Employees Psychosocial Experiences In Mergers And Acquisitions In The Financial Sector Of Ghana: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Through improvement efforts, current corporate techniques that emphasise high organisational growth, flexibility, and profitability have been associated with mergers and acquisitions. However, mechanisms involved in mergers and acquisitions can have adverse effects on employees by putting them under undue stress. To curb this menace, efforts need to be made to create positive environments for employees before, during, and after a merger or an acquisition. The qualitative study, which was based on the transactional model of stress and coping and the transition-adaptation theory, aimed at exploring the subjective lived-experiences of selected employees who were transitioned from the seven erstwhile banks to the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed to analyse 30 interview transcripts. Overall, three major themes emerged at each phase of the merger and acquisition namely: pre-takeover organisational sense of community, merger and acquisition as a stressor and person-organisation fit. Findings from this study showed that employees appraised the merger and acquisition as stressful, and their previous organisational sense of community affected their fit perceptions in the new organisation. Thus, the study recommends that psychosocial supports be provided for employees undergoing a transition process and encourages the bank of Ghana (the regulator) to address psychosocial issues in its policy objective manual to guide future mergers, acquisitions or takeovers.