Current Issues in SHRM

Organizations participating in mergers and acquisitions find the transition period challenging because the reconciliation of work cultures and differing employee management styles take time to resolve. According to one estimate, up to one third of employees at firms under acquisition remain redundant.  Firms making acquisitions may find it difficult to replicate the tacit advantages of the firms they are acquiring (Marks, Mirvis & Ashkenas, 2017). 

A logistics firm under acquisition meant that its employees faced an unsecure future at the new parent company. One such employee was a senior logistics manager at the small labeling and packaging supplier (Marks et al., 2017). The logistics manager contemplated her post-acquisition future, wondering if the new potential employers would find use for her knowhow and skills. Although the logistics manager did conduct a SWOT evaluation of the acquisition, she could not anticipate the fact that her interactions with the new employers revealed she had more practical logistics know how than her new colleagues. 

When firm acquires or merges with another, a failure to have a shared vision often results in post-acquisition or merger difficulties (Tepedino & Watkins, 2010). Although mergers and acquisitions are, pending finalization of documentation about the same, a straight forward operation, workplace cultures and employee welfare are issues that take time to resolve (Marks et al., 2017; Tepedino & Watkins, 2010). Consequently, the articulation of a shared vision prior to effecting the actual merger is important in ensuring less turbulent transition period for the merging firms. 

There are various SHRM issues that mergers and acquisitions bring up, and one of these is the post-merger leadership. The nurturing of effective leaders is a time consuming process (Marks et al., 2017). Therefore, creating an environment where employees in now merged organizations can effectively contribute to the realization of organizational strategies (Tepedino & Watkins, 2010). In addition to enhancing leadership functions, an audit of the skills and tacit knowledge of the employees of the merged organizations is of strategic advantage. An employee audit makes it possible to enhance employee productivity vis-à-vis shared objectives.

References

Marks, M. L., Mirvis, P., & Ashkenas, R. (2017). Surviving M & A. Harvard Business Review Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/03/surviving-maTepedino, L., & Watkins, M. (2010). Be a master of mergers and acquisitions. SHRM Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/Pages/0610tepedino.aspx