The Impact of Leadership and Change Management Strategy on Organizational Culture and Individual Acceptance of Change during a Merger

By Marie H. Kavanagh, Neal M. Ashkanasy. 2006

596 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article reports a longitudinal study that examined mergers between three large multi-site public-sector organizations. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis are used to examine the effect of leadership and change management strategies on acceptance of cultural change by individuals. Findings indicate that in many cases the change that occurs as a result of a merger is imposed on the leaders themselves, and it is often the pace of change that inhibits the successful re-engineering of the culture. In this respect, the success or otherwise of any merger hinges on individual perceptions about the manner in which the process is handled and the direction in which the culture is moved. Communication and a transparent change process are important, as this will often determine not only how a leader will be regarded, but who will be regarded as a leader. Leaders need to be competent and trained in the process of transforming organizations to ensure that individuals within the organization accept the changes prompted by a merger.

Subfields: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2fd734c185704ab1dae60cc9620bf42f7980fcdc

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In Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

Citations in the corpus

The impact of cultural differences and acculturation factors on post-acquisition conflict ☆ (2010, background): “Studies have also included factors related to acculturation process (Larsson, 1993; Pablo, 1994; Very et al., 1996; Very, Lubatkin, Calori, & Veiga, 1997), cultural integration (Birkinshaw et al., 2000; Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006), and cultural learning (Schweiger & Goulet, 2005).”
Measurement of Perceived Organizational Readiness for Change in the Public Sector (2009, unknown): “Potentially relevant contextual factors include, among other things, leadership at all organizational levels (e.g. Kavanagh and Ashkanasy, 2006), open and honest communication between managers and employees (e.g. Armenakis and Harris, 2002; Quirke, 1996), supportive organizational and management…”
Positioning Change Recipients’ Attitudes Toward Change in the Organizational Change Literature (2010, background): “However, a few exceptions adopted longitudinal designs, and therefore are much better at testing cause– effect relationships (e.g., Bommer et al., 2005; C. E. Cunningham et al., 2002; Jimmieson et al., 2004; Jones et al., 2005; Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006, Meyer et al., 2007; Reichers et al., 1997).”
Measuring the Performance of Corporate Acquisitions: An Empirical Comparison of Alternative Metrics (2006, unknown): “For example, longitudinal research has revealed that issues of cultural compatibility are frequently formalised and rise in intensity only as the implementation progresses (Kavanagh and Ashkanasy, 2006).”
Leadership theories and the concept of work engagement: Creating a conceptual framework for management implications and research (2015, background): “…precisely the importance of shared values determining organizational culture that makes them an extremely interesting variable where leadership styles are concerned (Frankel, Leonard, & Denham, 2006; Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006; Asree, Zain, & Razalli, 2010; Wilderom, van den Berg, & Wiersma, 2012).”
Critical success factors through the Mergers and Acquisitions process:revealing pre- and post- M&A connections for improved performance (2013, background): “…subsidiary management; the parent company appoints a top executive to “ride herd” immediately after the acquisition (Angwin, Stern, & Bradley, 2004; Anslinger et al., 1996; Hyde & Paterson, 2002; Inkpen et al., 2000; Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006; Kitching, 1967; Light, 2001; Waldman & Javidan, 2009).”
Organizational Culture, Change and Emotions: A Qualitative Study (2009, background): “’ Kavanagh and Ashkanasy (2006) found that when values were threatened by change in the tertiary education sector, employees responded with defensiveness, shock and lower levels of trust.”
Sociocultural Integration in Mergers and Acquisitions: Unresolved Paradoxes and Directions for Future Research (2013, background): “…the acquirer's degree of cultural tolerance (Chatterjee, Lubatkin, Schweeigr, & Weber, 1992; Pablo, 1994), leadership philosophy and approach (Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006; Sitkin & Pablo, 2005), integration speed (Angwin, 2004; Buono & Bowditch, 1989; Ellis, Weber, Raveh, & Tarba, 2012;…”
The Challenge of Integration: A Review of the M&A Integration Literature (2017, background): “Effective leadership in this respect implies the management of employees’ expectations through open communication and the creation of a perception of fairness (Choi et al. 2012; Hubbard and Purcell 2001; Kavanagh and Ashkanasy 2006; Maire and Collerette 2011; Meyer 2006; Ranft and Lord 2002).”
Dynamics of Acquired Firm Pre-Acquisition Employee Reactions (2012, background): “We do know that the manner in which the change process is managed has a significant effect on the outcome of a merger or acquisition (Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006).”
Numbers Are Not Enough. Why e-Learning Analytics Failed to Inform an Institutional Strategic Plan (2012, background): “Although social systems such as educational institutions do evolve and change over time, they are inherently resistant to change and designed to neutralize the impact of attempts to bring about change (Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006).”