The worst of times? A tale of two higher education institutions in France: their merger and its impact on staff working lives

Advancing theory on knowledge governance in universities: a case study of a higher education merger

“…The approach taken parallels the forced cultural assimilation associated with an integration strategy of 'absorption', sometimes observed in business mergers (Haspeslagh and Jemison 1991). Since inherited work practices form an important element of organizational culture and employees' sense of identity, the art college's administrative staff generally perceived the integration process as demotivating and painful (Evans 2015). Many decided to seek other employment -probably not an entirely unwelcome outcome, given the aim to reduce costs through the streamlining of administrative routines.…”

Dynamics of Inefficiency and Merger in English Higher Education From 1996/97 to 2008/9: A Comparison of Pre‐Merging, Post‐Merging and Non‐Merging Universities Using Bayesian Methods

“…Much research into mergers in higher education has used case studies to focus on the motivation for mergers (Skodvin, 1999;Patterson, 2000;Harman and Meek, 2002;Norgård and Skodvin, 2002;Wan and Peterson, 2007;Kyvik and Stensaker, 2013;Ripoll-Soler and De-Miguel-Molina, 2014;Bennetot Pruvot et al, 2015;Pinheiro et al, 2016;Stensaker et al, 2016;Tienari et al, 2016;Leslie et al, 2018), the various effects of merging on the intuitions and people within them (Wan and Peterson, 2007;Bennetot Pruvot et al, 2015;Pinheiro et al, 2016;Evans, 2017;Leslie et al, 2018), post-merger performance-including both benefits and problems (Skodvin, 1999;Harman, 2002;Norgård and Skodvin, 2002;Wan and Peterson, 2007;Bennetot Pruvot et al, 2015;Leslie et al, 2018), and the factors which might make a merger more likely to reach a successful conclusion (Norgård and Skodvin, 2002;Kyvik and Stensaker, 2013;Bennetot Pruvot et al, 2015;Tienari et al, 2016). Research into the efficiency or performance of merging compared to non-merging institutions, and into the effects of merger on performance using quantitative analysis of data relating to a whole sector, is much more limited.…”

Disparate faculty perspectives on system changes in higher education

“…Some reports suggest an overall agreement of the academic staff about merging initiatives if they are implemented on a voluntary basis (Hay & Fourie, 2002;Pruvot et al, 2015;Skodvin, 1999). However, others emphasize resistance of faculty members, driven by insecurity and identity loss (Evans, 2015;Puusa & Kekäle, 2015). Merging processes may result in profound dissatisfaction as reported by Verhoeven (2008), because of the drastic changes that are imposed at the organizational and staff levels.…”