The findings of this paper add to the understanding of how peripheral employees react to mergers in the company. The original model describes the processes of employees’ emotional reactions and rationalization of new information about mergers and resonates with the current scholarly discourse. The model provides insights into how peripheral employees react to changes, setting the framework for further managerial interventions. Managers and employees react to changes differently due to the determining factor of possessed power. Peripheral employees find themselves in a more vulnerable position since while managers receive new instructions for their roles, peripheral employees remain in an informational vacuum, waiting for their managers’ instructions (Schildt et al., 2020; Chawla & Kelloway, 2004). The model developed in this paper suggests that peripheral employees react to the changes emotionally, which means that peripheral employees face significant stress and require HR interventions.
The model also suggests that both peripheral workers usually elaborate the resistant attitudes, as the mergers are perceived more as a takeover due to a lack of identification and communication. Therefore, according to the model, and considering the research, the communication practices aimed to overcome the resistance should focus on communication to enhance employee identification with changes. This means that, after the new HR strategies are developed and applied, the peripheral workers will get the opportunity to face the merger without changing their work routines or will not have to change them significantly. In other words, the new communicational strategies will emphasize the employees’ right to stable work processes by supporting their inclusion and providing sufficient information.
The paper has implications for the prior theory since it helps determine the needs of peripheral employees. Importantly, while previous studies have focused on the distinctions in the reactions of managers and peripheral employees, this paper creates a framework for developing communicational practices to eliminate moral disengagement. Kroon and Reif (2021) speak of uncertainty and disconnection experienced by peripheral workers due to their dependence on the information provided. The new communicational practices can increase managerial involvement in sensemaking, which will lead to better employee engagement. Remarkably, Kroon and Noorderhaven (2018) emphasize the employees’ emotional reactions, and this topic is covered in the model that presents a framework for future emotion-targeted communication practices and strategic approaches.
The findings presented in the paper contribute to the sensemaking studies by determining the frameworks in which open and honest communication between the top and middle managers and peripheral employees can be established. These frameworks utilize the concept of sensemaking as the driving force for effective change implementation. Sensemaking plays a significant role in peripheral employees’ emotional and rational reactions. Maitlis and Christianson (2014) determine sensemaking as the process of making sense of unpredictable, new, or confusing situations. Dîrvă and Rădulescu (2018) emphasize that peripheral employees often feel lost and frustrated since they do not receive feedback concerning the mergers from their managers. However, during the mergers, the changes in organizational values and practices should be communicated by managers in the first place (Angwin et al., 2016). Remarkably, the scholars did not mention the importance of practical implications for peripheral employees, which should be discussed in more detail.
First, there is a need for open and honest communication between the top management, middle management, and employees. Zagelmeyer et al. (2018) rightly emphasize that, as a rule, information about mergers is not revealed to employees in advance and even in the process of mergers, partly due to the issues of commercial secrets. Nonetheless, information is often not communicated to those affected by the merger through negligence or inertia. Aspects of culture and values that employees, including middle managers, deal with can be discussed without as it does not relate to the financial aspects of mergers. The problem of insufficiently adequate communication is associated primarily with a lack of attention to employees’ needs, including peripheral employees and middle managers. Therefore, this paper suggests that future studies should focus on developing comprehensive guidelines for top managers on communicating the changes. The model considering the emotional reactions of employees and their sensemaking reactions could be used as the basis for communicating the information about mergers.
The previous studies consider employees’ commitment and their need for open and honest communication. However, these studies still accentuate the decisions of the CEOs and top managers. Unfortunately, the situation when the CEOs’ and board of directors’ interests are put in the first place remains with no changes since the late 80s. During the last 30 years, scholars are urging companies to communicate change more carefully, framing this request as the concept of ‘open and honest communication.’
This paper suggests putting the needs of peripheral employees’ at first place, ensuring their right to stable work routines. In general, the new values and culture should be developed by CEOs and top managers, since forming the organizational culture is initially part of their duties and responsibilities. The peripheral employees do not have any objective reasons to experience stress related to mergers and avoid participation in the mergers process.
This study shows that managers should not ignore employees during the merging process. As Simonsson and Heide (2020) note, employees are engaged in day-to-day activities that are aggregated and transformed into macro effects at the organizational level. Therefore, their perspectives should be heard and incorporated into the implementation phase to improve the merger’s success. This study has revealed that employees often have valuable ideas and insights. Hence, managers should take time to hear them out, ensure that they know each other, and organize informal meetings for better information sharing.
Based on the findings, I would recommend that middle and top managers, including CEOs, engage peripheral employees earlier in the mergers process. The managers should create a platform, where the employees can connect and make physical contact to decrease the tensions. During the joint communication group sessions, the employees can be asked about their thoughts on how systems should work together. When moving on with the conversation, the managers should talk about practical issues, such as new roles and responsibilities, moving offices to other cities, changes in culture and values, and, most importantly, job security.
The managers can learn about the emotional reactions of peripheral employees from this study. No less important, they can get acquainted with the expectations of these employees and the idea of the right to maintain a routine. Based on this study, the managers can change the existing communicational practices and attitudes, and move the emphasis from CEOs’ interests to the interests and needs of the peripheral employees. The managers should consider that employees should not face stress, as this greatly reduces job satisfaction and leads to higher turnover rates.
This study generates a theoretical model grounded in the data to illustrate the perceptions of peripheral employees during a merger. The findings suggest that resistance can be decreased by better use of communication forms in employees’ sensemaking of the merger. In particular, future studies could be designed to gather data for new models of comprehensive communicational practices aligned with the needs of peripheral employees. The original suggestions presented in the study, such as the call for the inclusion of peripheral employees in the cooperative dialog could be applied. When developing models for new communicational practices the employees’ right to stable jobs and routines should be protected. The communication should be performed to provide opportunities for free opinion expression for the peripheral employees, while also securing their right to an emotionally stable work environment.
References
Angwin, D. N., Mellahi, K., Gomes, E., & Peter, E. (2016). How communication approaches impact mergers and acquisitions outcomes. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(20), 2370-2397.
Dîrvă, C., & Rădulescu, A. S. (2018). Managing Resilience to Change in Merger and Acquisitions. 68, 16.
Kroon, D. P., & Noorderhaven, N. G. (2018). The role of occupational identification during post-merger integration. Group & Organization Management, 43(2), 207-244.
Kroon, D. P., & Reif, H. (2021). The role of emotions in middle managers’ sensemaking and sensegiving practices during post-merger integration. Group & Organization Management, 10596011211037788.
Maitlis, S., & Christianson, M. (2014). Sensemaking in Organizations: Taking Stock and Moving Forward. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 57-125.
Schildt, H., Mantere, S., & Cornelissen, J. (2020). Power in sensemaking processes. Organization Studies, 41(2), 241-265.
Simonsson, C., & Heide, M. (2020). Change communication. In The Handbook of Public Sector Communication (pp. 153-166). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Zagelmeyer, S., Sinkovics, R. R., Sinkovics, N., & Kusstatscher, V. (2018). Exploring the link between management communication and emotions in mergers and acquisitions. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences / Revue Canadienne Des Sciences de l’Administration, 35(1), 93-106.