Mergers And Change Management At The Micro Level: A Case Study

Abstract

The transformation of the South African higher education landscape resulted in, among other things, the merger of three distance education institutions: Unisa, VUDEC and TSA. The macro level of the merger will no doubt be studied in detail. This article explores a micro level process for two departments merged by a top-down decision that did not take cognisance of their dissimilar functions and structures. The result was both a merger and a demerging process. The two departments first had to confront the realities of their different functions and structures before a reconfiguration could occur, including the emergence of a strategic plan focusing on aspects such as specific contribution, drivers, objectives and structure. The change management principles adopted to ensure the success of the process are outlined, analysed and reflected upon

HR competencies at a merged Higher Education Institution

“…Van Aswegen and Engelbrecht (2009) elaborate on this by stating that high standards of ethical behaviour and integrity encourage confidence and trust. Training in change management skills will improve the transformation process (Kilfoil & Groenewald, 2005). The focus should shift to continual learning to gain the required skills to improve the transformation process (Smith & Schurink, 2005).…”

Employee perspectives on the post-integration stage of a micro-merger

“…There is a tendency in the literature to view mergers as being the integration of two separate legal and commercial entities into one new entity. This paper has illustrated a small body of literature (Coulter, 2005;Kilfoil and Groenewald, 2005) to support the assertion that mergers can operate at smaller or micro levels, involving the amalgamation of two or more groupings, teams or units, which may also fall under the umbrella of the same organisation. The author therefore suggests that further consideration is given in subsequent studies to the facility for different types of mergers to occur, ranging from the widely accepted conceptualisation of two organisations coming together, to the far less researched and nascent nature of another form of merger, namely the micro-merger, which in the case of this study, involved the fusing of two separately existing but complementary units within the same organisation.…”

“…As posited above, the term "party" is so general as to encompass the merging of organisations, as well as the merging of groupings, teams and units (Collins, 2007). Finally, the use of the nuanced term "micro-merger" to describe the Irish higher education institution at hand, is also supported by a previous study by Kilfoil and Groenewald (2005) who explored a merger at a micro level which incorporated the merging of two higher departments, in the context of a South African higher education institution.…”

“…On the other hand, mergers can also operate at micro or smaller levels whereupon such a change initiative may involve the merging of internal functional units in the same organisation, which heretofore had been operating as separate entities. This type of initiative can therefore be referred to as a micro-merger (Kilfoil and Groenewald, 2005). This paper reports on a study that was undertaken in a higher education institution, in Ireland, following a faculty merger, which united two heretofore separate, geographically disparate halves of the faculty.…”