what people do in an organization and how that behavior affects the performance of the organization." (Robins, 6) The company shareholders have just approved a merger/acquisition of the company and I am being held accountable for maintaining departmental performance measures while dealing with human elements simultaneously. To accomplish this, I needed to synthesize an array of questions. The three questions were as follows: What can you do to motivate your employees to change? What are the issues you expect to face? What are the human elements that arise out of an acquisition?
To answer the first question, according to William S. Cottringer, "A wise manager knows the important of being somewhere in the middle of the leadership continuum to be able to use whatever approach might be must productive at the particular time. For instance, sometimes change is productive and sometimes not." (Cottringer, 4) For example, communication with employees would be of the outmost importance for a horizontal transition. As with change comes the fear of the unknown, such as, economic instability, and social psychological issues.
When the workplace suffers from the lack of communication and other stimuli that could potentially affect moral, then the obvious effects become visible in the areas where the deterioration of motivation and job performance occur. The responsibility of sustaining a motivating work environment falls upon everyone within the organization. Motivation no longer is the sole responsibility of the manager, but the collective as a whole. There are Ten Commandments, which everyone in a working environment may find helpful:
* Build self-respect
* Don't be neurotic
* Show respect
* Live in integrity
* Be fair
* Value and reinforce ideas
* Give them what they want
* Give immediate feedback
* Reinforce the right things
* Serve others. (Emmerich, 69)
Management directly responsible for the success of the merger/acquisition should ask this question, what about the actual human side to all of this? Well, to be an effective manager, he/she are expected to deal with an array of merger/acquisition potential dilemmas and issues, but more importantly focus on relative transition of the employees. Therefore, management must be able to take a humanistic approach in dealing with the staff and maintain departmental performance.
Management must be capable to face employees that would be overwhelmed with fear of the unknown during merger/acquisition. This includes, but not limited, to the uncertainty of their jobs and the security of the company. It is primary priority of management to show and exhibit compassion and empathy, and to address their fears in a face-to-face method with equal compassion and empathy to the employee.
With such a responsibility, management will be most likely faced with employees that will exhibit tremendous stress and perhaps apprehension at the thoughts of merger/acquisition transition. More than likely, employees worry about healthcare, 401k plans, and other benefits that they currently have obtained within their original company. A manager has the responsibility to help ease these stress factors, so that they are able to maintain performance measurements.
Also, some issues that may arise from the merger/acquisition are managerial changes, relocation, salary and policy adjustments, and the overall work environment. Each one of these issues may directly ...
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With such a responsibility, management will be most likely faced with employees that will exhibit tremendous stress and perhaps apprehension at the thoughts of merger/acquisition transition. More than likely, employees worry about healthcare, 401k plans, and other benefits that they currently have obtained within their original company. A manager has the responsibility to help ease these stress factors, so that they are able to maintain performance measurements.
Also, some issues that may arise from the merger/acquisition are managerial changes, relocation, salary and policy adjustments, and the overall work environment. Each one of these issues may directly affect the all of the employees. Consequently, the employees may become bewildered on what the future holds in terms of their employment status. This is when and an approachable manager is needed to keep the employees focused and enable them to remain at a heightened performance level. When employees are faced with a change in management; especially management from the parent merger/acquisition company, the employees may experience a difficult and/or challenging readjustment during the initial transition phase. Utilization of various effective communication techniques are powerful tools to ease employees anxieties, for example, by distributing informative handouts and other helpful material, it will mitigate some of the possible anguish and answer many questions that the employee base may have. Additionally, the incoming and outgoing management ranks should exchange as much work related information as possible, to make the transition more fluid and robust. However, one study suggests that even though effective communication is important to any merger/acquisition, management should be cautious in how much and what information is disclosed, due to the fact, that "...Too little or too much of a communication process is unsatisfying - if what acquired employees received did not seem "just right" to them, many were dissatisfied." (Cornett-DeVito and Friedman, 13)
Other issues that may be presented are relocation, salary and policy adjustments, cutbacks, and changes in the work environment. Each of these issues may pose crucial questions from employees to management. Negative feelings and emotions that accompany some of the questions and answers are inevitable within the organization. Therefore, positive managerial style techniques are paramount to the success of the merger/acquisition plan.
The management team must also devote attention in maintaining the organization. The maintenance of an organization is very important, because it could very well determine if an organization succeeds or fails. Leaders play a key role in all organizations. The major functions of leaders are the creation and development of an organizations structure. An organization often silhouettes their founder's personalities. Failure to sustain the productivity of an organization could be detrimental to the company.
It is important to note, that motivation, job performance, and job satisfaction exist on the same paralleled axes of business. This definition provides management with the necessary knowledge to extract key identifiers in relation to the motivational components that could stabilize and/or heighten job performance and job satisfaction within the work environment.
Motivational Theories
Mergers/acquisitions are at the forefront of maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage, which often places management with the challenges of increasing job satisfaction and motivation among the subordinate ranks to insure acceptable levels of individual performance are maintained. An ingenious method of deducing various employees' motivational triggers that are diverse within an organization is by conducting a motivational survey which identifies specific measures and elements that would yield a qualified primary data set for assessment and synthesis. The McClelland theory and the Goal-Setting theory comprehensively identify job performance, motivation, and job satisfaction within the organization. A generalized analysis has been spot-profiled, which will show that during a merger/acquisition, the employees' motivational performance can be identified and utilized by management to maintain the organizations focus and goals during such a transition.
What is motivation? Well, motivation can be defined as the desired goals and the method chosen to accomplish them. (Johnson & Johnson, 58) Having the business related definition of motivation in mind, it could enable management to identify that the applications of the McClelland theory and the Goal-Setting theory will assist in the development of workplace motivation. McClelland's theory of needs focuses on three requirements: achievement, power, and affiliation. The need for achievement is to achieve in relation to a set of standards, in order to strive to succeed. Also, the need for power is the need to make others behave in a ways that they would not behave otherwise. Lastly, the need for affiliation is the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships. (Robbins, 162) These key identifiers are paramount with identifying the various personality assessments.
The second theory utilized in this analysis, the Goal-Setting theory implies that specific and difficult goals having a goal/feedback mechanism leads to a higher performance. In other words, the Goal-Setting theory implies that when one is given a specific complicated goal, an employee will produce a higher level of output than the generalized goal of simply, "Doing your best." (Robbins, 162)
The sample set of seven employees have been profiled through various personality assessments, such as, a basic personality test and the Myers Brigg Type Indicator assessment. Additional instruments have been also utilized to measure flexibility, locus of control, and the motivation of the sample set. It is also important to note, that the broad individual backgrounds and cultural differences while assessing the most viable method in sustaining acceptable levels of individual performance throughout the merger/acquisition process should be adhered to.
Also, personality traits influence the way an individual interacts with others in a group sitting and/or solo with an organization. Management must have the foresight and knowledge to grasp the concept that, "Personality traits related to information sharing may correspond with positive perceptions of demographically different people, thereby enhancing their experience and performance in organizations." (Flynn, 414) Understanding this key trait enables the manager to effectively work with different individuals and maintain a clear channel of communication. It is important to know that, "People form impressions of others in their social environments by interpreting information gathered from observation and interpersonal interaction with the focal individual and similar others (Snyder and Swann, 1978). In general, impressions focus on individual attributes that are relevant to the perceiver (Kelley, 1967; Simon, Hastedt, and Aufderheide, 1997).
In organizations, attributes that are associated with the role of an employee in a particular task domain are considered relevant and are, therefore, foundations for impression formation. In interdependent work teams, for example, members form impressions of one another based on the set of valued attributes that are associated with the role of a team member, such that the guiding question for one member who forms an impression of another member becomes, "Does the target appear to have the set of attributes valued in a team member?"" (Flynn, 414)
Value and attitude differences has a differential outcome in an organization, it affects behavior, beliefs and fears, and environment. With huge diverse groups of people work together or along side of, the impact of intertwining social and psychological components in the work place is a given. To effectively balance out the variances, management must understand that, "a set of values, thoughts and interpersonal styles underlie Type 'A' behavior (Friedman and Roseman, 1974; Friedman and Ulmer, 1984). Price's (1982) social learning view has received some research attention in this regard. Price (1982) suggests that cognitions, or personal beliefs and fears, affect Type 'A' components. Type 'A' behavior represents a striving for social approval and material gain reflecting deeper beliefs and fears developed through social learning. These beliefs and fears result from values communicated to children from parents, friends, school and the media during socialization. Price identified three primary beliefs, each accompanied by a particular fear, which led to the development and maintenance of Type 'A' behavior." (Burke, 520) Besides dealing with different types of behaviors in the workplace, management must realize that, "Changing the way organizations recruit is relatively easy. Changing attitudes isn't." (Calleja, 28)
Merger/Acquisition Transition
A well-balanced and seasoned manager in the business arena "Should ... be aware that there are various leadership styles. The situational leadership model breaks these into four categories: directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating." (Silberman, 26) To successfully accomplish this, a manager must support and lead employees to maximize their potential during a merger/acquisition, "A manager's leadership style should match the characteristics of the people he or she is leading. A directing style is best for leading people who are unable or unwilling to take responsibility. A coaching style is best for people who still need to be developed but who show some self-confidence. A supporting style works best for people who are becoming increasingly competent though still lacking the confidence to direct their own activity. A delegating style is appropriate for people who are able, confident, and willing to take on considerable responsibility. The manager's challenge is to change his or her style based on the maturity level of the people being led." (Silberman, 26) A manager who is clearly focused on his/her own leadership style can best guide their employees to a more efficient and productive environment during a merger/acquisition, by targeting employee's strong points and nourishing them, which will result in a maximum profit stream.
Human Resources Policy
As today's aggressive business world diversifies itself into various industries of technological superiority, corporate giants of opposite markets merge together to capture more market share of multiple industries, and capitalize on current and emerging information technologies.
The HR policy during a merger/acquisition may developed into and sustain tremendous increases in net charges, as a result of restructuring various subsidiaries and its related expenses. The main emphasis with most HR policy programs is to incorporate various subsidiaries into a huge global entity. The merger/acquisition may expand several areas of the financials as related expenses. This procedure could result in the millions of dollars for restructuring of the employee base of thousands of employees. As a result, the outcome may also contribute to an enormous loss in operating expenses during the merger/acquisition process.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the essential elements which have been defined during a merger/acquisition are complex and involve the various interactions of employees in various circumstances. The management must face motivational, human elements, and performance issues that may vary with each individual. Maintaining harmony within the entire organization, maybe extremely challenging, due to the fact, that individualism would be a detrimental factor in today's business arena. On the other hand, by educating, safe guarding, and encouraging the employee base, the merger/acquisition will be a success.
During a merger/acquisition process, two beneficial motivational theories could be implemented to increase job performance, motivation, and job satisfaction within the organization. The focus of this analysis was centralized on the impact of a merger/acquisition would effect the employees motivation. The McClelland theory and the Goal-Setting theory could be applied to a sample group of a set number of employees, in order to, critique their motivation, and their individual and cultural differences. It is my professional opinion, that management must explore and implement various motivational theories and concepts to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
Having identified the various leadership styles and techniques used in the everyday operations allows the management team to aggressively focus on individual's strengths and talents to take full advantage of increasing efficiency, which could be implemented during a merger/acquisition, therefore, maximize profits. Besides utilizing the different techniques that allowed management to be independent within the organization, an important variable of trust is bestowed upon all levels. Furthermore, a technique of equating ones own deficiencies in management and leadership styles is used to modify elements of being an effective manager. In my opinion, Hawaiian Internet Provider's Inc. is perceptive enough to apply different leadership techniques and strategies to keep their internal workings competitive with other top technology companies, especially during a merger/acquisition transition.
HR policies also play a significant function in the overall success of a merger/acquisition plan. The methods which companies initiate their policies have tremendous effects upon the financial statements and other related outcomes. The full complexities of the company's internal financial statements may be utilized to extract data for the purposes of identifying the underlying strategies that the HR policies plays in a merger/acquisition, which can be used to deduce the various characteristics and influences of potential performance and financial fluctuations.
Works Cited
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