Implications of merger: A perceptional study

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) is emerging as an important strategy for consolidating financial gains, more particularly in the banking industry. In India, banks of public, private as well as foreign institutions are evincing more interests on M & A, today more than ever, as an attempt in creating an environment to survive the challenges imposed on them by the dynamic business climate that prevails. Lowering their costs by enhancing operational efficiency has been their important focus in gaining competitive advantage. Mergers and the changes it brings to an organizational setting tremendously impact its members and their perceptions resulting in a change in their approach towards work and organization, by and large. There is a myth that the mergers pose as an extreme form of change and it is often perceived as threatening to individuals by heightening their feeling of vulnerability, insecurity and a breach in psychological contract. This study aimed to test the myth and known the realty.

This paper explores the sense-making of the existing employees of a merger bank in an attempt to understand the formation and maintenance of perceptual image o identify the context of the formation and maintenance of perception about their organizations at a rich at a rich micro-level during a pre and post merger period.