Luigi De Bernardis

Evolution of multiple organisational identities after an M&A event: A case study from Europe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible coexistence of single and multiple organizational identities (OIs) after mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In particular, it describes how the sensemaking process leads the acquired and acquiring companies to maintain multiple identities, even after the formal conclusion of the integration process. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a grounded study based on a single case study (M&A between a German chemical multinational and an Italian/Swiss pharmaceutical firm). Findings – While many previous studies suggest that the evolution of OI reduces ambiguity by providing multiple identities under a shared commonality, this paper shows that multiple identities might survive within the same “new entity.” Research limitations/implications – Despite being based on a single case, the paper argues that the choice of maintaining multiple identities may be even more appropriate than the tendency to converge toward one of the old ones or toward a...

Social dimension in ERP adoption and implementation: The evolution of Organizational Identity after an M&A

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to illustrate how the adoption of new enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems affects sensemaking in the process of Organizational Identity (OI) integration after a Merger and Acquisition (M&A).Design/methodology/approach – Within a wider case study about an acquisition in chemical/pharmaceutical industry, the paper describes the effects of SAP adoption and implementation on the organizational identity. This methodology, based on semi‐structured interviews to project leaders and to team members, has allowed a deep comprehension of the context, even if results cannot provide statistical evidence of relationships.Findings – Using the Swanson and Ramillers approach to innovation, the paper argues that ERP adoption and implementation support sensemaking process if innovation takes place with mindfulness and because, in that case, people interact on symbolic meanings sharing retrospective knowledge and cognitive causal maps. After an M&A there are conditions for a min...

A Design Theory for Dynamic Competencies Mapping Systems

This paper describes a research in progress that addresses the design problem of dynamically mapping competencies with IT. In turbulent markets, companies face the problem of an expansive maintenance of competencies inventory. They have to choose between maintaining those systems and manage new knowledge or abandoning them and risk being less competitive. Using IS design theory [1], we’ll try to identify meta requirement, products and process requirements and testable hypothesis in order to develop an IT tool able to classify old and new competencies in a dynamic way. The hypothesis will be tested comparing a real competence inventory (elaborated by ISFOL, an Italian public entity) with an inventory coming from an IT tool designed with this methodology. These activities are planned in three phases. As first step, we extract from ISFOL database a list of competencies required for financial organizational roles. The second step is to hypothesize which sources could provide these competencies in order to verify extracting competencies from the “corpus” articulated in those sources. The third steps of this process will be to compare ISFOL skills inventory for financial industry and the inventory that comes from a DCMS (Dynamic Competencies Mapping System).

How Teams Can Achieve Success Using New Technologies in Order to Help Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Learning in Communities of Practice: A Case Study in Public Sector

The aim of this paper is to explain how new technologies can contribute to overcome problems in developing of knowledge sharing in self-regulated team within a socio-technical approach. Especially knowledge sharing among Community of Practice’s members can be helped adopting some simple web-based solution. This knowledge sharing, that in the past was possible only “off-line”, allows to teams the spanning of temporal and special boundaries. After a review of socio-technical assumptions, we draw a model where the adoption of simple web-based technology have a mediation effect on both individual and team performances. The propositions based on this model have been tested in a recent case study. Findings confirm that adopting web-based solutions, the knowledge sharing among Communities of Practice member across the company and about solution to variances have a stronger effect on team performance.