Drucker

#1 As a manager in the organization that is being acquired, I would give some Price Waterhouse advice to help with the transitional period of the company by building a guiding team. I feel it's fundamental to creating a successful change in any organization. Furthermore, the cohesion of the employees will be more effective overall. During the last two months of the company prior to the change, I would create a team of creditable employees consisting of managers and workers. The goal of this change management team would be to convey a message that is clear to avoid any confusion among the ranks of the employees. Furthermore, the team would help answer questions and give advice for employee's; that will be leaving the company in the near future, as well as employees that might be changing positions, or employees that could be transferring to another division entirely. I feel by building a team to help manage the new changes the next three months following the acquisition will become a smother transition. During the next three months, I would have the team focus giving attention to the retained employees, by reassurance and guidance of the fact that letting go of the old company culture and thinking of the new culture and adapting to it should be done easily. This would ultimately give the employees more productive and efficient work in the future and long run, and will make the employees feel more comfortable about the transition.

William Bridges has good thoughts on change called the marathon effect which will give employees a better understanding of the transition. Trust and honesty goes along way when people are straight forward in the ending or letting go phase and ultimately will help transition people to the neutral phase more easily, and then eventually the new beginning. By implementing the change management team the people in the organization will have an easier time and better understanding of the next two months gearing up for ending phase of the company like layoffs, job changes, and promotions. Then after the acquisition the neutral phase will begin with the help from the change management team. This will occur by training people to adapt to new jobs, understanding the new culture and ways of conducting oneself now the company has changed. Since the company was experiencing a high rate of growth prior to the acquisition, the company as a whole may not statistically be experiencing a high growth rate like in that past when the company was a 200 person firm. The goal of the team is to not let workers get held back and have the change be unworkable and inefficient. Transitions are internal and need to be focused on that. Nothing is automatic, even if change is showing signs that it is working, there is always a timing issue, because transitions tend to work slower then change itself.

I would tell the employees that the guiding team will be creating a sense of urgency about the new changes in culture, workforce, management, hours of operation, vacation time, medical and dental benefits and any other differences. Kotter's steps to help the transition of an acquisition would be to create a sense of urgency with the compelling vision of the future. Employee's feelings will be influenced by the transition and need clarification about the future state of the new company including vision and direction of where this transition is going and how important it is including the need to change effectively and fast without losing productivity.

2. Peter Drucker a father of modern management says in the article Meeting of the Minds that, "you cannot manage change you can only be ahead of it." Peter Senge another theory leader in change management and the father of organizational learning says that a change, "clearly, needs to have a willingness to take risks and try things out, what else does it take to lead change?" These two both agree that every organization will have to become a change leader and they all believe in innovation. Both Peter Drucker and Peter Senge, feel that organizations have a problem solving approach not a creative approach. Both these individuals feel that surprises are an important development to help individuals and organizations understand that these shouldn't be viewed as a threat.

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