Abstract
The aim of this study is to explore, describe and understand the dynamics in the acquisition of organisations when people are transferred unilaterally from one business entity to another in order to conceptualise an effective, efficient and humane management model for human acquisition activity practices in South African companies. An autoethnographical approach reflecting evocative and analytical elements was utilised in this post-modernist qualitative research study.
Nine autobiographical short stories (vignettes) from the author provide detailed and rich narrative data, corroborated by documentation, mails and handwritten notes that tracked acquisition challenges both from an acquirer and acquiree position that were faced by the author at the time. This is supported by two additional stories, one at national level and the other at international level from individuals who experienced the management of significant acquisitions in their respective careers. Additional documentary information corroborates both stories.
Key first-order constructions found in the vignettes were integrated with applied storytelling, critical event analysis and analytic induction deduction and abduction. These first-order concepts were integrated with second-order constructs and research findings that are found in a number of scholarships including organisation and management studies, social change, commerce and law. The outcome of this is a Human Acquisition Transition people management model (HAT1 and HAT1+).
The model offers important, even unique, insights into psychosocial, legal and commercial dynamics, both at individual and group level, pertaining to a range of stakeholders and roles in the management of unilateral transfer of employees. More specifically, the study offers several methodological, theoretical and process management considerations with implications for current acquisition model process studies and for the practices and policies of management accountable for transferring people during acquisitions.