MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Merger management
I was in charge of the Research Department and half my staff
were in one building and half were in the other. I was physically
travelling between the two and every week encountered these
very different cultures. Most people stayed in their buildings and
stayed within their cultures (Interviewee L)
Other managers sought to do similar things to try to understand and get
to know individuals, cultures and ways of working. Cultural integration
of the industrial departments, however, has not occurred to any great
extent and the new General Secretary has characteristically forthright
views on that issue:-
One of the things I don't like that's happened is the first floor is
the postal and the second floor is telecoms. These are only little
things but little things mean a lot of things. If I had had my way,
I would have had the telecoms on the first floor and the postal on
the second floor. It wouldn't have meant a lot but it would have
been saying something, you know. And the other thing that has
happened is that on the second floor and the first floor -- on the
second floor they have got a plaque from Alvescote and the first
floor they have got a plaque from the UCW. Now when I saw
them going up, this is before I was GS, I thought it was terrible
because it was like saying, we still exist.
As suggested above, no strategic view was taken on layout of the office
space with a view to cultural integration. Some years on, however, the
role of open plan space was identified by one senior manager as
having potential for improving teamworking in the Finance Department,
a department still very much divided by old union systems and ways of
working, and the objective of moving to open plan working was
included in the Finance Department’s Strategic Plan for that purpose.
What it will do in the long run is that out in the general part of
this area, we can see more what people are doing or not doing
and then people eventually, maybe not necessarily some of the
individuals here now but in the long run, those individuals will
become more part of the team (Interviewee N)
So managers in the CWU recognise the strategic role of physical space
and physical structure and the impact it can have on merger. A
significant factor in their recognition is cultural – both in terms of their
original intentions and their critique of the less than perfect cultural
changes that have occurred since the new building was occupied.
‘Meaningful’ managerial actions
Merger Management
5.11. The CWU merged in 1995, long before this research commenced.
However, as has become clear already, the merger was by no means
‘complete’ in psychological terms (Buono and Bowditch 1989) by the
time research started. Some merger management actions are,
therefore, clearly discernible.
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