Original Research

Stress and communication across job levels after an acquisition

T. Lotz, F. Donald
South African Journal of Business Management | Vol 37, No 1 | a593 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajbm.v37i1.593 | © 2018 T. Lotz, F. Donald | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 10 October 2018 | Published: 31 March 2006

About the author(s)

T. Lotz, School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
F. Donald, School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

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Abstract

Mergers and acquisitions are frequently implemented as a strategy for organizational change, despite a fifty-fifty chance of success. One of the frequently cited reasons for the lack of success is that employee reactions receive inadequate attention. Using a sense-making framework, this research investigated the perceptions of employees at different organizational levels of the stressors that they experienced during an acquisition and their satisfaction with the organizational communication that occurred during the process. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional design was used. The sample consisted of 102 employees from a recently acquired organization, all of whom attended the same communication ‘road show’ regarding the acquisition. Results indicated that there were no differences between managers, supervisors and lower-level employees in the quantity or type of stress and satisfaction with communication. Communication satisfaction had an inverse relationship with sources of stress. The results are discussed in terms of power, sense-making and shifting boundaries.

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Crossref Citations

1. Nichts ist so konstant wie die Veränderung
Ruth Stock-Homburg
Journal of Business Economics  vol: 77  issue: 7-8  first page: 795  year: 2007  
doi: 10.1007/s11573-007-0059-7