Evolution of multiple organisational identities after an M&A event: A case study from Europe

2noStructured Abstract Purpose – This paper examines the possible coexistence of single and multiple organizational identities (OIs) after mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In particular, it describes how the sensemaking process leads the acquired and acquiring companies to maintain multiple identities, even after the formal conclusion of the integration process. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a grounded study based on a single case study (M&A between a German chemical multinational and an Italian/Swiss pharmaceutical firm). Findings – While many previous studies suggest that the evolution of OI reduces ambiguity by providing multiple identities under a shared commonality, this paper shows that multiple identities might survive within the same “new entity.” Research limitations/implications – Despite being based on a single case, the paper argues that the choice of maintaining multiple identities may be even more appropriate than the tendency to converge toward one of the old ones or toward a new one. The “sense” that employees and managers give to the same “words,” as well as the “sense” that they make for them, mirrors the perception they have of the OI. Practical implications – The conclusions presented could help managers to facilitate sensemaking as a means of dealing with multiple OIs. Originality – Differently from the extant literature, the paper concludes by stating that striking a balance between single and multiple identities might provide the ideal platform for building a new identity based on plurality. When the two (or more) organizational contexts present some complementarities, the existence of multiple identities, and its inner ambiguity, is not a problem per se. Keywords: Organizational Identity, Sensemaking, Mergers and Acquisitions - M&A, Change Management, Organizational development, Organization design, Pharmaceutical industry Article Classification: Research paper/Case study2013 Impact Factor: 0.744 * - Thompson Reuters - Scopus - ABS/AJR 2015: Level 2 (cat. Org. Studies)partially_openopenDe Bernardis, Luigi; Giustiniano, LucaDE BERNARDIS, Luigi; Giustiniano, Luc

Change and sensemaking: organizational identities evolution and causal maps. A case study of M&A in the banking industry

The aim of this paper is to explain how the social process of sensemaking can be supported adopting causal maps. Even if the opportunity and the possibility to manage organizational identity during the post-acquisition integration has been argued by previous papers, the evolution of organizational identity remains a social process that takes place during the interaction among people. In fact, an acquisition creates conditions in which differences among identities are emphasized. This social process is based on sensemaking, that can be defined as the capability to link daily activities with large patterns. The effectiveness of such a process within an organization depends on the presence of \u201ccommon points\u201d across cognitive maps of knowledge that each employee develops. After an acquisition these \u201ccommon points\u201d decrease because of a higher ambiguity. A managerial response that is based on clear communication and coherent managers\u2019 behaviour can reduce this ambiguity and improve sensemaking effectiveness. Based on a case study of a M&A in the European banking industry, we argue that after an M&A, a managerial response that clarifies organizational identity perception, enhancing weaker relationships, improves the effectiveness of sensemaking process reducing the ambiguity in multiple identities. People from the acquired bank were requested to elaborate a casual map of organizational identity before and after the acquisition. Then common points on maps were measured and a \u201ctrend of ambiguity\u201d has been calculated. This paper illustrate how it is possible to describe the initiatives that the acquiring bank used during integration process by using cognitive map and network measurements; similarly, the effects on the level of effectiveness of sensemaking have been calculated. We also described how the acquired bank could measure and monitor the level of comprehension of corporate strategy. In doing that, the bank can clarify strategic issues related to organizational identity that shows a weak level of comprehension. In addition, this paper has three main outcomes. First, we explain why the evolution of organizational identity is a social process based on sensemaking and how appropriate managerial responses must be monitored and supported at social level in order to be effective. Second, it clarifies how cognitive maps can be a managerial tool to achieve that result. Cognitive maps allow representing the expected organizational identity in a form closer to the mental representation that people build about the new reality. Third, it shows that sensemaking process can be measured in terms of effectiveness using network measurements. These results can be interesting for both academic and practitioners. More in details, managers dealing with acquisition could adopt casual maps in order to facilitate sensemaking process and measuring effectiveness of their integration strategy

Design and Performance Evaluation of Piezo-Driven Synthetic Jet Devices

In the last two decades synthetic jet actuators have gained much interest among flow control techniques due to their short response time, high jet velocity and absence of traditional piping, that matches the requirements of reduced size and low weight. A synthetic jet is generated by the diaphragm oscillation (generally driven by a piezo-electric element) in a relatively small cavity, producing periodic cavity pressure variations associated to cavity volume changes. The high pressure air exhausts through an orifice, converting membrane elastic energy in jet kinetic energy. This review paper faces the development of various lumped-element models (LEM) as practical tools to design and manufacturing actuators. LEM can predict quickly device performances such as frequency response in terms of membrane displacement, cavity pressure and jet velocity, as well as efficiency of energy conversion of input Joule power into useful kinetic power of air jet. Actuator performance is analyzed also by varying typical geometric parameters such as cavity height and orifice diameter and length, through a proper dimensionless form of the governing equations

A Calibrated Lumped Element Model for the Prediction of PSJ Actuator Efficiency Performance

Among the various active flow control techniques, Plasma Synthetic Jet (PSJ) actuators, or Sparkjets, represent a very promising technology, especially because of their high velocities and short response times. A practical tool, employed for design and manufacturing purposes, consists of the definition of a low-order model, lumped element model (LEM), which is able to predict the dynamic response of the actuator in a relatively quick way and with reasonable fidelity and accuracy. After a brief description of an innovative lumped model, this work faces the experimental investigation of a home-designed and manufactured PSJ actuator, for different frequencies and energy discharges. Particular attention has been taken in the power supply system design. A specific home-made Pitot tube has allowed the detection of velocity profiles along the jet radial direction, for various energy discharges, as well as the tuning of the lumped model with experimental data, where the total device efficiency has been assumed as a fitting parameter. The best fitting value not only contains information on the actual device efficiency, but includes some modeling and experimental uncertainties, related also to the used measurement techniqu

Sp3 Is a Bifunctional Transcription Regulator with Modular Independent Activation and Repression Domains

Sp3 is a member of the Sp family of transcription factors and binds to DNA with affinity and specificity comparable to that of Sp1. We demonstrate that Sp3 is a bifunctional transcription factor that can both activate and repress transcription. Gene fusion experiments in mammalian cells demonstrate that the Sp3 activation potential is distributed over an extensive glutamine-rich N-terminal region, whereas the repressor activity has been mapped in a 72-amino acid region located at the 5' of the zinc finger DNA-binding domain. We demonstrated that the repression activity is strictly dependent on the context of the DNA-binding sites bound by Sp3. We found that Sp3 represses transcription of promoters bearing multiple GAL4 DNA-binding sites, whereas it activates isogenic reporters containing a single GAL4-binding site. Transfection experiments in Drosophila cells that lack endogenous Sp activity demonstrated that Sp3 does not possess an active repression domain that can function in insect cells, rather it is a weak transcriptional activator of the c-myc promoter. Our results strongly suggest that Sp3 is a dual-function regulator whose activity is dependent upon both the promoter and the cellular context

Perception of Security Issues in the Development of Cloud-IoT Systems by a Novice Programmer

It is very hard (or ineffective) to take an old system and add to it security features like plug-ins. Therefore, a computer system is much more reliable designed with the approach of security-by-design. Nowadays, there are several tools, middlewares, and platforms designed with this concept in mind, but they must be appropriately used to guarantee a suitable level of reliability and safety. A security-by-design approach is fundamental when creating a distributed application in the IoT field, composed of sensors, actuators, and cloud services. The IoT usually requires handling different programming languages and technologies in which a developer might not be very expert. Through a use case, we analyzed the security of some IoT components of Amazon Web Services (AWS) from a novice programmer's point of view. Even if such a platform could be secure by itself, a novice programmer could do something wrong and leave some possible attack points to a malicious user. To this end, we also surveyed a small pool of novice IoT programmers from a consulting engineering company. Even if we discovered that AWS seems quite robust, we noticed that some common security concepts are often not clear or applied, leaving the door open to possible issues

Ballistic effectiveness of Zr-containing composite solid propellants as a function of binder nature and mass fraction

This paper considers the effects of binder mass fraction on the properties of energetic formulations based on zirconium and zirconium hydride. These ingredients, replacing aluminum in solid rocket motors with low vehicle performance coefficient, may increase the propellant ballistic effectiveness, thanks to the resulting higher density and notwithstanding their lower specific impulse. The propellant ballistic effectiveness is estimated via the vehicle velocity achieved using the propellant under analysis in a real vehicle. For each specific mission, the binder content can be varied to provide the optimal relationship between energetic and physical-mechanical properties, that is, one may sacrifice energy in favor of rheological and physicomechanical properties (increasing binder mass fraction), or vice versa

Bone healing in extraction sockets covered with collagen membrane alone or associated with porcine-derived bone graft: a comparative histological and histomorphometric analysis

The present paper reports data of a randomized study aimed to analyse and compare the histologic and histomorphometric aspects of bone healing in extraction sites covered with collagen membrane alone or associated with porcine-derived bone graft