Helene Loe Colman

Industrial relations in merger integration

The main research question in this article is how merger integrations are influenced by local industrial relations. These are explored and illuminated by combining perspectives on industrial relations and perspectives on mergers and acquisitions. The M&A field of research has been dominated by organization and management perspectives, and industrial relations are seldom brought into the studies. Studies in the field of industrial relations are mostly concerned with institutional levels. Qualitative data and analyses of four integration processes together with 108 personal interviews are presented. By focusing on industrial relations at local company levels in the integration of merging partners new insights are sought for both fields of research. Local implementations of industrial relations contribute to the explanation of integration outcomes. Merger integration implies the integration of different traditions of union and employee–management collaboration that in essence may merge the collaboration cultures into something new.

Postacquisition Boundary Spanning: A Relational Perspective on Integration

Through a longitudinal, qualitative study, we explore how preexisting embedded relationships shape boundary-spanning actions in the postacquisition integration process. We examine the role of union representatives in the integration process and find that in our case, they are significant boundary spanners. They share knowledge, promote the acquisition, and mitigate conflicts both within and between the merging organizations. Their intra- and interorganizational preacquisition relationships are the contingencies for their boundary-spanning actions. Our study makes several contributions to the literature. First, we show how a set of actors, mostly ignored by the mergers and acquisitions literature, can play a key facilitating role in the integration process. Second, we extend the understanding of the autonomy-integration dilemma in the postacquisition integration literature by conceptualizing preexisting relationships as precursors to postacquisition boundary spanning. Third, we challenge the classical conception of relational inertia as a path-dependent hindrance by showing that preexisting relationships can be leveraged to facilitate postacquisition integration. Finally, we contribute to the boundary-spanning literature by identifying the nature of embedded preacquisition relationships as an important contingency to boundary-spanning actions in interorganizational encounters.