The Role of Human Resource Management in Post-acquisition Integration

Building on the experience built up from the management of more than 30 integration project, the objective of this research as been to improve the post-acquisition HR integration approach of Philips New Venture Integration, based on a gap analysis between the current model approach actual HR integration processes employed during the integration of acquisitions. Opportunities for improvement of the HR integration approach are proposed with respect to the definition of HR integration objectives and the implementation of HR integration activities As the field of post-acquisition integration is very broad, initial research themes are developed by both internal and external interviews. Because the NVI HR Integration model is a mature model which has been used and improved over the last five years, the internal interviews serve to quickly focus on the most pressing issues, whereas the external interviews provide an out-of-the-box view which might provide solutions to problems which Philips has not yet been able to solve. The action research method is used for this research with the aim of positively affecting organizational change, by developing the improved HR Integration approach together with the persons involved in the actual integration of acquisitions. Action research is a cyclical process that consists of five distinct phases of (1) Diagnosing (2) Action Planning, (3) Action taking, (4) Evaluation and (5) Specifying Learning. Due to the limited time, this research is based on one single cycle. Based on the results of this single cycle it can be concluded that the Philips NVI post-acquisition integration model incorporates many of the concepts of the process-perspective on socio-cultural integration discussed in academic literature. Both the perspectives of task integration and human integration are both clearly represented in the post-acquisition integration model. Using the action research method I have been able to outline opportunities for improvement in order to better match the planning, management and execution of the HR integration approach with the intended results. The inherent complexity of the M&A integration process, and the heterogeneity between deals, make it difficult to develop generalizable conclusions when comparing many different acquisitions, without the risk of over-generalizing and oversimplifying these acquisitions. By using a qualitative approach, this research allows to investigate a single approach in depth. The resulting conclusions shed new light on certain existing paradoxes within the academic literature on post-acquisition integration, and although these insights are not statistically generalizable, they might serve as a starting point for improved understanding of the performance of mergers and acquisitions.

Subject

post-acquisition integration
socio-cultural integration
mergers and acquisitions
human resource management
process perspective

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Student theses

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master thesis

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