Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Merge (Organisation)'

A merger occurs when two or more organisations integrate for a specific reason and become one entity in order to ensure success. Careful consideration and thorough planning must be done and several steps need to be followed to avoid a merger being unsuccessful. Good leadership and communication strategies are the key to a successful merger. This study deals with the strategies for value-creation in a post-merged organisation and the main problem that this research study addressed was: What strategies could an organisation use to ensure that desired values are created in a post-merged organisation? To answer the above question it was necessary to address the preferred organisational values and outcomes of a successful merger and leadership strategies that organisations can utilise to ensure that the preferred values and outcomes of a merger are achieved. Thereafter, various models were outlined and evaluated and a proposed integrated model for the implementation of desired values in a merged institution element was developed to ensure that the members of the organisation internalise the desired values and that these values are reflected in all organisational functions and behaviour. Lastly, based on the theoretical findings of the literature survey, a questionnaire was developed and distributed amongst employees of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU). As a result of this study it was clear that it is imperative that the decision to implement the leadership and communication strategies proposed in the integrated model remains with the senior management. The organisation will only experience success while coordinating these strategies if senior management is totally committed to the process.

South Africa is experiencing a process of formidable and fundamental change. Public administrators as well as politicians are under tremendous pressure as heavy demands are being placed on them. These demands include coping with interventions such as Affirmative Action, Employment Equity, and the importance of managing diversity in the workplace. Despite improvements in race relations in the past twenty years, dysfunctional and ineffective behaviour still occur. This may be a reflection of the discomfort and anxiety experienced by employees in the work setting. In order to comply with legislation, organisations created opportunities for Black, Asian and Coloured males and females, White females and disabled people. This, in return, leads to perceptions of preferential hiring. The view that Affirmative Action involves preferential hiring and treatment based on group membership creates resistance to its implementation and original purpose. The reason for this resistance might be linked to the fact that people still perceive discrimination and injustice in the workplace. These perceptions seem true in public organisations even though public organisations have taken a positive stance with regard to implementing Equal Employment and Affirmative Action plans. A qualitative design with an availability sample (N = 20) of employees working in a public organisation was used. The qualitative research makes it possible to determine the subjective experience of employees in a public organisation. Semi-structured interviews based on the phenomenological method were conducted with employees working in different sections and different positions in a public organisation. Non-directive questions were asked during the interview. The tape-recording of the interview was transcribed verbatim in order to analyse the information. Content analysis was used to analyse and interpret the research data in a systematic, objective and quantitative way. A literature-control has been done to investigate relevant research in order to determine the comparativeness and uniqueness of the current research. Results indicated that Affirmative Action has been used as a tool in achieving its goal by focusing on preferential hiring. From the responses it was clear that the majority of the participants are of opinion that preferential hiring led to the appointment of incompetent candidates. It appears from the interviews that appointments are made without basing it on merit. This is against the basic principle of the public organisation of hiring and promoting employees by set standards. Due to the fact that previous disadvantaged groups are being placed in positions of which they have no experience or are not trained in, job related knowledge seems to present a problem. From the interviews it appeared that employees felt that poor customer service increased across the organisation due to the appointment of incompetent candidates. This also seems to have an effect on the workload being handled. It seems that predominantly white employees tend to be ambivalent towards Affirmative Action. Part of the reason for this ambivalence is the fear of change, especially when that change involves a radical re-thinking of past strategies. White employees, employed by the old apartheid system, feel alienated and/or marginalised in the new Affirmative Action process. White employees are also leaving organisations because they seem not to be part of the Affirmative Action process. This leads to loss of expertise occurring in organisations. Though organisations show a considerable amount of improvement on relationships between black and white, discrimination still seems to present itself through the implementation of Affirmative Action. Managing diversity is crucial for the effective management and development of people. It is important not to focus only on cultural differences but also concentrate on individual needs and perceptions. Unfortunately, it appears that South Africa is in the process of making the same mistakes as other countries in focusing on a power game and corruption. Black employees in particular, seem to be actively recruited, placed in senior positions and given the related finishing. In other words top management are using their 'power' to enforce Affirmative Action. There are also those who want to abuse the system or maybe understand the system incorrectly. Corruption coming from top management tends to make employees negative. In order to address these issues, a succession and career planning process needs to exist which is closely tied to the organisations' strategic plan. Employment Equity, as a strategic objective, is managed by the organisation, but needs the Human Resources function in a support and consultancy role. As such, it requires translation into practical objectives for departments, managers and employees. Recommendations were made for future research.
Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the manner in which the concept of communication is discursively constructed in a South African insurance company. The company recently underwent a merger which, according to the literature, should increase its awareness of communicative practices. The thesis builds on recent theoretical developments in organisational studies, more specifically, the linguistic turn. The focus falls on the way in which organisational communication is constructed by implementing the analytical tools of thematic analysis and discourse analysis. All of the participants in this study were involved with the merger that the company underwent. The sample of twenty-three participants included eighteen employees who took part in an electronic survey questionnaire and five employees who were individually interviewed. Additionally, documents concerning the merger were analysed to reveal the way in which the company’s organisational communication is constructed by managers. During the data collection, participants were questioned about their perspectives of organisational communication and organisational culture with regard to the merger. The data strongly shows that communication is generally not considered an important aspect in an organisation during the merging process. Interestingly, when participants’ attention is, however, drawn to specifically the concept of communication, a mechanistic view of communication is presented with only selected communicative practices considered as ‘communication’. The analysis further indicates changing communicative practices in the newly merged company. In conclusion, this study argues that organisations, especially in a merging context, can benefit from a greater awareness regarding the importance of organisational communication. Further linguistic research in the form of organisational studies in this regard is suggested.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die wyse waarop die konsep van kommunikasie deur diskoers gekonstrueer word in ʼn Suid-Afrikaanse versekeringsmaatskappy. Hierdie organisasie het onlangs ʼn amalgameringsproses ondergaan wat volgens die literatuur behoort te lei tot ʼn toename in bewustheid van kommunikatiewe praktyke en veroorsaak dat die konteks ʼn kardinale element in die navorsing is. Hierdie tesis bou op onlangse teoretiese ontwikkelings in organisatoriese studies, met ‘n spesifieke fokus op diskoers en taal (die ‘linguistic turn’). Die fokus val op die manier waarop organisatoriese kommunikasie gekonstrueer word deur die analitiese metodes van tematiese analise en diskoersanalise te implementeer. Al die deelnemers in hierdie studie was betrokke by die amalgamering van die maatskappy. Die steekproef van drie-en-twintig deelnemers sluit agtien werknemers in wat aan die elektroniese opname deelgeneem het en vyf werknemers waarmee individuele onderhoude gevoer is. Dokumente aangaande die amalgamering is addisioneel geanaliseer om sodoende die wyse waarop die maatskappy se organisatoriese kommunikasie gekonstrueer word deur bestuurders, aan die lig te bring. Gedurende die data-insameling is deelnemers ondervra aangaande hulle perspektiewe op organisatoriese kommunikasie en organisatoriese kultuur ten opsigte van die amalgamering. Die data dui daarop dat kommunikasie oor die algemeen nie beskou word as ʼn belangrike aspek van ʼn organisasie tydens die amalgameringsproses nie. Tog, wanneer die deelnemers se aandag daarop gevestig word en hul gevra word om spesifiek te fokus op die konsep van kommunikasie, word ʼn meganiese uitkyk van kommunikasie voorgestel met slegs geselekteerde kommunikatiewe praktyke wat as ‘kommunikasie’ beskou word. Die analise lig verder die idee van veranderlike kommunikatiewe praktyke in die nuwe geamalgameerde maatskappy uit. Ter opsomming voer hierdie studie aan dat organisasies, veral in ʼn amalgameringskonteks, baat kan vind by ʼn groter bewustheid omtrent die belangrikheid van organisatoriese kommunikasie. Verdere linguistiese navorsing in organisatoriese studies in hierdie verband word voorgestel.

When companies go trough a merger or an acquisition all involved parties within the organisations becomes affected. These changes can affect the company in many areas which could create tensions and anxiety among employees which could create strong negative forces at the end and prevent the new organisation to function at its best. In service companies this could be of great importance to overcome since they often are dependent on functional organisations to help them create a wanted quality. This study will address this problem and will do so in a case study performed on a transportations company which have gone trough a number of mergers. Due to these mergers, the company has also grown in both numbers of employees and in financial conditions.

The applied thesis statement is: “How should a small expanding company manage the integration of acquired companies and at the same time maintain a sought identity within the organisation, in order to reach their main strategic objectives? “. The ambition is to be able to understand how the studied company has developed and also to analyse its organisational transition. Furthermore we also want to create proposals for organisations that are facing future organisational transitions, based from our findings in this study.

This study has been conducted with a hermeneutic scientific ideal and an abductive approach. The empirical collection was done inside the studied organisation in a qualitative manner. We conducted nine interviews, one with the manager (co-owner) and the other eight with employees inside the company. We wanted to be able to see both parties’ sides of the mergers. Therefore the interviews where conducted at two separate offices in different cities.

The theoretical framework consists of a number of theoretical areas, who together creates a holistic view over the entire research area. The theoretical parts consist of: Organisation, network, mergers, acquisitions, family firms, corporate culture, identity, social identity, service quality and Human Resources.

Our main conclusion is of the studied company shows that the biggest problem which the organisation faces today is the lack of communication between the manager and the employees. Although we claim that the merger has played a mayor impact on the company in many areas. Some of the main difficulties which we identified were the fact that the merger never was discussed thoroughly between the management and the employees. We also claim that the company when divided between the two offices have created a cultural gap between the wanted culture and the actual culture. We argue that the quality thinking permeates trough the entire organisation and all of the respondents have described the importance of achieving a high quality service within the organisation.

This thesis contends that a corporate merger, on the scale of a global order, is a 'catastrophic change' and depends on 'killing off' parts of the former organisations for its success. The act of annihilating parts of the former organisations is experienced as disengaged and murderous by organisational members. This arouses persecutory anxiety of an unbearable intensity amongst members from which they defend themselves by emotionally disconnecting from the psychic reality of the organisation. Several contentions underpin the hypothesis: 1. that a merger involves a developmental process in the creation and growth of a new organisation; 2. the event of a merger causes disruptions to roles and relationships that are experienced as a loss of power, status and identity, and also as an emotional loss for what had been cherished and valued in the former organisation/s; 3. the emotional loss evokes the symbolic experience of the loss of a 'loved object', and an instinctual loss becomes attached thereby to the real losses; and thus, 4. the process of merger involves a symbolic destruction of the 'loved organisational object' of the former organisations, as held in the minds of organisational members. The thesis is based on case study research conducted on the topic of emotional connectedness in a network organisation over a three year period. Fieldwork began at the time when the participating firm had just formed from a global merger of two large global enterprises. The Australia-New Zealand regional operations were the focus of the study. The research discovered a significant degree of emotional disconnectedness due to: 1. the nature of the work that required staff to work on client sites, away from home and often alone; 2. a multiplicity of organisational structures that engendered fragmentary connections; 3. valuing individuals' self-reliance over and above the interdependence of organisational members; 4. the many external changes experienced by the firm from the effects of the merger and from market economics, political and business turmoil, and for the Australia- New Zealand operations, a shift in the location of their corporate head office from North America to Europe; 5. increasing uncertainty within the industry, and a commensurate increase in competitiveness; 6. a loss of profitability in the Asia-Pacific region in which the case study participants were located; 7. the turnover in the regional director's role, with three appointments in less than two years; 8. dramatic rises and falls in staff numbers, ranging from an initial 450, to a high of 750, and sudden decline to 120 people during the period of the study; 9. the reluctance of vice-presidents and directors to take up a corporate management role, preferring to work as 'project managers' on client assignments; and 10. all these factors contributing to an anxiety about the future of the Australia-New Zealand (A-NZ) operations which was expressed as a fear of survival. In response to these many factors, staff and management felt vulnerable and insecure, experiencing the merger as an annihilation of 'loved objects'. These included the loss of a partner's autonomy and ownership in the firm, familiar work procedures, and the loss of belonging to a partner's work group and associated long-term relationships. The emotional aspects of dealing with these losses and feelings were placed upon individuals to manage for themselves. The burden of ensuring the survival of the firm was displaced upon individuals, such that consultants became not only the 'container for work', but also the 'container for the organisation's survival'. As the merger progressed and more changes to the business were implemented with little to no containment of people's felt experiences, the psychic reality of the A-NZ operations became saturated with persecutory anxiety. In some parts of these operations, the anxiety became so great that group interactions (what there were of them) seemed psychotic. Those in management roles displayed a level of anxiety that appeared to be unbearable for the individuals concerned, and which resulted at times in manic responses to the human and commercial needs of the business. Bion's theories of catastrophic change and emotional links, and Klein's theories on persecutory and depressive anxieties are applied to understanding the systems psychodynamics of the effects of the merger upon the organisation. The case reveals the presence of persecutory anxiety in the immediate aftermath of the merger, lasting for nearly three years. Various social defence mechanisms are identified as being used by organisational members against this anxiety. They are: the co-existence of multiple organisational structures; a sentient sub-system of 'counselling families'; idealisation of autonomous individuals; plus, the mechanisms of projection, denial and regression. Four factors are identified as significant for containing destructive forces in a corporate merger: a) the role of emotional links to understanding the internal reality of a newly merged organisation; b) the containment of experiences of catastrophic change and projective processes; c) managing the realistic and neurotic anxieties of organisational members; and, d) identifying and managing the primary risk in a merger. A model is presented on the systems psychodynamics of a corporate merger. It identifies the change process that a merger entails, and the psychodynamics of this process using Bion's concept of container'contained. The thesis contributes to understanding the psychic reality of organisational mergers and offers a perspective that being alert to staff members' felt experiences and their emotional connectedness, as a normal part of business, provides 'leading data' on the health of the enterprise. Managers who are more 'wholly' informed about organisational realities, both external and psychic realities, can work more realistically on resolving problems, assessing risks, or making strategic business decisions.

Mergers have been described as the most complex business process that an organisation can be faced with, requiring executives and other stakeholders to discharge the promise of a more successful merged organisation. However, several studies have highlighted the factors that led to the demise of the merged organisations. One of the often quoted and frequently blamed aspects related to merger failure has been the lack of effective post-merged organisational culture integration and alignment. Where mergers have been successful, it was attributed to a structured approach to integrating and aligning all aspects related to organisational culture thus ensuring the creation of a high performing organisation, conducive to effective performance management. The main research problem in this study centred around the identification of strategies that could be used to design an integrated model for creating a post-merged organisational culture which is conducive to effectively managing performance. To achieve this objective, the following approaches were adopted: A literature study was conducted with the view to identifying the challenges facing merged organisations in general and post-merged South African Higher Education institutions in particular. The researcher also conducted interviews with senior HR practitioner at the institutions participating in this study to gain insights into their experiences of performance within their merged institutions. The institutions involved in this study were Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT and Durban University of Technology (DUT). The insights gleaned from these interviews were incorporated into the survey questionnaire. The literature study also concerned itself with the identification of strategies that merged organisations could use in its pursuit of organisational culture alignment and integration. These strategies included conducting critical pre-merger assessments or due-diligence studies, adopting structured approaches to dealing with resistance to change, employee engagement, the design, implementation and communication of monitoring and evaluation of merger success measures as well as several other moderating variables referred to in figure 1.2. In terms of sub-problem six of the study, the findings of sub-problems one, two and five were used to develop an eight-step integrated theoretical model to create an organisational culture conducive to effective performance management in a post-merged environment. The model served as a basis for the design of a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to ascertain the extent to which respondents from the three participating institutions (NMMU, CPUT and DUT), perceived the various strategies as being important in establishing a post-merged organisational culture conducive to effective performance management. The results that emerged from the empirical study showed a strong concurrence with the strategies identified in the literature study and included in the integrated theoretical model. The quantitative and qualitative results from the empirical study where incorporated into the integrated theoretical model, which lead to a refined Eight-Step Integrated Post-merged Organisational Culture Creation Model as depicted in Figure 7.1 with associated details in Figure 7.2.

This study makes a significant contribution to new knowledge in the field of mergers, organisational culture and organisational identity. For the first time evidence is found on the longevity of a ‘merger effect’ which impacts on staff perceptions of organisational culture and organisational identity. Seven years on from a merger there were statistically significant differences in the mean survey scores of staff employed pre-merger and those appointed post merger. In addition there was evidence of divergent views among staff with sub-cultures and multiple identities: Staff perceive culture and identity differently based on hierarchical ranking (more positively for non-managers) and occupational group (more positively for clinicians) and are affected differently by workplace stressors during a merger. There was evidence to support a relationship between culture and identity. Over time the dominant clinical academic logic was eroded, when the merged organisation adopted a competing professional and managerial logic. Staff used cultural cues to make sense of changes however senior staff did not influence the perceptions of subordinates. Links with performance, culture and identity were ambiguous. This mixed methods inquiry in a merged Academic Health Science Centre, employed an organisational survey with 1,978 respondents, in-depth interviews, descriptive statistics, regression analyses and thematic analysis to interpret the results and to triangulation research findings. Institutional logics is the exploratory lens NHS financial pressures necessitate developing new organisational models, transformations and mergers to achieve sustainability. Findings support debates on the length of time required to achieve cultural change following a merger, the time it takes for staff to identify with the new merged entity and proposes that merger plans should take into account the longevity effect in designing post-merger integration programmes and staff differences to maximise success, paying attention to fostering staff well-being during mergers.

This thesis is concerned with the question of how narrative activity influences the conditions in which a new sense of self is actively emergent for an employee at a time of organisational merger. It is contended that an organisational merger is a transformational event with complex temporal and spatial characteristics, involving the activities of making shared meaning (MacIntyre, 1981; Ricoeur, 1974a), narrative-making (Carr, 1986; MacIntyre, 1981; Ricoeur, 1984, 1985, 1988) and positioning (Bourdieu, 1993, 1998b). These activities are central to the conditions in which persons and organisations are both formed and reformed. Consideration of how they are part of a project of narrative identity (Ricoeur, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1992) opens new possibilities in our understanding of the lived experience of a merger. In appropriating narrative theory, this thesis is exploratory in nature as narrative ideas have not, to date, been applied to an understanding of the lived experience of an organisational merger. Mergers are currently understood as a clash of cultures, and a merger is treated as a marriage with partners, compatibility, commitment, rituals, dominance and fit. Whereas culture is construed in the literature as a quality that differentiates one organisation from another, and personal experience is understood in terms of adjusting to the presence of another culture, in this thesis a different theory is employed. The main theory integration in this thesis gives prominence to the dynamic of activity/passivity (Allen & Starr, 1982; Schelling, 1800/1978) and the notions of agency, relationship, transformation, and identity. Narrative theory is integrated with social theory (Bourdieu, 1998b) to enrich our understanding of these notions. Hence this thesis extends the contribution of Drummond (1996, 1998), and is situated in the constructive postmodern stance of process philosophy (Gare, in press-a; Griffin, 1993). This stance is invoked as a response to calls for better theories of action in management studies (Reed, 1996; Wilmott, 1994). It is argued, in agreement with Gare (in press-a, in press-b), that living organisms have a complexity that makes it difficult to maintain a state of indifference with respect to changes in their environment, and that they must form and reform themselves as products. Attention within management studies to self-organising activity at the levels of person, organisation and field of practice, is therefore central to our understanding of complex events such as organisational mergers. In this regard narrative-making and positioning are self-organising activities that are yet to be brought to centre stage in management theory. While no previous work has been done to apply narrative ideas to an understanding of mergers, such a move is nevertheless consistent with the increasing interest in narrative that is occurring across the theoretical divides in management studies. The application in this thesis concerns a merger of two government organisations. These organisations, herein given the fictitious names of 'Anessa' and 'Isengate' (for reasons of confidentiality), were each part of what is usually referred to in local government as 'a council'. This thesis is about the employees in these organisations during this time of political amalgamation of the two councils, and the consequent organisational merger. Through interviews with informants, the use of documents, and the integration of theory, a narrative is created. Of the many narratives that could be offered about this merger, it is the narrative given here that constitutes a response to the research question. Hence the methodology used sustains the purpose, which is to contribute to a reading experience, and the possibility of new interpretations regarding the lived experience of an organisational merger. This thesis concludes that it is at the level of 'ongoing argument' that persons and organisations are contributors to the process of 'making shared meaning'. At the federal level of government this argument is about how best to govern, and at the level of the field of practice it encompasses the argument over what constitutes public service activity. The State Government of Victoria actively furthered this contest when it undertook local government reform. It is argued that their narrative about local government reform has a life as part of 'economic rationalism' (Pusey, 1991), and it proceeds from an ideological position in a tradition of readings known as 'neoliberalism' (Bourdieu, 1998a). In this thesis employees are regarded as actively emergent beings living out a process of narrative identity. Under the authorship of the State Government employees were positioned as passive characters in the narrative of local government reform. For the employees considered in this thesis, this brought closure to a current and projected life narrative as a public servant at the local level. Their response was to reauthor their position to transcend this limitation, but it was found that this activity could be further limited according to the capital an employee could acquire in the form of 'time to tell a story' and 'space to tell a story'. The main contribution of this thesis, as a response to calls for better theories of action in management studies, is an exploration of how individual employees are processes of becoming, and how they participate in the becoming of the organisation and field to which they contribute. It is concluded that employees could be valued as processes of becoming, and this is a major contribution that they make to the field and organisation.

The problem areas of the 'human side' of mergers andacquisitions as well as post-merger integration are focusedupon in this study. An extensive review of merger-relatedliterature points to the problematic nature of this area oforganisation. Through the analysis of two international casemergers, their post-merger integration processes and theirproblem areas, the nature and causes of these problem areas areinvestigated. The results of the investigation indicate thatexpectations influence mergers and post-merger integration.What seems to be expected of mergers, post-merger integration,of the management of these processes as well as the involvedparties plays a role in the interpretation of and reaction tomerger-related occurrences. If expectations of a merger or anyof its specific features are not met, attitudes towards themerger can get increasingly negative. This evidentlynecessitates 'expectation management' within mergers and theirpost-merger integration processes.

KEY WORDS: merger, acquisition, post-merger integration,'human side' of organisations, expectation, experience, casestudy, emergent theory

La fusion est l’opération par laquelle une ou plusieurs sociétés transfèrent, par la suite de leur dissolution sans liquidation, leur patrimoine à une société préexistante ou nouvellement créée; ce transfert s’opère moyennant la distribution de parts sociales aux associés de la société dissoute. En adoptant cette définition, le législateur européen et son homologue français ont souligné les effets principaux de la fusion en demeurant toutefois silencieux sur sa nature juridique. La doctrine et la jurisprudence se sont relayées afin de lever le doute qui régnait en la matière. Finalement, il semble que la notion originale de contrat-organisation soit la plus apte à saisir convenablement la nature de la fusion. La fusion est un contrat-organisation qui entraîne une mise en commun du patrimoine et des membres de chacune de sociétés fusionnantes au sein d’une seule société préexistante ou nouvelle. L’opération, qui ne saurait être réduite à une simple permutation de biens et valeurs, élabore un jeu de coopération entre les sociétés contractantes qui, désormais regroupées en une seule entité, gagneront et perdront conjointement. Cette qualification retenue en droit international privé conduirait à appliquer à la fusion distributivement la "lex contractus" et la "lex societatis". L’intervention d’une "lex contractus" propre à la fusion permettra, d’une part, de désigner la loi compétente pour régir les questions relevant de la nature contractuelle de l’opération et, d’autre part, de remédier aux insuffisances avérée de la méthode conflictualiste classique qui se contentait de l’articulation des "lex societatis"
The merger is an operation whereby one or several companies transfer all their assets, after their dissolution without going into liquidation, to an existing or new company in exchange for the issue of shares to their shareholders. This definition adopted by European and French legislators brings out the merger’s main effects without revealing its legal nature. Both doctrine and jurisprudence have struggled to clear up the confusion. The concept of “contrat-organisation” seems to be the most suitable in order to seize properly the merger’s legal nature. The merger is a “contrat-organisation” that leads to join the merging companies’ assets and members in an existing or new company. Therefore, the operation cannot be reduced to a simple exchange of assets and values between parties. On the contrary, the gathering of the contracting companies in a single entity will establish a rule of cooperation between them in a way that they will make profits or loose jointly. The transposition of the same legal characterization in the private international law requires a distributive application of the lex contractus and the lex societatis to be able to choose the applicable law to the merger. Applying the merger’s own specific lex contractus will help address the insufficiencies of the classical conflict of laws’ method solely based on the division of laws applicable to the merging companies

Background : Globalisation has led company to think globally and act locally. Such a change in the business world have made emerge the need to find partner around the world, and even to merge with complementary companies in order to sustain the corporate strategic advantage and to create value.

Purpose : The objective of this paper is to integrate major Merger & Acquisitions theories in order to establish a warning model pointing out the main pitfalls changing promising motivations into failed implementation in the process of Merger & Acquisition. Such a model will aim at preventing managers engaged in a transnational horizontal merger from the potential hazards leading to value destruction.

Delimitations : We choose to focus on the transnational merger because it should play with different national management and with the consequent variance in cultural distance ; the human and social context appears more clearly as fundamentally variable when a merger involves different sensibilities.

Results : After having integrated the main theoretical finding into a holistic framework which enabled us to shape a warning model we tested successfully in case of Pharmacia-Upjohn merger, which aims at analysing the general risks of one strategic merger or/and the following implementation process.

This study is an ethnographic analysis of culture and meaning in a post-merger organisational context. It adopts the Geertzian notion of culture as the main conceptual framework which emphasises patterns of meaning and patterns of interaction (Geertz, 1973). In contrast to the dominant positivist epistemological approaches to mainstream organisational culture studies, this study takes an interpretivist approach. The focus is on less dominant perspectives (voices) in the post-merger organisation as a way to highlight and challenge assumptions about the nature and role of people within mechanisms underlying expressions of culture. The research questions address the nature and sources of meaning systems in a culturally diverse post-merger community and investigate responses to observed incongruences. Using an ethnographic case study methodology, post-merger cultural interactions are explored. A thematic approach is adopted for the analysis of data and main findings show the significance of the nature of creative knowledge work in the acquired population’s culture. Findings reveal how incongruence in meanings emerges from interactions between the craft culture and imposed organisational values underpinning the bureaucratic post-merger context. In addition, the study uncovers nuanced connections between craft identity, practice and the person as salient elements of the meaning system in the professionals’ community, incompatible with the more dominant market-driven ethics in the organisation. Findings also show the ethical challenges which emerge for the acquired team from the coexistence of incompatible meanings. The ethical challenges arise from the protective role played by the craft in preserving the acquired team’s meaning system against assimilation by the acquirer’s culture. These findings are relevant for studies on knowledge workers, cultural implications of strategic alliances and inform ethical concerns around incompatible values as described in Aristotelian virtue ethics theory. The cultural analysis is thus critically expanded and connected with concerns in the international business literature and relevant ethical debates.

Det råder spridda tankar inom forskningen kring hur ledarskap påverkar förändringsprocesser.Dessa förändringsprocesser är vanligtvis till följd av att sammanslagningar sker för att skapasynergieffekter, uppnå affärsvärde eller växa på marknaden. Vi valde att undersöka fusionensom Orkla Foods Sweden gjorde under 2013-2014, vilket inkluderade tre stora företagProcordia, Abba Seafood och Frödinge. Fallet var intressant att forska kring, dels för att det ärden största sammanslagning inom “livsmedel Sverige” och för att de blev nominerade till“European exellence awards” för deras kommunikationsarbete i fusionen.Denna uppsats har fokuserat på ledarskap och hur det kan stödja de olika stegen i ensammanslagning. Genom att adoptera kvalitativa metoder, till exempel intervjuer, kundestudien fördjupa sig i hur ledare tänkte och gjorde i olika situationer. Slutsatserna indikerar attledarskapsstilar hade en stöttande funktion i de olika stegen av en fusion. I många fall kanstudien stärka tidigare teorier inom organisationsförändringar, samtidigt fanns det ett behovav anpassning för den valda situationen, vilket inte speglas i de teorier som tas upp i dennastudie.
Surprisingly, research within mergers and acquisitions is scarce, and even more so when itcomes the leadership in these transformational changes. In this case study, we examine theOrkla Foods Sweden merger, which was implemented in 2013 and 2014. Abba Seafoods andFrödinge Mejeri were merged with Procordia, which, in turn, became Orkla Foods Sweden.The merger was probably the largest in the Swedish food industry, at the time it wasimplemented. It received a nomination for the communication efforts. Communication wasinstrumental throughout the process, and the leaders were well trained and prepared beforeand during the phases. We have focused on leadership and how it supports the change.Furthermore we used qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews. This thesis wasable to establish a connection between different stages of a merger and the leadership thatsupports it. Several leadership styles could be linked to pre and post merger phases. Lastly,this thesis found that a comprehensive communication plan and organizational structureultimately enabled the leaders to succeed with their mission and goals. In many cases thisstudy can agree with Kotter and other pioneers within change, but new discoveries should beresearched further.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
103 Leaves printed on single pages, preliminary pages i- viii and numbered pages 1-132. Includes bibliography, list of tables and figures. Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research explored the role of interpersonal justice perceptions in an organisation undergoing change. Interpersonal justice was operationalised by dividing it into two components namely, social sensitivity and informational justice. The study falls within the qualitative and quantitative paradigm. The research was conducted at a South African financial institution undergoing change due to a merger and acquisition, and comprised of in-depth interviews as well as an exploratory survey. The sample consisted of 159 employees. The results confirm those of previous research studies regarding the relationship between interpersonal justice and job satisfaction. The results also showed that a difference in the interpersonal justice perceptions of employees at different job grades exists. Interpersonal justice perceptions are likely when employees believe that they personally are treated fairly and are being adequately informed of the changes in their organisation. This is of utmost importance if one is to create a just and efficient workforce during organisational change processes.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die navorsing het die rol van interpersoonlike geregtigheid persepsies in 'n organisasie wat verandering ondergaan ondersoek. Interpersoonlike geregtigheid was geoperasioneel deur dit te verdeel in twee komponente naamlik, sosiale sensitiwiteit en inligtings geregtigheid. Die studie val onder die kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe paradigma. Die navorsing was onderneem by 'n Suid-Afrikaanse finansiele instelling wat deur organisatoriese verandering gegaan het as gevolg van 'n samesmelting. Die navorsing het bestaan uit in diepte onderhoude asook 'n ondersoek opmeetinstrument. Die steekproef het bestaan uit 159 werknemers. Die resultate van die studie ondersteun die van vorige navorsing wat betref die verhouding tussen interpersoonlike geregtigheid en werkstevredenheid. Die resultate het ook getoon dat 'n verskil in die interpersoonlike geregtigheid persepsies van werknemers op verskillende posvlakke bestaan. Interpersoonlike geregtigheid persepsies is moontlik wanneer werknemers glo dat hulle met respek en regverdigheid behandel word. Werknemers moet ook genoegsaam ingelig word van die veranderinge in die organisasie om persepsies van interpersoonlike geregtigheid te ondervind. Dit is van uiterste belang gedurende organisatoriese veranderinge om 'n doeltreffende mannekrag waar geregtigheid geld te skep.

In the business world facilitation of corporate communication through the use of a single language has become almost a standard procedure. There is little knowledge, however, regarding how working in a language other than the mother tongue affects our thought processes and functionality at work. This study is an attempt to clear some issues around the subject.   The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the corporate language, English, on managers’ communication within the organisation.  The target group includes Finnish and Swedish managers working at a Nordic IT corporation, TietoEnator. The study was conducted by combining theoretical material on communication, language and culture with the empirical results of 7 qualitative interviews.   The results show us that using a shared corporate language has both advantages and disadvantages. English helps in company internationalisation and in creating a sense of belonging, but also complicates everyday communication. The main disadvantage that English has caused is the lack of social communication between members of different nations in an unofficial level.   The main conclusion is that the corporate language is not at all times sufficient fulfil the social needs of the members of the organisation. Through this lack of socialisation it is possible that the functionality of the organisation loses some of its competitive advantage in the business markets.

Thesis (MPhil (Philosophy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008.
The merger of organisations has been extensively utilised in many industries. This has occurred globally and locally. Some mergers have become successful while others have failed to achieve their goals. The failure of mergers could be attributed to insufficient attention to certain organisational elements. When institutions merged, they become vulnerable to diversity and conflict. They also experience human variability. Organisational mergers present challenges that could be associated with humanity. This could be precipitated by various beliefs, values and norms. Conflict and diversity could be reduced by implementing certain organisational elements. This study is based on the developments of structure and culture as remedial organisational elements to reduce instability in merged institutions. These elements serve as mechanisms in dealing with the repercussions of the merger. The special focus of this study is higher education mergers. The primary objective is to gain an insight into the ramification and the impact of the merger. This includes the effectiveness of the newly designed internal processes. In accomplishing this, the study has applied a cultural and structural model to merged institutions. It has also examined various types of culture and structural literature theory extensively. From this it has discovered that these elements play a crucial role in reducing organisational conflict in mergers. It has also been found that merger consequences are less severe in organisations with similar backgrounds.

In reaction to intense global competition and increased customer demands, business firms are continuously engaged in activities to increase the effectiveness of their businesses. To be effective business firms must reduce costs, improve the quality of their products and respond quickly to the new opportunities in the market place. These activities often require the restructuring of such businesses. The restructuring of businesses often takes the form of strategic alliances, outsourcing, vertical integration, mergers or acquisitions. It is not only businesses that undergo restructuring, but recently also higher education institutions. The South African higher education system has undergone a complex restructuring process of merging universities, technikons, colleges and technical schools. This transformation of higher education in South Africa has been regulated by the Higher Education Act (101 of 1997). This restructuring took form of mergers between technikons and universities to form new higher education institutions and has been directed at correcting past educational discrimination and at ensuring equal opportunities for higher education. High levels of negativity, demoralization, demotivation and disempowerment due to higher-education restructuring have been reported, not only in South Africa, but also in other countries. Despite the above-mentioned problems identified in the restructuring of higher education world-wide, a lack of quantitative research appears to exist on the human dimension involved in the process. The main objective of the study is to improve the strategic management of the post-merger process at higher education institutions in South Africa by investigating what influence the present restructuring process exerts on the motivation, organisational commitment and job performance of their staff. The sample consisted of three hundred and twenty-nine (329) staff members from the three merged universities in South Africa. The empirical results revealed the following: To improve the strategic management of the post-merger process at universities, management needs to focus on the managing of organisational commitment, as it is the strongest determinant of the employees’ performance intent; To manage organisation commitment, management must manage especially the employees’ identification with the organisational culture of the new institutions; after organisational commitment, management must focus on employee motivation which includes increasing the employees’ satisfaction with their remuneration packages, their peer relations and their growth factors; and, To manage the employees’ identification with the organisational culture of the new institutions, management must manage employees’ perceptions about increased student access, successes in merger goal achievement and fairness of workload dispensations. The main contribution of the study is the empirical support produced for elements which should be focused upon in strategy execution, namely the interplay among employee job performance, organizational commitment, organizational culture identification and motivational rewards. By doing so, the study provided the empirical foundation for a model that could be used to strategically manage the post-merger process at universities.

Thesis (M. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2006
In today’s dynamic and uncertain business environment, employees are required to work together to achieve a common goal. An organisation cannot survive without a highly motivated and progressive workforce. Management need to be highly innovative and adaptive, to survive the intensity of competition and change. This study is based on the conviction that enhancing and sustaining employee motivation is a manager’s major function. In effect, management need to create and maintain a culture that fosters motivation, and determine whether employees are culturally adaptable, when two established cultures merge as one. Against this background, the focus fell on attaining optimum performance and a culture that evokes a spirit of co-operation and is conducive to motivating employees to work willingly and effectively. The Amalgamated Beverage Industry was selected for the purpose of this study. The perceptions and opinions of management and that of the lower level employees were examined to determine the impact on the work motivational levels and organiastional culture within Country Region employees. A probable influence was also given on the possible factors contributing to the maintained level of organisational culture and the high motivational levels within ABI. Attention was also focused on culture change and its possible impact on employees.

In England, post - compulsory education is separated by the binary divide of the Further and Higher Education Act (1992), which established different funding and inspection bodies for the respective sectors. However, there are institutions which offer both further and higher education, styling themselves `dual-sector' or mixed-economy' institutions. Such institutions are situated within a continuum of collaborative arrangements, operating across the sectoral boundaries of further and higher education, ranging from full institutional merger to the franchising of qualifications. This thesis investigates the impact of institutional merger upon a specific institution, using a case - study approach to explore whether combining further and higher education within a single institution, can create a unified organisation that improves student progression. In doing so, it is situated within the field of higher education policy and explores the historical origins of the university and its contemporary purpose, together with the development and current function of further education. The methods of enquiry include document analysis and primary research, in the form of interviews with students progressing from further to higher education (Level 3 to Level 4), and from Level 5 (HND and Foundation Degree) to Level 6, together with interviews with academic — managers in the merged institution, exploring their perceptions of working in a dual-sector institution. I argue that full institutional merger produced some unintended consequences, which were in conflict with the rationale for merger, in some instances, but which also resulted in some unexpected benefits. The espoused objectives of the merger, in line with policies to widen participation in, and improve access to, higher education were predicated upon increased progression and cost reductions. The key themes of this research are widening participation, student progression and organisational transition. The emergent issues of boundaries, identities, transitions and organisational cultures, provide the framework for the presentation of research findings.

Thesis (MBA) -- University of Limpopo, 2011
The change or transformation of higher education institutions in South Africa (SA) was mandated by the government, as a response to address past disparities that prevailed as a result of the apartheid government. These disparities, included inter alia, improving access to higher education institutions, improving staff and student equity and improving the quality of higher education throughput. The merger of higher education institutions in SA, like any other institution in another country that had undergone a similar form of change, mostly share the similar experiences, especially if the mergers are mandated by the government. The fundamental issue and the inspiration of the study is the impact of the merger, whether directly or indirectly, on employees’ job satisfaction, organisational commitment and intention to leave. The target population of the study was the university of Limpopo employees, clustered into three categories, viz. the academic, administrative and support services personnel. The study used a random sampling method. A questionnaire, with a combination of closed and open ended questions, was used to collect data. The results indicated that the respondents were not satisfied with their jobs had low organisational commitment and some intentions to leave the employ of the university. However, they indicated that the merger had very little effect on these results.

This dissertation presents the findings from a study focusing on the emergence of communities of practice in the context of organisational change. In doing so, it tries to examine how informal learning might be influenced by change - which in several cases implies alterations in practice/work - and it explores the possibilities for organisations to "manage" communities of practice to improve performance. Research took place in a merging organisation in the UK brewing sector. The author gained access in two settings: the finance department of the organisation's Northern Irish subsidiary based in Belfast and the telesales department of the Scottish subsidiary based in Glasgow. Overall, 60 semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from both settings while the author also had the opportunity to employ non-participant observation and document analysis, The study examines the way in which informal learning and knowledge sharing unfolded in the two settings, following the merger, while also exploring the outcomes of those processes through a perspective that favours "knowing" as part of action. The findings show that in Belfast, where the nature of change resembled past experiences and the historically constituted workplace context favoured similar efforts, knowledge sharing was characterised by a relative lack of conflict. In contrast, change in Glasgow was seen as more radical in its nature as it affected key elements of the work/practice of the telesales employees and it was linked to further changes in the sectoral context in which the organisation operated. Consequently, knowledge sharing lacked coherence and it was influenced by workplace politics and the existence of divergent understandings of what successful practice was in the setting. Accordingly, the challenges for those responsible for operationalising change were different in the two settings. The findings also reveal that the nature of work/practice within the two settings differentiated the outcomes of the process of informal knowledge sharing and application as well. Therefore, in Belfast informal collaboration among the local practitioners led to a standardisation of working procedures. In contrast, given the important role that the telesales department had in realising the new company's strategy, knowledge sharing in Glasgow led to an improvisation in working procedures, something that allowed local practitioners to remain innovative in the course of their jobs. The study concludes that a better understanding of the ways in which learning and knowledge sharing develop in communities of practice can be achieved by locating those processes in their meaningful contexts, paying attention at the same time to the role of power differences. This task, in combination with an adoption of a dynamic view of knowledge, can also help us explore more critically the implications that those informal processes of learning have for managerial action.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att öka förståelsen för vilken betydelse kommunikation har för frontpersonalens reaktion på en fusion mellan tjänsteföretag.

Fusioner är ett vanligt förekommande bland dagens företag, så även för tjänsteföretag. Frontpersonal anses vara särskilt viktig i tjänsteföretag då de i interaktion med företagets kunder förmedlar kvalitet. Vid fusion är det därför viktigt att skapa förutsättningar för att två mötande personalgrupper tillsammans kan verka för fortsatt god kvalitet. Ett verktyg för att skapa sådana förutsättningar är kommunikation.

Formell kommunikation kan användas till att skapa acceptans för en fusion och införa förändringar vid denna. En förutsättning för att frontpersonalen skall uppnå en högre förståelse har visat sig starkt beroende av möjligheten att föra tvåvägskommunikation.

Informell kommunikation har visats fungera som ett starkt stöd för att skapa acceptans och en positiv föreställning av en fusion. Särskilt viktig är den informella kommunikationen för att underlätta social integration.

The purpose of the study is to increase understanding of the value of communication for first line staffs reactions to a merger between service organisations. Mergers are in modern age common between organisations and so also for service organisations. The first line staff are considered particularly important for service organisations due to their mediating role between company and customers where quality is transferred. At a merger it is therefore important to create conditions where two meeting personal groups together can continue to supply sufficient quality. A tool to create such conditions is communication.

Formal communication can be used to create acceptance for a merger and to introduce changes in it. A prerequisite for front staff to achieve a higher understanding has proven to be highly dependent of the opportunity to conduct two-way communication.

Informal communication has proven to function as strongly supportive in creating acceptance and a positive conception of a merger. Especially important is informal communication to facilitate social integration.

With social structure and technology rapidly changing, business globalisation has been regarded as a worldwide trend. While there have been many cases and literature on management of culture integration for merger and acquisition from a Western perspective, few have discussed cultural integration in an Asian context. This study provides a case study of cultural integration strategies Lenovo has undertaken to manage employees from both teams after the M&A. It adopts a semi-structure face-to-face interview research method, which 5 participants were selected from the culture integration committee for interview. During the interview, each participant answered the questions from their perspective of the job position they are currently in. The method would enhance the quality of the research as it looks into the problems and strategy that Lenovo has encountered and undertaken from various points of view. However, as no employees from IBM PC-D on the committee were available to participate in the research, it might place some limitations on the research simply because IBM team’s opinions were not taken into account. After analysing the results obtained from the participants, the researcher found that there were several motives for Lenovo to acquire IBM PC-D, including: - 1) internationalization, 2) acquiring technology and skills, 3) acquiring a brand, 4) obtaining access to new customers, 5) increase bargaining position to suppliers. Among these five motives, acquiring brand was considered to be the most important motive. As Chinese product has always been marketed at the lower end of the product line with low costs and poor quality, acquiring IBM’s brand would enable Lenovo to boost its product image and to gain access to customers outside the Chinese market. In managing two teams within the organisation, Lenovo has taken very few steps to integrate two teams into one. Instead, a separate management mode was encouraged by Lenovo to allow IBM PC-D to maintain its own management system and procedures. In addition, a culture integration committee was voluntarily set up by employees from various departments to design initiatives to encourage communication between two teams. When problems arise due to the difference between two teams, Lenovo has adopted an accommodation strategy by making adjustments to the work schedule of its employee in the Lenovo team in order to accommodate employees in IBM team. As a result, it has increased the workload for staff in Lenovo team and this may thus lead to stress and work-life imbalance to its employees. Overall, the strategy that Lenovo has adopted to manage two teams seems to have worked well and the culture integration committee appears to have served well in encouraging the communication between two teams. On the other hand, as the participants in the interview were not directly involved with the designing and crafting the strategy of culture integration, that might have some limitation on the result. Therefore, it is suggested that further research can be done to capture the opinion from members that are directly involved in the design of culture integration strategy as well as teams from IBM PC-D in order to ensure a well provided empirical and consistent view.

To stay competitive organisations need to harness and develop their human potential. Traditionally, a deficiency-based approach (DBA) was followed i.e. the focus was set on the development of employees’ deficiencies and weaknesses. However, focusing on an employee’s weaknesses and deficiencies was not sufficient. Consequently, a positive approach was developed that focuses on an individual’s strengths and talents. Unfortunately, exclusively focusing on only strengths or on weaknesses is not sufficient for optimum human functioning. Therefore, it is suggested that South African organisations make use of a balanced approach (i.e. a balanced focus on both the development and use of strengths and weaknesses). This will assist employees to be more positive and engaged in terms of their work. However, there seems to be a lack of research regarding the use of a balanced approach in organisations. The general objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between job resources, a strength-based approach (SBA), a DBA, occupational self-efficacy (OSE), and work engagement. This study was further aimed at determining whether OSE mediated the relationship between these variables among South African employees. An availability sample (N = 699) was taken from various South African organisations. This study made use of a quantitative, cross-sectional design to collect data; a biographical questionnaire; a job resources questionnaire (VBBA); an organisational SBA and DBA questionnaire; a OSE questionnaire and a work engagement questionnaire (UWES). Structural equation modelling was chosen as the method to test the hypothesised model. Mediating effects were tested by using the bootstrapping method. The research results have indicated that there is a positive correlation between autonomy, SBA, DBA, OSE and work engagement. This research found that no correlations existed between relationship with supervisor, information sharing and participation in decision-making and work engagement. There seems to be a significant relationship between autonomy, relationship with colleagues and OSE. From the results OSE can only be seen as the mediator between autonomy and work engagement. From this one can assume that using SBA and DBA in a balanced approach can lead to higher work engagement. Recommendations were made for the organisation and future research.
Thesis (MCom (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Published Article
A growing scholarship links good leadership with in-house mentoring. This article looks at how well-performing school leaders benefitted from the inhouse mentoring they received. The author reports on a qualitative investigation based on in-depth individual interviews with six primary school leaders from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Northwest Provence who were purposefully selected based on their receiving a national award for excellence in leadership. These awards were made by the Department of Basic Education in the category 'Excellence in primary school leadership'. The findings show that in-house mentoring benefitted participants holistically through behavioural, knowledge and skills acquisition. Behavioural acquisition included being humble and empathetic towards constructive work performance. Knowledge and skills acquisition related to sustaining the standard of teaching of core subjects, relying on committee input in a relational leadership approach and ensuring a dedicated teacher corps and positive parent involvement. The findings contribute to the discourse on inhouse mentoring for improved school leadership practice.

Syfte: Tanken med detta arbete har varit att se hur en fusion med företag i fyra olika länder som deltagare påverkat en stor organisation som Nordea, undersöka vilka skillnader de olika kulturerna för med sig och vilka problem de orsakat i integrationsprocessen. Jag ville även jämföra vilka olika ledarstilar som existerade i de olika länderna och ta reda på om det påverkat chefernas ledarstil i Sverige. Även massmedians bevakning under integrationsprocessen undersöks för att se deras inställning till sammanslagningen.

Metod: I denna uppsats har både sekundär- och primärdata använts. Jag har studerat vad andra skrivit om fusioner, kulturens påverkan och olika ledarstilar men jag har även samlat in egen primärdata genom intervjuer med två personer från Nordea. Sedan har jag jämfört resultatet av intervjuerna med teorin för att få en bra bild om hur fusionen och integrationsprocessen fungerat i Nordea.

Resultat & slutsats: De olika kulturerna inkluderade olika ledarstilar i fusionen och en viss anpassning har krävts av cheferna för att samarbetet ska fungera. Det finns stora skillnader bland chefernas sätt att leda och detta har bekräftats i både teorin och empirin. Nordea har med sammanslagningen blivit en stor och attraktiv bank bland de svenska storföretagen, eftersom de nu och kan hantera nordiska affärer bättre än andra banker.

Förslag till fortsatt forskning: En fusion mellan SEB och Nordea har diskuterats i media och det skulle ha varit kul att göra en jämförelse hur väl de två bankerna passar ihop och se vad resultatet visar. Att jämföra Nordeas sammanslagning med en annan större fusion skulle också vara kul för att verkligen se vad som gjorts bra respektive mindre bra i Nordeas fusion.

Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna uppsats ger en förklaring till hur viktigt det är att ta hänsyn till kulturen i det andra företaget i en fusion. Att båda parter lär sig hur och varför de andra ledarna agerar som de gör. Detta är värdefullt för att kunna utveckla eller modifiera sitt eget beteende för att underlätta samarbetet.

Aim: The purpose with this assignment was to see how a merger with four different participants in four countries has affected a large organisation as Nordea. To see the differences in the culture and the problems they caused in the integration process. I also wanted to compare the different manager styles in the different countries and find out if they had an impact on the leadership style in Sweden. Even the mass medium survey during the integration process will be investigated to see their attitude towards the merger.

Method: Both secondary- and primary data has been used in this paper. I have studied what other has written about the merger, culture affect and different managerial style which are secondary data. I have also collected my own primary data through interviews with two persons from Nordea. Afterwards I compared the results from the interviews with the theory to get a good understanding how the merger and integration process worked in Nordea.

Result & Conclusions: The different cultures included different managerial styles into the merger and a certain adaptation was needed by the managers to make the cooperation work. There are big differences in the way managers leads and that has been confirmed in both theory and empirical studies. Nordea has by the merger grown and are now a big bank and attractive among the big Swedish companies, because they are now can handle Nordic affairs better then others banks.

Suggestions for future research: A merger between SEB and Nordea has been discussed in media and it would be interesting to compare the two banks and see how well they fit each other and what the result could turn out to be. Comparing the Nordea merger with another big fusion would be interesting and make it possible to see what was made good and bad in the Nordea merger.

Contribution of the thesis: This assignment gives an explanation on how important it is to consider the culture in the other company in a merger. It is important for both parts to learn how and why the managers’ act in the way they do, to be able to modify and develop their own behaviour to facilitate the collaboration.

Dans un contexte de mondialisation, les entreprises africaines doivent s'adapter en permanence aux diverses contingences économiques, juridiques ou sociales. Conscient de cette réalité, le législateur africain a mis en place dans le cadre de la reforme de l'OHADA, un arsenal juridique afin de leur permettre de s'acclimater en permanence aux tendances et pressions du marché : le droit de la restructuration qui désigne l’ensemble des techniques conçues par le législateur pour réorganiser l’entreprise. Ces techniques ont eu pour source d’inspiration le droit français des restructurations qui a connu des mutations. La confrontation des deux systèmes de droit permet de constater que si dans les principes fondamentaux les deux systèmes répondent aux mêmes objectifs à savoir assurer la pérennisation des entreprises par la promotion de la croissance de l’entreprise et sa survie lorsqu’elle est le seuil de difficultés diverses, il existe toutefois des différences d’ordre pratique et technique consécutives aux dernières réformes intervenues
In a context of globalization, the african companies have to adapt themselves permanently to economic legal or social contingencies. Conscious of that reality, african legislator set up within the OHADA reform legal measures to allow theme acclimatize to the tendencies and markets pression : the restructuring law which design all the technicals proceedings conceived by the legislator to reorganize the company. Those technicals was inspirated by French law restructuring which has been reorganized. The confrontation of both systems allows to notice that if in the fundamental principles they are the same objectives consisting in substainability of companies for their growth or their survival there are however pratical and technical differences materialized by the recents french reforms

Les pays de la zone OHADA observent, depuis une dizaine d’années, un accroissement significatif des opérations de capital-investissement. Les perspectives économiques encourageantes, la relative stabilité politique dans la région ainsi que les prévisions démographiques font de la zone OHADA une cible de premier choix pour les fonds d’investissement, qui y trouvent de formidables opportunités d’investissement et de croissance. Cette nouvelle dynamique nous appelle à nous interroger sur la faculté du droit OHADA à répondre aux exigences juridiques exprimées par ces nouveaux acteurs économiques lors de la conduite de leurs opérations. Cette thèse se propose d’analyser, dans une perspective comparative avec le droit français, les principaux enjeux juridiques du capital-investissement en droit OHADA. Ainsi, y seront étudiés les outils juridiques de prise de participation, la gestion des sociétés cibles, notamment à travers la pratique des pactes d’actionnaires, et enfin, les modalités de sortie de l’investissement. L’objectif annoncé est de déceler les forces et les faiblesses du régime actuel du droit OHADA à l’épreuve des exigences du capital-investissement
In the last decade, the OHADA countries have seen a significant increase in private equity transactions. The OHADA region’s economic outlook, relative political stability and projected population growth make the region of prime interest to investment funds due to tremendous growth and investment opportunities. This new dynamic makes it important to consider OHADA law’s ability to meet the legal requirements of private equity funds in structuring and conducting their operations.This thesis (i) analyses the main legal issues for private equity under OHADA law and (ii) compares the handling of such issues under OHADA law with their handling under French law. As such, this thesis addresses the legal instruments for taking ownership interests, management rules for target companies (including shareholder agreements), and exit strategies. The objective of such analysis is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current OHADA law regime from a private equity perspective

Cette recherche s’attache à l’étude d’une institution britannique, à son rôle et son organisation depuis la fusion, en 1968, du Commonwealth Office et du Foreign Office, jusqu’à l’année 1985.Il s’agit ainsi de voir comment le Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) fonctionne et comment il a su évoluer au gré du temps, du changement de la place de la Grande-Bretagne dans le monde, et des conflits internationaux. Ainsi, on peut se demander quelles influences le contexte a eu sur l’institution en elle-même. Dès lors, une place particulière est accordée à l’Europe, la ‘relation spéciale’ avec les États-Unis et la décolonisation.La politique étrangère britannique semble aujourd’hui être principalement dans les mains du pouvoir politique : du ministre des Affaires étrangères (Foreign Secretary), et du Premier ministre. Quelle place le FCO occupe-t-il alors, et quelles relations entretient-il avec le pouvoir politique ?Il s’agit ainsi de considérer la place du FCO au sein des différents acteurs internes et externes de la politique étrangère britannique en analysant trois cas concrets : une réorganisation interne de l’institution (la fusion de 1968), une gestion de crise (l’indépendance retardée de la Guyane britannique, 1953-1966), et une négociation d’accord en temps de paix (l’échec des négociations de la Convention des Nations unies sur le droit de la mer, 1973-1982).Ce travail de recherche tente ainsi d’offrir une interprétation allant au-delà du fonctionnement interne de l’institution. Il s’agit de mettre en relation le Foreign and Commonwealth Office et le pouvoir politique, et ainsi d’étudier les pouvoirs et influences du FCO tout en s’attachant à des périodes clés à l’orée de changements
This research work is devoted to the study of a key British institution, its function and its organization, from the merger of the Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office in 1968, until 1985.Of particular interest is the way the changing role of Britain in the world and international conflicts bear upon the functioning and the evolution of the FCO. The point is to assess to what extent the context influences the institution itself.British foreign policy seems to be mostly determined by the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister. It is therefore well worth gaging what the function of the FCO is, and its relationship with the holders of political power.The role of the FCO as one of the internal and external agents of British foreign policy is assessed here, through three cases: the internal reorganization of the service in 1968, the management of a crisis – the postponements of independence for Guiana from 1953 to 1966, and the failure of a negotiation in peacetime – the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea from 1973 to 1982.Beyond the internal functioning of the institution, this research work strives to offer an interpretation of the changes. The relationship between the FCO and the holders of political power, the real power and influence of the FCO are under consideration, in particular during key moments of particular significance for the institution

This study is about the investigation of the impact of organisational culture on employee commitment during an acquisition process in an insurance organisation. A sample of 318 employees was selected from a population of +/-600 in a South African insurance organisation. The sample was categorised between employees in non-management as well as those in management positions. Managers were further categorised as junior managers and middle managers. These participants were selected based on the fact that they were not involved in the strategic decision-making processes during the acquisition. Thus they had no input in the decision making regarding the acquisition process. Employees on senior management level and above did not form part of the study because they were involved in the acquisition process's strategic decision-making. The sample was also based on employees who were already employed by the organisation when the acquisition process was finalised. The acquisition process started in 2013 and was finalised in 2017. The descriptive correlation research method was used for the study. The methodological approach adopted was the quantitative approach analysed based on descriptive statistics followed by inferential statistics using the SPSS 2017 (version 25). Analysis of data was done using Pearson correlation coefficient, regression analysis, independent T-test and ANOVA. The internal consistency of the measuring instruments was determined using the Cronbach's alpha. Questionnaires, namely the Organisational Culture Questionnaire (OCQ) and Organisational Commitment Scale (OCS), were used to measure organisational culture and employee commitment, respectively. The results revealed a high level of internal consistency across the scale and the items of the OCQ (EC & PC) and OCS variables. The conclusions of the empirical study describe the impact of organisational culture on employee commitment during an acquisition process. The empirical study indicated that the impact of preferred organisational culture on employee commitment is insignificant. However, the impact of existing organisational culture on employee commitment is significant. The findings further indicated that the dominant existing culture is the role culture whilst the dominant preferred culture is the power culture. Affective commitment was found to be dominant in terms of employee commitment. The limitations of this study are presented together with recommendations for future research. The recommendations for the profession of industrial and organisational psychology highlight pertinent aspects for practicing psychologists and managers in this field. Based on the study's findings, organisations are advised to diagnose their cultures and determine how it affects their employees’ commitment in addition to other recommendations provided.
Industrial and Organisational Psychology
M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004.
This thesis describes and analyses the integration process of mergers and acquisitions, which is often blamed for the failure of such undertakings. It explains the status quo for internal branding in general and in the environment of mergers and acquisitions. The two aspects are integrated in such a manner as to develop an internal brand strategy that resolves many of the common integration problems. Since the traditional focus on branding is on the external environment rather than the internal environment, the objective of this thesis is to emphasise the employee rather than the customer. As the writer believes that through the development of internal brand awareness and loyalty, the net effect is that the overall effectiveness of the entire merged organisation will increase exponentially. In this thesis, a meta-analysis approach is utilised to develop theory, thus this study is exclusively a qualitative styled study. The strategy developed in this thesis is not a once off fix, but is a continuous process that must be maintained and implemented by the management and shareholders of the organisation to ensure the success of the brand and the new merged organisation.
M

The issue of mergers and, in particular, the effect of mergers on employees is an important one due to the alarming number of mergers taking place at present both globally and in South Africa. Only recently have researchers begun to study the impact of mergers on employees. Many authors argue that this element is critical in determining the success or failure of a merger. The study examines a company, which recently experienced a merger and attempts to establish whether or not the merger had a detrimental effect on organisational climate. The study achieves it's aim by reviewing the literature and administering a self-completion questionnaire to the entire operational staff at three hierarchical levels, namely; store manager, sales administrator and sales person of the organisation in the KwaZulu Natal region. The study thus constitutes a census of all employees at the aforementioned three levels. The questionnaire administered includes both an organisational climate measuring instrument (an existing eighteen item scale was used) and an attitude to mergers measuring instrument, made up of twelve items, which was constructed for this study. The data was then analysed utilising both descriptive and inferential statistics.
Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Swinburne University of Technology - 2001.
Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Business, Swinburne University of Technology - 2001. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 360-372).

A merger can be considered both a phenomenological and significant life event for an organisation and its employees, and how people cope with and respond to a merger has a direct impact on the institutional performance in the short to medium term. It is within this context that post-merger perceptions of a tertiary institution were gauged. Restructuring in any organisation is characterised by uncertainty, high levels of anxiety, low levels of morale, and tardy job performance, as well as high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover, all of which potentially impact on productivity and performance. Notably, the global phenomenon of transformation of higher education, taking place in most countries in the world, is an undeniable fact. The abolition of apartheid and the post-1994 aftermath period have seen South Africa undergoing tremendous transformation in its political, economic, social and technological environments. As part of the social environment, education, too, will be subjected to the restructuring and transition resulting in the new characterisation of the country and its people. Mergers are taking place between teacher-training colleges and technical colleges, as well as between universities and technikons. In South Africa to date, mergers have been limited mainly to the federal absorption of smaller, specialist institutions into universities; however larger and more unitary mergers have been advocated. Few notable studies have investigated the commitment perceptions of the employees (and the associated selected work constructs of job satisfaction and turnover intentions) who feel the full impact of these restructurings in a South African context. This subsequently results in a dearth of knowledge on the context of South African mergers and acquisitions of tertiary institutions. Human capital element in the form of teacher / facilitator / lecturer in educational institutions (knowledge intensive organisations) is much more important than in other organisations. In light of the recent restructuring of the institution in question, no attempt has yet been made to gauge the levels of organisational commitment amongst its employees. It is within this context that the research problem emerges: What are the employee perceptions of job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and turnover intentions in a post-merger tertiary institution, and how are these variables related? Job satisfaction was determined as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experiences. A global approach was adopted, whereby job satisfaction is explained as a single, overall feeling toward ones job. Organisational commitment was defined as a cognitive predisposition towards a particular focus, insofar as this focus has the potential to satisfy needs, realise values, and achieve goals, and was subsequently addressed through a motivational approach. The state of commitment is not only separated from its antecedent and consequential conditions and behaviours, but also from its related affective and conative components that are also present in other widely used constructs, such as job satisfaction and turnover intentions respectively. Turnover intentions, approached as being mental decisions intervening between an individuals attitudes regarding a job and the stay or leave decision, were addressed as a planned behaviour. This is a result from the argument that behavioural intention is a good predictor of actual behaviour, in this case actual turnover. Turnover behaviour is a multistage process that includes attitudinal, decisional, and behavioural components. Furthermore the turnover process is initially stimulated by the thought of quitting, which ultimately will result in the actual process of either staying or leaving. The instance of a merger or acquisition normally results in, amongst others, lack of commitment, job dissatisfaction, increased labour turnover and absenteeism rates (even at managerial level), lowered work goals, uncertainty, and employee theft or acts of sabotage. The relationships established between the three selected work constructs, primarily in terms of mergers and acquisitions, suggest that a positive relationship exists between job satisfaction and organisational commitment, whilst also yielding a negative relationship with turnover intentions. The research approach could be described as a non-experimental and crosssectional field survey, the data as primary data, and data analysis as ex post facto and correlational. The non-probability (convenience) sample consisted of 367 employees of a South African tertiary instituition. The completion of the electronic questionnaires was personally administered and anonymously handled. Job satisfaction was assessed by the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ20). The MSQ20 measures 20 different job-related items and can be subcategorised into extrinsic and intrinsic satisfaction. The end factor analystic result revealed the need to remove three items. Commitment was addressed through the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire which consisted of 18 items, measuring different foci of commitment, namely work, career, occupational and organisational. Diagnostic analyses indicated the need to remove three items. Turnover intentions were measured by an unpublished 15 item questionnaire. The diagnostic analyses warranted the removel of two items. The analyses followed a two phase procedure. The intial phase included all diagnostic testing of the measuring instruments in order to determine the reliabilty and validty of the measuring instruments for subsequent testing purposes of the study. The tests utilised were basic descriptives, factor (first and second order) and reliability analyses and normality testing. The latter phase described the inferential section of the sample, whereby statistics are used either to infer the truth or falsify hypotheses / research objectives. The tests carried out consisted of t-tests and ANOVA, correlations, structural equation modelling, twoway ANOVA and lastly a stepwise linear regression. Fifteen predefined models were investigated whereupon the most parsimonious model was selected. In applying the stepwise linear regression for the prediction of turnover intentions, the model was determined by entering all the variables simultaneously into the regression equation. The variables determined for the inclusion on the regression were based on the results from the inferenital testing phase. The final result yielded a prediction of 47% of the variance in turnover intentions. The final (most parsimonious) model determined for turnover intentions indicated as being significantly predicted by: job satisfaction, tenure, and a combination of job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Contrary to popular belief, commitment does not correlate more strongly than satisfaction does with turnover intentions. This indicates that withdrawal entails a rejection of the job rather than of the organisation. Turnover intentions of tertiary employees can be actively managed through the manipulation of the contextual variables of organisational commitment and job satisfaction. The resulting predictive model can be regarded as an important tool for management and the Human Resource Department in effectively planning talent retention strategies focusing on its controllable dimensions. Since this model was developed based on internal components, possible strategies can be derived from this model to prevent turnover intentions.
Professor Gert Roodt

Existing literature on the airline industry has been largely based on US airline markets due to data availability. The rest of the world, including China?s airline markets, have received relatively little attention. This thesis discusses in some detail the evolution of China's airline industry, current position and the problems faced by the Chinese carriers. In particular, it explores in depth the reasons behind the 2002 airline consolidations, which have brought about many significant changes in China's airline markets. Unlike mergers in developed countries, which might have been assessed and their effects estimated by antitrust authorities before being granted antitrust immunity, the airline mergers that swept China's airline industry in 2002 occurred with no antitrust challenge. This provides researchers with a good opportunity to study market power issues in this market. Using monthly average airfare information for China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines from 2002 to 2004, the actual airfares paid by passengers were found to have significantly fallen in the post-merger period in most Chinese city-pair markets, indicating that competition was still relatively strong and that the major airlines did not seriously abuse any market power gained from the mergers. Based on a reduced form airfare equation in a panel context, the presence of Hainan Airlines appears to have had the competitive effect of suppressing the airfares charged by China Eastern and China Southern. One salient feature of China?s airline industry in the post-merger period is the greatly enhanced multimarket contact of these two major airlines. However, my finding of a negative effect of multimarket contact on airfares in China's airline markets rejects the mutual forbearance hypothesis. In the absence of an effective antitrust law, both fare wars and price collusion have been pervasive in China?s airline markets, causing concern for both airlines and consumers. Both types of conduct tend to be short-lived, but the 'competition then collusion' patterns seem to be repetitive. This observation can be explained in two ways. On the one hand, divergent interests in a particular market at any given time have made it difficult for collusive agreements to be effectively implemented and maintained. On the other hand, the lack of any antitrust intervention has allowed the carriers in China to reach price agreements through overt communication any time they thought it might be commercially helpful. Therefore, both the industrial collusion and price war cycles have not lasted for long periods of time. Using a probit model that estimates the engagement of China Eastern and China Southern in price wars and price collusion, it is found that concentration in both airports and routes did not play any important part in the occurrence of either fare wars or collusion. Multimarket contact had the effect of intensifying and spreading competition in some markets, with no obvious effects of promoting price cooperation. Although the airline mergers overall appear not to have caused seriously anticompetitive consequences, undoubtedly because most carriers were keen to expand in China's fast-growing airline markets, the underlying potential for collusive conduct still demands that a comprehensive antitrust law be adopted to control price-fixing activities, and to stop threats to competition once the airline industry reaches maturity.

The restructuring of South African Higher Education Insti tutions by the government has seen mergers becoming a feature amongst these institutions. The aim of these mergers was to redress past imbalances, creating synergies and promoting rationalisation of resources. Thekwini FET College was one such institution, merged out of the former Cato Manor, Durban Central and L C Johnson Technical Colleges. This research document investigates the relationship between the full time Level 1 academic staff's perception of their post merger working environment and organisational commitment. 51 staff members' were selected using a quantitative and qualitative approach in a correlation cross-sectional research design. The measuring instrument comprised of a structured questionnaire incorporating a Likert type scale and an open ended interview schedule. These instruments aimed to expose staff perceptions of their post merger working environment and levels of their organisational commitment. The findings of the research reveal that there was a strong and positive correlation between staff perceptions of their post merger working environment and organisational commitment. Staff who perceived their post merger working environment to be negative, was lowly committed to Thekwini FET College and vice versa. The general feeling from the research findings show that staff had a negative perception towards their post merger working environment and were therefore lowly committed to Thekwini FET College. Most of the reasons for these negative attitudes point to the poor management of the college. Finally, some recommendations were made to try and improve the negative attitudes of the staff towards the institution.
Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

Cette étude qui s’inscrit dans la perspective de l’action située, vise à comprendre le phénomène de (re)construction des communautés de pratique (CoPs) en contexte de fusion hospitalière. La recherche repose sur un devis d’étude de cas longitudinale qui combine plusieurs sources de données : documentaires, d’entretiens semi-directifs et d’observations de terrain. La stratégie d’analyse combine deux méthodes : l’une processuelle, permettant un ordonnancement temporel de récits d’événements et d'activités qui ont contribué à situer l’action dans le temps; l’autre selon l’approche de la théorisation ancrée, a permis la comparaison des données par leur regroupement systématique en catégories et sous catégories, tout au long de la collecte des données. La démarche de recherche processuelle adoptée, nous a conduit à révéler la dynamique de construction d’une communauté de pratique (CoP) à partir des caractéristiques inter reliées, identifiées dans la littérature et qui font référence à un engagement mutuel, une entreprise commune et un répertoire partagé. Ainsi, nos analyses montrent que le domaine d’action qui vient délimiter les points de convergence des participants, constitue le dénominateur commun de la pratique de la communauté qui met à jour des savoirs tacites et explicites qui s’échangent et se développent dans le temps. Cette pratique partagée, éminemment sociale, génère des connaissances et des règles négociées et entretenues par les membres dans le cadre de leurs rencontres. Nos analyses révèlent également que le processus d’évolution d’une communauté de pratique, s’inscrit dans une trajectoire d’apprentissages continue où se combinent de façon dynamique, des temps de participation intense, propices à la construction progressive d’une compréhension commune et négociée du domaine d’action (participation) et des temps de mise en forme de ces représentations (réification). Ici, la dialectique participation/réification qui se donne à voir, révèle un véritable travail d’organisation où la construction du sens à donner à l’action s’instruit à l’aune d’une régulation sociale omniprésente. Toutefois, le résultat de la régulation sociale, n’implique pas de facto, la rencontre d’une régulation conjointe. Plutôt, nos résultats mettent à jour un ensemble de régulations, tantôt concurrentes, tantôt en équilibre en regard du contexte dans lequel sont placés les acteurs. Enfin, nos résultats sur la dynamique de (re)construction des communautés de pratique en contexte de fusion, permettent d’appréhender le changement organisationnel non plus sous ses seuls aspects stratégiques et en direction des équipes dirigeantes, mais également sous l’angle des capacités d’acteurs « ordinaires » à l’initier dans une perspective continue et située.
This study, which draws on the situated action approach, aims to understand the (re)construction of communities of practice (CoPs) in the context of a hospital merger. Combining documentary sources, semi-open ended interviews and observations data, the analysis strategy is twofold. A first method takes into account the merging process itself and the situation of action in time and place. A second method is guided by grounded theory as data are continuously categorized and compared throughout the data collection phase. Within this perspective, where the notion of process is a key figure, we have identified, in link with current literature, interrelated characteristics, such as mutual engagement, a joint enterprise, shared repertoire that intervene in the reconstruction of a community of practice (CoP). Our analysis points to the action domain as the common denominator of community practices, domain where tacit and explicit knowledge tend to converge in time. This shared practice, eminently social in nature, generates knowledge and negotiated rules that are upheld by its members within the framework of their meetings. This perspective has also brought forth how communities of practice take shape within processes of continuous learning that combine phases of intense participation that favor a shared understand of the action domain and the reification of their representations. In this specific study, the participation/reification dialectic reveals a “making sense” process where meaning of action and social regulation are intricately linked. Nevertheless, the resulting social regulation does not de facto, imply the encounter of a shared regulation. Rather, our results reveal an ensemble of regulations, sometimes concurrent, sometimes in equilibrium, in relation of the context within actors are situated. These findings on the dynamics of the reconstruction of communities of practice offer a new way of thinking changes within organizations such as the hospital, not only in respect to strategic dimensions and changes amongst team leaders but also in taking into account the lay actors and their capacities of thinking and acting out change.

My dissertation consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I analyze theeffect of the merger between American Airlines (AA) & US Airways (US) on market price and product quality. I use two complementary methodologies: difference-in-differences (DID) and merger simulation. Contrary to other results in the airline literature, the DID analysis shows that, overall, price has decreased as a result of themerger. While divestitures required as part of the merger had a strong price-reducing effect, the overall decrease involves non-divestiture markets as well. Interestingly, the decrease appears only in large airport-pair markets, whereas prices rose considerably in smaller ones. Effects on quality are mixed. The DID analysis shows that the merger reduced flight cancellations, increased flight delays, and had no effect on flight frequency or capacity overall. Using merger simulation, I find that the change in ownership leads to a 3% increase in price. The structural model performs betterin predicting the post-merger price if I allow the model to deviate from the Bertrand-Nash conduct. A 10% cost reduction due to the merger is able to predict the post-merger price quite well. When I incorporate a conduct parameter into the model, the required percentage of cost savings is lower. Given the divestiture and the subsequententry of low-cost carriers (LCCs), tacit collusion may break down. Thus both cost savings and reduced cooperation could explain a reduction in the price in the post-merger period.

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of appreciative inquiry (AI) on the development of organisational culture after a merger. The empirical study was con-ducted among the employees of a telecommunications company in South Africa. AI was conducted after a merger of teams within a department of the organisation to assist in the development of a new and combined team culture. Interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) was used to determine the impact of AI on the new culture. The sample size for the study was 35 for the AI session and 20 for the IQA. A qualitative approach was adopted in this study in order to understand and explore the experiences of individuals who had recently been a part of the change process. The research design was based on IQA, a structured approach which constructs a systematic representation of the experience. It was found that AI allowed the teams to gain a new understanding of and insight into what it meant to work together as a unit. A significant difference was noted in the IQA facilitation that was performed six months after the AI session. This re-search therefore confirmed that the AI had a significant positive impact on the culture of the organisation under investigation.
Industrial and Organisational Psychology
M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Second Essay: We estimate the cost of transporting corn and the resulting degree of spatial differentiation among downstream firms that buy corn from upstream farmers and examine whether such differentiation softens competition enabling buyers to exert market power (defined as the ability to pay a price for corn that is below its marginal value product net of processing cost). We estimate a structural model of spatial competition using corn procurement data from the US state of Indiana from 2004 to 2014. We adopt a strategy that allows us to estimate firm-level structural parameters while using aggregate data. Our results return a transportation cost of 0.12 cents per bushel per mile (3% of the corn price under average conditions), which provides evidence of spatial differentiation among buyers. The estimated average markdown is $0.80 per bushel (16% of the average corn price in the sample), of which $0.34 is explained by spatial differentiation and the rest by the fact that firms operated under binding capacity constraints. We also find that corn prices paid to farmers at the mill gate are independent of distance between the plant and the farm, providing evidence that firms do not engage in spatial price discrimination. Finally, we evaluate the effect of hypothetical mergers on input markets and farm surplus. A merger between nearby ethanol producers eases competition, increases markdowns by 20%, and triggers a sizable reduction in farm surplus. In contrast, a merger between distant buyers has little effect on competition and markdowns.

Third Essay: We study the dynamic response of local corn prices to entry of ethanol plants. We use spatially explicit panel data on elevator-level corn prices and ethanol plant entry and capacity to estimate an autoregressive distributed lag model with instrumental variables. We find that the average-sized entrant has no impact on local corn prices the year of entry. However, the price subsequently rises and stabilizes after two years at a level that is about 10 cents per bushel higher than the pre-entry level. This price effect dissipates as the distance between elevators and plants increase. Our results imply that long-run (2 years) supply elasticity is smaller than short-run (year of entry) supply elasticity. This may be due to rotation benefits that induce farmers to revert back to soybeans, after switching to corn due to price signals the year the plant enters. Furthermore, our results, in combination with findings in essay 2 of this dissertation, indicate that ethanol plants are likely to use pricing strategies consistent with a static rather than dynamic oligopsony competition.