David S. Hames

How CEOs influence organizational culture following acquisitions

Research has demonstrated that mergers and acquisitions often fail, in significant part because companies fail to effectively integrate their diverse organizational cultures. This case study provides an in‐depth description of one company’s organizational culture just prior to being acquired, and demonstrates how it began to change almost immediately following the acquisition. The new CEO affected the acquired company’s culture directly by changing roles, responsibilities, policies, procedures, and practices. He affected it indirectly through his influence on other organizational members. Suggestions for effectively managing the integration of diverse organizational cultures following an acquisition are discussed.

The perceived cultural compatibility index: an extension

The goal of the current study was to replicate and extend the perceived cultural compatibility index developed by Veiga et al. and Very et al. In extending their work, the sample studied was large enough to allow use of confirmatory factor analysis for examining the index beyond the exploratory factor analysis used in its development. Further, the paper treated organizational culture as a socially constructed phenomenon and included all employee classifications in the study. The results show evidence of a second‐order factor model for perceived cultural compatibility rather than the single factor view of culture offered by Veiga et al. and Very et al.

Are two birds in hand worth more than one in the bush: The case of paired employees

Abstract Changing demographics of the labor force are increasing the likelihood that a single employer will hire both husbands and wives to meet staffing goals. We call these employees paired employees. While there may be some reasons for being reluctant to hire paired employees, economic necessity may mandate a revision of an anti-nepotism policy. This article suggests that most of the potential disadvantages of paired employees can be reduced through relatively conventional personnel practices. These practices cover selection, promotion, performance appraisal, and compensation.

Disciplining sexual harassers: What’s fair?

To avoid liability for hostile environment sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and to minimize the negative effects of such conduct on victims’ morale and perhaps their performance, employers must implement remedial measures that are capable of ending the harassment or even preventing it. Determining what constitutes adequate remedial action is difficult, and employers may administer excessively severe disciplinary penalties to ensure legal compliance. But such a response would contravene the tenets of just cause and industrial due process. This investigation examines relevant arbitration decisions to determine how labor arbitrators have balanced these competing interests. That is, it delineates the criteria that should be used to ensure that the disciplinary penalties levied against employees who sexually harass others are both adequate and fair.

Training in the Land of Doone: An Exercise in Understanding Cultural Differences

The ability to manage workforce diversity effectively has achieved strategic significance for organizations. This article describes an exercise that helps students understand cultural differences and their organizational implications.

Resolving the conflict between clients’ privacy rights and employees’ equal employment opportunity rights

It is unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for employers to discriminate against applicants or employees because of their sex unless sex is a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ). During the past two decades, a number of courts were asked to decide whether sex is a BFOQ for the purpose of protecting clients’ privacy rights (i.e., whether employers could insist that employees be of the same sex as their clients for those jobs which required employees to touch or view clients’ bodies in various stages of undress). This investigation examined relevant judicial opinions rendered throughout the United States to determine how the courts resolved this conflict between clients’ privacy rights and employees’ equal employment opportunity rights.

Self-defamation: Is a trend emerging?

The common law theory of defamation of character involves the invasion of ones interest in protecting his or her reputation. An actionable claim for defamation generally arises when false and defamatory facts about someone are communicated by the originator of the defamatory material to someone other than the person defamed. Under certain circumstances, however, the originator may be liable if the defamatory material is communicated to a third party by the defamed person himself or herself. This article examines what appears to be an emerging trend among the courts to recognize and apply the doctrine of self-defamation to the employment context. State and federal court decisions are summarized in order to identify and illustrate the relevant legal principles.