Jeff Snell
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The Acquisition of Yang search by Yin scape
In this hypothetical scenario, the Indian internet company Yinscape has taken over Yangsearch, a former competitor from California. The structure, culture, and client base of these two former rivals are very different, but they now have to find a way to work together to achieve future success. Takeovers often have a negative effect on employees, causing confusion, uncertainty, and stress – which may be magnified when the companies have completely different cultures and recently saw each other as “the enemy.”
As the CEO of Yinscape, one of the first orders of business will be to get employees of both organizations past any negative feelings this takeover may have engendered as quickly as possible and to refocus their attention towards a new common goal. This message will be communicated through a vision statement to all employees, which will be instrumental in giving the new entity the direction and sense of purpose that it will need to thrive (Bush 2015). By articulating a clear picture of what future success will look like, employees from both organizations will be motivated to achieve common organizational goals (Jick, 1989).
How Should the Vision Statement be Articulated?
According to Jick (1989), an effective vision statement needs to be strategically sound, supportable by employees, and continuously reinforced. It should also communicate through the use of imagery, and without an excess of “value-laden rhetoric” (Carton, Murphy, & Clark, 2014, p.1544). In other words, the leader who expresses this vision needs to believe it themselves, and employees need to see that their leaders are acting in ways that support the organizational vision. If the leadership team does not fully embrace the organizational vision, or if they are thought of as untrustworthy, the vision will be dismissed by line-level staff as meaningless nonsense.
In the case of Yinscape and Yangsearch, both organizations need to prepare for the inevitable changes that this merger will produce. Spector (1989) found that one effective method for guiding employees through such change is to diffuse dissatisfaction throughout an organization, such that a new sense of purpose is inculcated within (Spector, 1989). In the case of Yinscape and Yangsearch, employees should be given “models that suggest not just where the [newly formed] company ought to be headed but also how far it is from that goal” (Spector, 1989, p.134).
Where the Silicon Microchip Meets the Road
As the CEO of Yinscape, I would make sure that my address to the top managers of the company would take place at or near the Yangscape facility, because I expect that this acquisition will result in more raw nerves on the California side. Holding the meeting in Silicon Valley will communicate to our newest employees that their new CEO and fellow management team is willing to meet them on their own turf, and I would take some time to tour the California facility and listen to the employees to get a sense of their organizational culture. “The culture of an organization is crucial to the way the leader works because it establishes restrictions on what they can do and the ways in which they can influence the organization’s members so that they can perform their tasks efficiently” (Popa, 2013, p.179).
In communicating my vision for the new company, I would emphasize the similarities of both organizations, such as their age, the fact that they have both been pioneers in the industry, and that they have both been highly competitive in this market sector. The managers (and employees) must be reassured that while there will undoubtedly be adjustments to both companies to avoid redundancy and create compatibility between systems, care will be taken to minimize the impact on the culture of the organizations. I would focus the managers attention on the idea of not just overtaking the market-leading U.K. internet firm, but becoming the world-wide industry gold standard, against which all other technology firms will be measured. To diffuse dissatisfaction, I would remind the managers about the financial and industry skeptics, who would love to see our new company fail so that they could bury us in reams of “I told you so” articles.
I would expect there to be doubters in the group, and I would give them the option to leave the company with a generous severance package if they could not embrace the new organization. For those that choose to stay, I would tell them that chasing down the U.K. firm and learning to work with their new partners in India would present unique, exciting and challenging opportunities that would test their mettle, personally and professionally. Finally, I would remind them that their mission has not changed, but by expanding their intellectual horizons, learning new systems, and combining the best aspects of both companies, they would be in a much better realize those goals.
After the Meeting
After the meeting, I would anticipate that some managers might want to take me up on my offer and leave the company, and I would accept their departure. Managers who are not committed to a vision have the potential to wreak havoc with employee morale. For managers who stay, I would emphasize the importance of supporting our mission in word and in deed, and in utilizing proper channels to address any constructive criticism. I would arrange for the managers from both entities to visit their counterpart’s campus, to foster a greater level of understanding and teamwork, and to generate fresh ideas. In that spirit, I would spend time at both locations speaking with line-level employees, to model the kind of follow through needed to support the company’s new vision. It is one thing to talk about the values and vision you are trying to create within the company, but good leaders need to be present and “walk the talk” (Calland & Keith, n.d.).
References
Bush, T. (2015). The problem with vision. Educational Management Administration &
Leadership, 43(2), 175-176. doi:10.1177/1741143214563452
Carton, A. M., Murphy, C., & Clark, J. R. (2014). A (blurry) vision of the future: How Leader
Rhetoric about ultimate goals influences performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 57(6), 1544-1570. doi:10.5465/amj.2012.0101
Calland, D., & Keith, J. (n.d.). Visions, visionaries and envisioning: Seeing change [Video file].
Retrieved from https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
course_id=_220953_1&content_id=_7471988_1
Jick, T. D. (1989). The vision thing. In T. D. Jick & M. A. Peiperl (Eds.), Managing change:
Cases and concepts (3rd ed., pp. 113-120). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Popa, B. M. (2013). Risks resulting from the discrepancy between organizational culture and
leadership. Journal of Defense Resources Management, 4(1), 179+. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA338602967&v=2.1&u=vic_liberty&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=2419639bd1f358292338103c87d27118
Spector, B. A. (1989). From bogged down to fired up: Inspirational organizational change. In T.
- Jick & M. A. Peiperl (Eds.), Managing change: Cases and concepts (3rd ed., pp. 132-
139). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
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