Who Goes? Who Stays?
Communication to existing employee and management right after merge
Employee communication Strategy In HBR case study “Who Goes, Who Stays?” Steve and Kasper lack on important communication with the employees. They should have begun communicating with their employees as soon as possible in the merger process. Should have considered informing them of company desire to merge with, acquire or be acquired by another company before they begun searching for a counterpart to the deal, if possible. They should have given employees plenty of time to provide feedback about the deal and make personal and career arrangements, if necessary. Any type of change is challenging for most employees, and being part of an acquisition or merger can be especially stressful. The uncertainty of whether you will even have job six to 12 months in the future is stressful enough without having to learn a new culture and establish new relationships with those at the new company. Most of the employee have slight to no confidence of the new future company. The most important tool to manage employee anxiety and uncertainly and offer a smooth transition is a well thought-out communication plan. (Merge ahead, 2012) Know your audience - When it comes to communicating change, one size does not fit all. The messages and the tools you use must be tailored to your audience to ensure understanding, acceptance and, eventually, engagement. While a "change blog" or a Web page will work well for some head office employees, it may not make sense for employees who are on the road. Spending the time and effort doing a thorough stakeholder analysis will give you a deep understanding of what your employees are most anxious about and their preferred method of communication (print, lace to lace), and may uncover other issues that could pose a risk to the change. In the end, the analysis will allow you to be targeted and impactful, driving employee understanding and acceptance of the change.
Employee communication Strategy In HBR case study “Who Goes, Who Stays?” Steve and Kasper lack on important communication with the employees. They should have begun communicating with their employees as soon as possible in the merger process. Should have considered informing them of company desire to merge with, acquire or be acquired by another company before they begun searching for a counterpart to the deal, if possible. They should have given employees plenty of time to provide feedback about the deal and make personal and career arrangements, if necessary. Any type of change is challenging for most employees, and being part of an acquisition or merger can be especially stressful. The uncertainty of whether you will even have job six to 12 months in the future is stressful enough without having to learn a new culture and establish new relationships with those at the new company. Most of the employee have slight to no confidence of the new future company. The most important tool to manage employee anxiety and uncertainly and offer a smooth transition is a well thought-out communication plan. (Merge ahead, 2012) Know your audience - When it comes to communicating change, one size does not fit all. The messages and the tools you use must be tailored to your audience to ensure understanding, acceptance and, eventually, engagement. While a "change blog" or a Web page will work well for some head office employees, it may not make sense for employees who are on the road. Spending the time and effort doing a thorough stakeholder analysis will give you a deep understanding of what your employees are most anxious about and their preferred method of communication (print, lace to lace), and may uncover other issues that could pose a risk to the change. In the end, the analysis will allow you to be targeted and impactful, driving employee understanding and acceptance of the change.
References: Sorhaitz, Kevin M., McCullagh, David (2011) “Merge Ahead” Retrieved on July 9th 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ltu.edu Lea Peterson and Stella Voules “Mastering merger and acquisition communication helping employees to deal with the deal” (2007) Retrieved on July 6th 2012 from web http://www.mmc.com/views/ReflectionsOnM&A_HelpingEmployees.pdf http://www.ehow.com/info_7801031_employee-communication-merger-acquisition.html Claudio Fernandez-Araoz, Nitin Nohria (2011) “How to hang on to your high potentials” Robert S Kaplan and David P. Norton, The office of strategy management, (The office of strategy management, 2005) Retrieved on July 10th 2012 from website http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ltu.edu