Abstract
M.Comm.
The purpose of the study was to identify whether leaders in a chemical organisation consider issues pertaining to change management and their implications during a merger or an acquisition. A literature study was conducted to understand current and future trends in issues of change management and the role of leadership during mergers or acquisitions. Research interviews were then conducted as per the questions formulated based on the literature review or best practises. The population of Henkel South Africa executive and management team of the adhesive business comprised of 36 employees who were affected by the merger or acquisition, five executives and 31 middle managers. The sample comprised of 29 respondents. Reasons for not interviewing the balance of the seven managers included: managers availability; departure of an executive during the research and the decline by middle managers to participate in the study. One hour structured interviews were conducted with the 29 respondents using semi-structured questionnaires over the period of one month. Content analysis was performed to analyse the qualitative data collected. Major findings of the study include the following: Lack of communication from top management; human resources department and middle management; lack of an integrated plan before the change process was initiated was one of the findings and a lack of a process followed by human resources staff during the integration process.
It is eminent that for an organisation to succeed in undertaking a merger or an acquisition, organisational leadership needs to play a role in establishing goals and objectives to be achieved. These goals and objectives need to be communicated throughout the organisation. An integration plan needs to be formulated before the deal
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is approved so as to outline various mechanisms that need to be in place to ensure success of the change process. Top management must communicate the share vision and mission of the new organisation to all employees.