Merger and Acquisition

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Case Study – Merger and Acquisition

B6032 Human Resource Management & Talent Development

Courtez Kirkwood

Argosy University

People often fear change, and a merger or acquisition creates uncertainty and change for employees both of the purchasing company and the purchased company (Symes, 2011). Communication during a merger or acquisition isn't only about keeping people informed—it's also about keeping performance high when a company and its employees are in vulnerable positions (Workforce, 1999). The one thing to keep in mind when merging as an HR Manager is to communicate effectively to the staff. Failure to communicate will results in the less of morale, employees and job performance. Going into any merging and acquisition it is important for the HR team to know that employees are going to be laid off and let go but you it is the HR’s team responsibility to manage that and limit the staff from doing so first. When companies merge and acquisition, challenges rise for HR managers and they must begin to strategize how to merge both companies employees to match the newly formed business and goals.

In this case study, the two companies are tough competitors in the marketplace to the extent of the employees creating a rivalry against one another. The company-acquired employees do not like the idea of merging with their rivals. This scenario creates challenges with HR because not only must they manage communication, consolidation and relocation but also the employee’s moral and attitude towards one another. Employees from both companies will soon work with one another and it is important for HR to assist in making both sets of employees comfortable with working with each other. The first step to this merger and acquisition is communicating to the staff of the merge and acquisition, which is the beginning to all of HR’s strategies. In addition, both companies have a variance in age, gender and race. HR Managers will have to consolidate...