Advancing post-merger integration studies: A study of a persistent organizational routine and embeddedness in broader societal context

Studies analyzing organizational routines in post-merger integration (PMI) studies at the micro level are almost nonexistent. To fill this research gap, the author performs a longitudinal exploratory case study of an admissions routine of an art college undergoing a merger with a larger university, drawing on advances in routine dynamics literature. The study enhances understanding of PMI challenges by depicting routines' internal dynamics, their incompatibility, and the role of broader context in shaping their performances post-merger. The findings trace resistance to PMI to routine incompatibility caused by the simultaneous presence of multiple understandings (ostensive aspects) for integration, generated by the quest for efficiency-based synergies and continuity within the university post-merger, and for preservation, inherited from the pre-merger era and the routine embeddedness within the local context. The findings shed new light on the post-merger integration–preservation dilemma by illustrating how the interplay of routine participants’ agency and routine embeddedness within the organization and broader societal context constrains PMI, in spite of an intended full consolidation plan, as routine participants enact the routine in the emerging context.     

组织惯例概念界定及其结构模型：基于扎根理论的研究

近年来，得益于组织惯例的再定义和惯例二维观的提出，组织惯例在组织任务完成以及组织创新和发展中的根本性作用已经得到广泛的认同，相关研究随之呈现繁荣景象。但组织惯例所代表的集体行为模式由哪些方面构成或组织惯例的具体内容是什么，尚未得以揭示，使整个研究领域呈现出根基不稳的状态。 在梳理有关组织惯例的基本概念及其二维构成理论的基础上，选择天地华宇定日达惯例、宏康针织订单完成惯例和上海移动投诉处理惯例作为研究对象，通过访谈、观察和文档资料等方式获取相关数据，采用扎根理论方法，按照开放性编码、主轴编码和选择性编码的路径，对组织惯例的概念进行有效界定，析出各维度之间的相互关系，并构建组织惯例结构模型。 研究具体化组织惯例概念的构成，得出组织惯例由显性规范、共享基模、共倾行动、专业能力和执行异动5个维度构成；构建组织惯例概念模型，验证组织惯例由启示面和执行面构成以及两者之间的互动关系，即代表执行面的执行异动和代表启示面的其他4个维度之间存在互动关系；代表组织惯例基本原则和思想的启示面除了已有研究提出的集体层面的共享基模和共倾行动，还包括组织层面的显性规范以及个体层面的专业能力，且4个维度之间相互依存。 研究旨在具体化组织惯例的概念，深化组织惯例二维观理论，为该领域的深入研究创建基础，改变该领域当前对组织惯例概念的理解仅停留在单一、抽象层面的局面，并指导组织实践者深入理解组织惯例的内涵和意义。受扎根理论编码过程主观性的限制，有必要对调研资料进行反复比较和编码对比，进一步完善和检验所构建的概念模型。     

Developing Absorptive Capacity Theory for Public Service Organizations: Emerging UK Empirical Evidence

A strong public policy focus on high performance means that utilizing management knowledge effectively is at a premium for UK public service organizations. This study empirically examined two English public agencies to explore the inter‐sectoral transfer of a strategic management model originally developed in the private sector – absorptive capacity – which is one way of conceptualizing an organizational competence in such knowledge mobilization. Two theoretical contributions are made. First, a new absorptive capacity framework for public service organizations is developed which recognizes the participation of public agency project teams during an innovation process proceeding over time with phases of co‐creation, testing, metamorphosis and diffusion. Second, our novel framework modifies an early influential model of absorptive capacity. Counter to this model, we argue that realized absorptive capacity requires agency from skilled and embedded actors to turn ‘curbing routines’ into ‘enabling routines’ in all four stages. Project (middle) managers have flexibility in their roles to seize episodic moments of opportunity to innovate and achieve service delivery goals, and to build absorptive capacity capability. Absorptive capacity capability develops organically over time. Future research directions are discussed.     

Replication of Routines in Organizations: Existing Literature and New Perspectives

Replication of existing routines in new contexts is an important value‐creating strategy for organizations. This paper synthesizes the state of research on replication and organizes the literature around two broad themes: forward knowledge flows (i.e. from a replicator to a replicatee) and reverse knowledge flows. The authors show that the theoretical assumptions of existing research leave important questions around the replication of routines unaddressed. More specifically, they identify research gaps in regard to micro‐level processes of replication. Little is understood about the performance of routines in practice and, related to that, the processes through which routines change during replication. Drawing on recent theorizing on organizational routines, in particular the relationship between the ostensive and performative aspects, helps the authors to unpack the micro‐level processes of forward and reverse knowledge flows. This paper opens two new trajectories for research on replication: (1) a focus on the actions of individual actors in the enactment of organizational routines provides new possibilities for understanding how replication is an inherently political process; (2) conceptualizing change as endogenous within the performance of routines offers a route to a more nuanced understanding of change and deviation in the process of replication. The paper closes with a summary of major theoretical arguments, questions for further research and implications for practitioners.     

新企业组织学习对惯例的影响研究——组织结构的调节作用

 组织惯例广泛存在于成熟企业之中,然而学者对新企业惯例以及影响惯例的因素并未展开深入的探讨。聚焦于分析新企业中组织学习对组织惯例的影响,并考虑到组织结构的调节作用;基于组织学习理论和组织惯例的研究成果,在组织学习过程中,知识会被存储在组织记忆,并与组织记忆共同存储在惯例中,进而决定惯例表现形式。而组织结构会影响学习过程中知识在组织中的传递。        新企业在走向成熟的过程中必然伴随着组织运行的惯例化过程,在这个过程中,企业会通过实践和观察行业中其他企业获取运行和发展的知识。由于组织惯例的核心内容是存储在惯例中的知识,以知识的内外部获取为划分依据,研究替代式学习和体验式学习两种不同的组织学习方式;以惯例存储的知识的显性和隐性特征为划分依据,研究显性惯例和隐性惯例两种不同的组织惯例;基于对知识传递的影响作用不同,将组织结构划分为机械型组织结构和有机型组织结构;构建受组织结构调节影响的新企业组织学习影响组织惯例的理论模型,进行定量研究,采用SPSS 20.0软件对来源于长春地区的188家新企业的数据进行分析,并检验相关假设。        研究结果表明,替代式学习和体验式学习对新企业的显性惯例有正向影响,体验式学习对新企业的隐性惯例有正向影响,替代式学习对隐性惯例有负向影响。机械型组织结构中,体验式学习对显性惯例和隐性惯例的正向影响更大,机械型组织结构和有机型组织结构对替代式学习影响显性惯例和隐性惯例的调节作用并不显著。        研究结果揭示了新企业中组织学习影响惯例的作用机理,进一步细化了二者之间关系的研究,为新企业规范化和制度化运行提供了借鉴意义。     

Organizational Identification During a Merger: Determinants of Employees' Expected Identification With the New Organization*

In order to investigate the development of organizational identification during a merger, a quasi‐experimental case study was conducted on a pending merger of police organizations. The research was conducted among employees who would be directly involved in the merger and among indirectly involved employees. In contrast to earlier studies, organizational identification was measured as the expected identification prior to the merger. Five determinants were used to explain the employees' expected identification: (a) identification with the pre‐merger organization, (b) sense of continuity, (c) expected utility of the merger, (d) communication climate before the merger and (e) communication about the merger. The five determinants appeared to explain a considerable proportion of the variance of expected organizational identification. Results suggest that in order to obtain a strong identification with the soon‐to‐be‐merged organization, managers should pay extra attention to current departments with weaker social bonds as these are expected to identify the least with the new organization. The role of the communication variables differed between the two employee groups: communication about the merger only contributed to the organizational identification of directly involved employees; and communication climate only affected the identification of indirectly involved employees.     

Managing Change Across Boundaries: Boundary‐Shaking Practices1

To date, boundary spanning has primarily been conceived of as an activity relating an organization to its environment, including other organizations with which it cooperates and competes. In contrast, this study focuses on the boundary spanning practices of individuals acting as change agents to implement boundary‐shaking change initiatives across intra‐organizational boundaries. These boundary‐shaking individuals all work for blue‐chip organizations in sectors as diverse as pharmaceuticals, consultancy and automotive. The change initiatives are equally diverse, including post‐merger integration, exploitation of across‐business synergies and implementing more integrative structures. Through our examination of boundary‐shakers we are able to extend what we know about internal change agency and change agent skills and practices. Our starting point is that organizations are comprised of networks of people with a degree of common interest. Our research shows our research subjects to be active movers and shakers in these networks, using their knowledge of the organizational political context and the motivations of others to create new networks (or new meanings within old networks), which then enables them to pursue their change objectives.     

Is it Just Me? Exploring Perceptions of Organizational Culture Change

A review of the literature on organizational culture change suggests that the field might benefit from studies combining both etic (researcher) and emic (employee) perspectives to examine individuals’ views regarding how and why their culture has changed. This paper seeks to deepen researchers’ knowledge of how individuals perceive organizational culture change by undertaking a two‐part study within an organization that has undergone planned cultural change initiatives. More specifically survey (i.e. etic view) data and interview (i.e. emic view) data are used to explore: (1) factors associated with (a) whether an individual will perceive that culture change has occurred, and (b) whether they categorize this change as for the better, for the worse or one that could not be categorized using these two labels; and (2) individuals’ rationales for why the culture has changed. The findings are mixed regarding the extent to which they support or refute existing research on organizational culture change.     

Cognition and Capabilities: A Multi-Level Perspective

Research on managerial cognition and on organizational capabilities has essentially developed in two parallel tracks. We know much from the resource-based view about the relationship between capabilities and organizational performance. Separately, managerial cognition scholars have shown how interpretations of the environment shape organizational responses. Only recently have scholars begun to link the two sets of insights. These new links suggest that routines and capabilities are based in particular understandings about how things should be done, that the value of these capabilities is subject to interpretation, and that even the presence of capabilities may be useless without managerial interpretations of their match to the environment. This review organizes these emerging insights in a multi-level cognitive model of capability development and deployment. The model focuses on the recursive processes of constructing routines (capability building blocks), assembling routines into capabilities, and matching capabilities to perceived opportunities. To date, scholars have focused most attention on the organizational-level process of matching. Emerging research on the microfoundations of routines contributes to the micro-level of analysis. The lack of research on capability assembly leaves the field without a bridge connecting the macro and micro levels. The model offers suggestions for research directions to address these challenges.     

Fairness and commitment to change in M&As: The mediating role of organizational identification

This paper examines the determinants of employees' affective commitment to change in the context of M&As. Based on the group engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2000, 2003), we predicted that organizational identification with the newly formed organization mediates the positive impact of employees’ overall justice judgments and perceived change favorableness on affective commitment to change. We tested our predictions using data collected during an international merger. After controlling for country effects, results support our hypotheses. Implications for research and practice alike are discussed.     

CEO Duality,Agency Costs,and Internal Capital Allocation Efficiency

This study examines the impact of CEO duality on firms’ internal capital allocation efficiency. We observe that when the CEO is also chair of the board, diversified firms make inefficient investments, as they allocate more capital to business segments with relatively low growth opportunities over segments with high growth opportunities. The adverse impact of CEO duality on investment efficiency prevails only among firms that face high agency problems, as captured by high free cash flows, staggered board structure and low board independence. Depending on the severity of the agency problem, CEO duality is associated with a decrease in industry‐adjusted investment in high‐growth segments of 1% to 2.1% over the following year, relative to that in low‐growth segments. However, CEOs’ equity‐based compensation curbs the negative effect of CEO duality on internal capital allocation efficiency. Overall, the findings of this study offer strong support for the agency theory and postulate the internal capital allocation policy as an important channel through which CEO duality lowers firm value in diversified firms.     

‘Bureaucracy‐lite’ and Continuities in Managerial Work

This paper questions three frequently asserted, interrelated claims about developments in management: that centralized, regulated bureaucratic organizations characterized by hierarchy and rules are inevitably giving way to decentralized and empowered post‐bureaucratic organizations characterized by internal networks and an internal market; that, as a consequence, the traditional managerial role of command and control is being superseded by one of facilitation and coordination; and that, in turn, managerial work as routine administration of work processes is being supplanted by the ‘new managerial work’ of non‐routine leadership and entrepreneurship. It is argued that these claims often rest on caricatures of bureaucracy and network organization and are neither new nor well supported by evidence. Against these claims, the paper adduces case‐study evidence which shows that, despite claims about ‘decentralization’ and ‘empowerment’, organizational change may entail not a radical shift to network organization, but more limited change to a different form of bureaucracy in which hierarchy and rules have been retained but in an attenuated and sharper form –‘bureaucracy‐lite’. Consequently, managerial roles continue to be defined in terms of individual responsibility and vertical accountability for an organizational sub‐unit, and managerial work continues to be preoccupied with monitoring and maintaining work processes, routine direction and control of staff and processing information in order to deal with the ambiguities inherent in the dimensions of managerial ‘responsibility’.     

Let's be PALS: User‐Driven Organizational Change in Healthcare*

This paper explores user‐driven organizational change in the National Health Service (NHS). The NHS Plan ( Department of Health, 2000 ) created Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) to provide information, solve problems and drive user‐led change. Evidence is drawn from a study of PALS in London acute, primary care, mental health and specialist trusts, drawing on discussion forums, interviews with PALS officers and documentation. From context and role profiles, two conclusions are evident. First, organizational instability, boundary disputes, variable management support, resource limitations, financial insecurity and multi‐site working characterize the context in which PALS operate, and the officer role is characterized by problem diversity, overlap with complaints systems, monitoring problems, relationship building and ‘serial users’. Second, these context and role attributes restrict PALS to ‘repair and maintenance’, ensuring that established systems work correctly. While PALS sit on the bottom rung of a ‘participation ladder’, their contribution is more than tokenistic. However, a processual perspective demonstrates how a fluid, networked, and diversified context isolates PALS structures from management decision‐making, constraining their power base, and inhibiting the promotion of substantive change agendas.     

Confidentiality Constraints Within Mergers and Acquisitions: Gaining Insights Through a ‘Bubble’ Metaphor*

Mergers and acquisitions are extremely sensitive, both within and outside the organizations involved. Confidentiality agreements are therefore essential for allowing teams the ‘space’ to develop potential scenarios for future integration. Despite the importance of confidentiality in practice, the subject has received little coverage in the management literature. By adopting a case‐study approach, this research explores aspects of confidentiality in a four‐year post‐acquisition integration programme in a FTSE100 pharmaceutical company. The paper identifies a range of personal impacts on the signatories, as well as various dimensions of information transfer despite the agreement being in place. Through the use of a metaphor, the research suggests that a confidentiality agreement has many similarities with the properties and characteristics of a bubble. This bubble trope is used to enhance conceptual understanding of confidentiality constraints in an organizational‐change context. The paper concludes by suggesting some ‘key learnings’ in relation to using confidentiality agreements in strategic change programmes such as a merger or acquisition.     

Non‐financial Shareholder Activism: A Process Model for Influencing Corporate Environmental and Social Performance*

Shareholders have become increasingly active in endeavouring to influence companies’ environmental and social practices. In comparison with the mature field of financially motivated shareholder activism, limited enquiries have been carried out on its non‐financial counterparts. This paper synthesizes the knowledge base through a review of the academic literature, exploring shareholder activism intended to affect corporate environmental and social performance. Theoretical perspectives appropriate to this phenomenon are critically appraised: in particular, insights from social movement theory, Hirschman's theory of exit, voice and loyalty and stakeholder salience theory, as well as the roles of signalling and symbolic management actions. Data from the literature are organized into a process model of non‐financial shareholder influence. Underpinned by the influencing context, this conceptualization centres on three primary shareholder interventions: divestment, dialogue and shareholder proposals. These interventions are enabled through a range of actors and tools: coalitions, non‐governmental organizations, codes and indices, the media and regulators. The interaction between interventions and the enabling actors and tools helps to determine managers’ perceptions of shareholder salience. These perceptions subsequently shape the organizational behaviours that affect companies’ symbolic and substantive environmental and social performance. An agenda to direct future research in this burgeoning field is articulated.     

Constructing Interlocking Rationales in Top‐driven Strategic Renewal

Under top‐driven change, active involvement of middle managers in strategy‐making requires top and middle to find common ground. The paper offers inductive theoretical development of top managers’ role as enablers for the strategic contribution of the middle levels. Central to this role is the symbolic reorganization where the middle managers’ position is set. Next, middle managers’ operational efficiency allows their performance to be shown and increases their reputation. In consequence, the middle level can actively shape the role suggested by top management, which increases their power base. Finally, when these previous interactions escalate into a two‐way process where the middle and top management contribute to each other's efforts, interlocking rationales are achieved.     

Working Under a Black Cloud: How to Sustain Organizational Identification after a Merger*

This article argues against the merger folklore that maintains that a merger negatively affects well‐being and work attitudes primarily through the threat of job insecurity. We hold that the workplace is not only a resource for fulfilling a person's financial needs, but that it is an important component of the self‐concept in terms of identification with the organization, as explained by social identity theory. We unravel the key concepts of the social identity approach relevant to the analysis of mergers and review evidence from previous studies. Then, we present a study conducted during a merger to substantiate our ideas about the effects of post‐merger organizational identification above and beyond the effects of perceived job insecurity. We recommend that managers should account for these psychological effects through the provision of continuity and specific types of communication.     

Emotions and their management during a merger in Brunei

Studies have shown that the emotional impact of mergers influences employees' attitudes to change as well as more distal post-merger outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and withdrawal. Understanding the role of emotions during mergers can therefore provide insights into why major change produces varying outcomes. This study presents findings from a qualitative study examining the emotional impact of a merger between two banking institutions on managers in Brunei. The distinctive national culture representing a fusion of Malay and Islamic values was found to influence the emotional impact of this merger. These values place less emphasis on personal control as a means for dealing with uncertainty. The findings suggest that Western transactional models of perceived control to explain how people manage change may have far more limited application within a Bruneian context.     

Organizational Identity and Legitimacy under Major Environmental Changes: Tales of Two UK Building Societies

We studied how organizational identity (OI) and organizational legitimacy (OL) interplayed within two British building societies during drastic environmental changes over two decades. Four salient phases of environmental changes were identified in the British building society sector over the last two decades (introduction of new regulatory framework, recession, demutualization threats and post‐demutualization era). Comparative analysis of the two firms' responses to the environmental changes found that, employing distinct specific strategies, both firms accorded tremendous attention and efforts to OI narration and re‐narration in order to regain OL. Four properties were identified regarding the interplay between OI narrative and OL: level, locus, mechanism and approach. Our study contributes to the literature by (a) empirically demonstrating the role of the OI/OL interplay in understanding the relationship between organizations and external changes; (b) empirically demonstrating the valence of a narrative approach to OI as a useful perspective to study organizational change and OL; and (c) identifying the role of narrative in leading and directing such changes.     

“These Power Lines Make Me Ill”: A Typology of Residents’ Health Responses to a New High‐Voltage Power Line

Little attention has been devoted to the potential diversity in residents’ health responses when exposed to an uncertain environmental health risk. The present study explores whether subgroups of residents respond differently to a new high‐voltage power line (HVPL) being put into operation. We used a quasi‐experimental prospective field study design with two pretests during the construction of a new HVPL, and two posttests after it was put into operation. Residents living nearby (0–300 m, n = 229) filled out questionnaires about their health and their perception of the environment. We applied latent class growth models to investigate heterogeneity in the belief that health complaints were caused by a power line. Classes were compared on a wide range of variables relating to negative‐oriented personality traits, perceived physical and mental health, and perceptions of the environment. We identified five distinct classes of residents, of which the largest (49%) could be described as emotionally stable and healthy with weak responses to the introduction of a new power line. A considerable minority (9%) responded more strongly to the new line being activated. Residents in this class had heard more about the health effects of power lines beforehand, were more aware of the activation of the new line, and reported a decrease in perceived health afterwards. Based on our findings we can conclude that there is a considerable heterogeneity in health responses to a new HVPL. Health risk perceptions appear to play an important role in this typology, which has implications for risk management.