making-sense-of-change-management

The applicationsThe behavioural model is useful as a reminder that reward strategies forman important part of the merger and acquisition process and must beaddressed reasonably early. The cognitive model is based on the premisethat our thinking affects our behaviour. This means that goal setting androle modelling too are important.However, the psychodynamic approach provides the most usefulmodel to explain the process of individual change during the variousstages of a merger or acquisition. In Table 6.3 we use the Kubler-Rossmodel from Chapter 1 to illustrate individual experiences of change andeffective management interventions during this process of change.Managing the teamEndings and beginnings are important features of mergers and acquisitions,and these are most usefully addressed at the team level. The ideasof William Bridges (Chapter 3) provide a useful template for managementactivity during ending, the neutral zone and the new beginnings thatoccur during a merger or acquisition.Managing endingsThe endings are about saying goodbye to the old way of things. Thismight be specific ways of working, a familiar building, team mates, a highlevel of autonomy or some well-loved traditions. In the current era ofbelt-tightening and cost-cutting, there might be quite a lot of losses forpeople, similar to the effects of a restructuring exercise. (See Chapter 1 formore tips on handling redundancies.) Here is some advice for howmanagers can manage the ending phase (or how to get them to let go):• Acknowledge that the old company is ending, or the old ways ofdoing things are ending.• Give people time to grieve for the loss of familiar people if redundanciesare made. Publish news of their progress in newsletters.• Do something to mark the ending: for example have a team drinktogether specifically to acknowledge the last day of trading as theold company.• Be respectful about the past. It is tempting to denigrate the old managementteam or the old ways of working to make the new company lookmore attractive. This will not work. It will just create resentment.244