Change management strategies, post-acquisition and merger, at a private wellness organisation in South Africa.
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Date
2019
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Abstract
Organisations use mergers and acquisitions as a growth strategy in the quest for
market domination and sustained competitive advantage. This growth strategy is still
actively employed even though global statistics reveal that eighty three percent of all
mergers and acquisitions result in failure. The purpose of this study was to assess
the effectiveness of the change management strategies employed by Company XXX
during its 2017/2018 acquisition of Company YYY. This qualitative study utilised a
phenomenological research design and the collection of data was done through
semi-structured interviews. Ten line managers (Grade 12-15) participated in the
study from Company XXX and Company YYY. The change management process
relating to post-merger integration, communication and leadership during and postmerger
was investigated using the Kotter eight step change management model as
the theoretical framework. The data collected was transcripted and NVIVO was used
for data analysis where the information was coded and themes were identified.
Themes that emerged from the study was that the organisation did not have a formal
change management strategy that addressed pre and post-merger integration
processes, managers who were tasked with the integration process felt that this
proved to be difficult for them as they felt disengaged from the organisation. Poor
communication, a lack of structure and silo management from senior leadership
increased employee disengagement. This resulted in demotivated employees,
increased uncertainty relating to job security and the eventual loss of employees with
critical skillsets. The study participants also provided valuable insight from a human
and operations perspective on how change should be managed more effectively for
the organisation to benefit meaningfully from the merger. The overarching theme
was the lack of communication and silo management practices. A recommendation
was for the organisation to initiate communication and maintain open communication
throughout the process with evaluations done at the different stages of the
integration. The establishment of a cross-functional change management team to
guide the required changes was also highly recommended.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.