A cross method analysis of the impact of culture and communications upon a health care merger

Abstract

The incidence of mergers and acquisitions has proliferated throughout the world including all sectors of our society, both municipal and industrial, private and public. However, the majority (60-80 percent) of them do not reach their intended objectives owing to the fact that the merging organizations do not realize the impact of neglecting the human resource factor. Although they properly assess and address the financial and legal issues, they continually overlook this critical factor. The present literature suggests what organizations should do to reverse these negative effects and how to properly address the human resources issues. This research seeks to test this list of suggestions, in the form of a unified model, employing the single case study method. The case in question is a newly merged health centre comprised of four well-established hospitals. Rather than a set of hypotheses, sets of prescriptions were developed to test the model. Data from interviews and existing documents are used to support or modify the final model. The qualitative results utilized a cross-method analysis that supported the majority of the unified model, requiring a few modifications. This research has subsequently lead to the development of a unified human resources model for the proper and successful implementation of mergers and acquisitions. The implications of these findings for all organizations, and for mergers and acquisitions theory and practice, are discussed.

The Impact of Organizational Culture Differences, Synergy Potential, and Autonomy Granted to the Acquired High-Tech Firms on the M&A Performance

“…Moreover, the authors also found that both organizational and national cultural differences are positively associated with knowledge transfer. However, rather strikingly, Appelbaum and Gandell (2003) underlined the fact that actively managing cultural differences during all stages of a merger reduces cultural clash in M&A. Weber et al (1996) found that in the context of international M&As, national culture differentials are better predictors of stress and negative attitudes toward the merger than organizational (corporate) culture differentials.…”

“…However, the loss of autonomy during high-level integration that generally is necessary to reap the synergistic benefits can have an adverse impact on M&A performance (Chatterjee et al, 1992; Haspeslagh & Jemison, 1991; Puranam et al, 2006). Appelbaum and Gandell (2003) found that actively managing cultural differences during all stages of a merger minimizes cultural clash in M&A. Weber et al (2011) showed on their part that the positive effect of synergy potential and negative effect of cultural differences are moderated through the appropriate integration approach (symbiosis) to create high integration effectiveness.…”

The Role of Business Ethics in Merger and Acquisition Success: An Empirical Study

“…Strategic management scholars believed that M&A is a means to diversification (Ansoff et al, 1971;Dixon et al, 2001;Walter and Barney, 1990), economists concerned about the economic motives of M&A (Goldberg, 1983;Holder, 1993), finance scholars examined M&A performance from stockmarket-based measures (Jarrell et al, 1988;Jensen and Ruback, 1983;Ramaswamy and Waegelein, 2003), organization theorists emphasized the management of the post-acquisition integration process (Bijlsma-Frankema, 2001;Haspeslagh and Jemison, 1991), and human resource scholars focused on effective human resource systems and communication (Applebaum and Gandell, 2003;Levinson, 1970). Yet, comparatively little is known about the effects of business ethics on the success or failure of M&A.…”

HRM in healthcare: the role of work engagement

“…HRM in healthcare: the role of work engagement job resource because it reduces the effect of job demands. Beh and Loo (2012) and Appelbaum and Gandell (2003) concluded that healthcare workers become disillusioned and stressed from their work when they are not provided with sufficient and timely communication. This sense of disengagement is then likely to result in lower levels of quality and safety.…”