Merging between two companies

Session 4: Workshop, Oct 22nd 2008

Part A

Imagine that one organisation is merging with another. You need to consider how 2 (new owners and the old employees) group communicate. (Considering an example of two companies, Company U and Company Q, to better understand the issues involved in this transition. Company U is a British training company, that's been around for 20 years. It consists of 15 people, and Company Q, an Indian company, with employee strength of 200 people, has bought it.)

> What emotional aspects do you see involved?
> What would you do to improve communication on each side (owners, employees)?
> Any support of information technologies?

Emotional aspects: Negative aspects - job insecurities; downsizing; adapting to rules and regulations of new company; adaptability of new environment; cultural differences; loss of independence;shift of control; insecurity about remuneration, vacations; insecurity about efficiency of new employees.
Positive aspects - excitement over new things (new stationery, location, opportunities, ...); company going international, new market, better career prospects;
more exposure, interacting with new people; pride over merging with an international company.

Imrove communication: Keep everyone aware of what's happening, by emails and newsletters; joint presentation by representatives of both companies, example of working together; informal meetings, lunches; representatives from each company visiting the other country to get familiarised with the new environment; video conferencing among employees; constant feedback from employees by questionnaires and meetings;

Support of information technologies: Technology has made communication better and easier; video conferencing, emailing, telephone.

Narrative of 300 words describing the stratergies to make the merging of the two companies very smooth.

The merging of two companies is a difficult time for everyone involved in the transition. Consider an example of two companies, based in two different countries. Both companies involved have to work together in order to make the transition as smooth and hassle-free as possible. Good communication is essential between both parties. As far as employee concerns, both companies should make sure all their employees are involved and kept aware of what's happening. Representatives from both companies can conduct presentations/induction programmes together to make their employees comfortable with the other company and the people they're working with. Seeing their superiors working together, discussing the new company policies and regulations, helps make the employees comfortable.

Downsizing and job insecurity being the major issues, employees should not be made promises that cannot be kept. If any assurances are made, they should be ones that can be kept. Regular updates, through something as simple and effective as an e-mail/newsletter can help the employees be kept informed at every step and learn about the new environment.

The employees would be feeling a loss of their independence. Cultural issues come in, some practices considered efficient maybe considered as a waste of time by the other side. When a merger occurs, sacrifices are usual, but they should be taken as a step towards growth. Care should be taken to make sure both companies are comfortable with the issue at hand. Perhaps by getting feed back from the employees in the form of questionnaires and open sessions, involving employees and executives discussing issues face-to-face, would help in better resolution. Video conferencing among employees of the two companies can help both sides understand their work and culture, or even personal visits. Better communication between everyone involved can make the whole process much smoother, and the employees and owners will look forward to working together.

Hunter-Gatherers: Continued

>What do you learn about human beings in general from this comparison of collaboration now and in the past?

Human beings, when in a group tend to work together to attain their objective. This hasn't changed throughout the centuries. When faced with a common goal or adversity, they put aside their differences and work together. Even when there is nothing in common between people, they tend to find ways to co-operate. Humans are good at organising and planning, and hence they're effective at what they do. The organisational skills have improved considerably over the years, due to the development of languages, and modes of communication. They tend to make the most of the available resources.

>What do you learn from this comparison of tools now and then?

The tools required for any particular task are readily available today. One probably already owns it, or can easily get them from the store. In ancient times, man had to make use of what was available in nature to do his job. For example, to make a fire in order to prepare his meal, man had to find stones and dry wood. Nowadays, one can use match sticks, flares, stoves, ovens, micro wave ovens, and other facilities to prepare his meal. However, as technology has advanced, so has man's dependence on technology. In today's world, one cannot survive without a mobile phone, cash, watch, and other things. Technology, has made man closer to people all around the world. One can speak to a person all across the world by just dialing a number, which takes mere seconds. Something that was unthinkable just a couple of centuries back.

>What you learn from this comparison about human communication?

Human beings have always had the urge to communicate, whether to convey messages or to pass on ideas. While in the case of cave-men, they were restricted to body language, and hand movements to communicate, nowadays, there are many modes of communication. The advent of languages has improved communication by leaps and bounds. People knowing a common language can easily converse. Then came the problem, of people from different regions communicating, as they each had their own language. Ever since English has been adopted as a common language throughout the world, communication has vastly improved. With the growth in technology, man has ways to communicate, other than just speaking. Telephone, telegraph, mobile phones, letters, email, chats, video conferences, have just made communication more and more easier.

>What do you learn from this comparison about cultural change and innovation?

Civilisations have played a huge role in making humans what they are now. In ancient times, human behaviour was quite similar to that of animals. Men had just basic needs, to find food and to rest. Then, as years went by, man slowly but steadily learned how to use nature's gifts to his own advantage. From the stone age, to metal age, to today's technological age, man has expanded his horizons in such a manner that nothing is out of his grasp. Civilisation and culture were important in man's growth. Without records of earlier civilisations, man would probably have advanced a lot slower. Technological innovations have completely transformed the way man lives today. The need to innovate has always been there in humans. From eating raw meat, to learning how to build fires and cook, to building sky-scrapers and traveling to the moon, man has been innovating in order to make his life more easier and comfortable.

Hunter-gatherers sitting around a fire eating

Imagine how they ended up eating there

What similarities can you find in the chain of actions of their group and your group?
1) Make a list of 6 similarities.
2) Make a list of 6 differences.

Discuss the similarities and differences.
---------------------------------------------

Similarities:

(A is the group of hunter-gatherers, B is our group)

1. Same purpose in each individual's mind : A: Hunting/finding some food to eat;
B: Getting to know each other better.

2. Working together as a group : A & B: Despite of differences, everyone is involved in working together.

3. Communication was essential/required.

4. People from different backgrounds, same objective : A: find food;
B: study in RHUL.

5. Disagreements, difference in opinions, but finally agreeing on one thing : A: how to hunt, cook; B: where to eat, meeting point.
6. Innovation was involved in every step


Differences:

1. Mode of communication : A: hand gestures, body language(limited options);
B: speaking common language, different options to communicate(phone, text, internet, direct)

2. Organising and planning : A: very difficult due to lack of common langage;
B: better and easier, due to common language.

3. Civilised manner : A: more disagreements due to more misunderstandings and lack of civilisation;
B: civilised, calm and more understanding.

4. Use/dependance on technology : A: no means of communication after leaving the group;
B: exchange of numbers and email to contact each other.

5. Availability and use of resources : A: had to find resources like stones and dry wood to start fire;
B: resources are readily available.

6. Surrounding environment: A: probably in a jungle or somewhere in the wilderness;
B: inside the university area or a shopping place, airport etc.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>What do you learn about human beings in general from this comparison of collaboration now and in the past?

>What do you learn from this comparison of tools now and then?

>What you learn from this comparison about human communication?

>What do you learn from this comparison about cultural change and innovation?

Communication in future ....

No one knows what type of communication is going to take place in future. It can be a telepathy or something else. Who knows? But one thing can be guaranteed that future communication is going to be more faster but more complex than the present one. Have a look on some of the imagined future communication..

References
[1] Website - www.youtube.com

How this task/story fits in Engestrom's activity theory .....

Engestrom's activity theory:

Engestrom's activity theory diagram (Engestrom, 1987: 78)

Analysis of the story writing activity with respect to Engestrom's theory:

Few Thoughts: In order to get a successful outcome for any activity, all the core elements should communicate with each other in a way which is understandable by other non participating elements. In order to complete this activity successfully, we communicated in various ways such as

1. Email
2. Face to face with common language(English)
3. Mobile Phones etc.

So there are n number of communication modes which people are using from a long time and will use in future. The only difference I can see is the involvement of technologies in these modes. Following are some of the “Conventional” & “Old” ways to communication

History of Communication: Communication is one of the basic needs of a human being. People need to know each other in order to tell them when they are in danger, when they need help, when a child is hungry, when they are ill etc. Communication was there on this planet even before human's origin. Animals do communicate with each other. The only difference which can be seen is the types of communication. In ancient times people used fire, sound, gestures etc to communicate, in present time people use mobile, internet, letters etc to communicate. Following is a video which shows the history of communication in brief

Communication is changing so fast over the time, that by the time someone feels that s/he got good knowledge of the latest communication technique, that particular mode of communication becomes obsolete. Following are some of the revolutionary changes occurred in last 100 years in the field of communication.

1. 1906 -> First Wireless communication of a human voice
2. 1915 -> Commercial AM Radio Broadcast
3. 1920 -> First regular licensed radio broad casting
4. 1929 -> 10 million US households have a radio
5. 1939 -> First electronic digital computer was created
6. 1936 -> black and white television
7. 1949 -> Stereo FM broadcast
8. 1952 -> 22 million TV sets in the U.S.
9. 1956 -> Home tape recorder launched.
10. 1957 -> USSR launches sputnik, first artificial earth satellite
11. 1960 -> Doug Engelbart got first computer mouse patent.
12. 1965 -> Ted Nelson came up with word "hypertext"
13. 1969 -> Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
14. 1978 -> First hyper media video disk came in picture.
15. 1980 -> Compact Disk
16. 1991 -> Birthday of WWW
17. 1994 -> E-commerce became reality.
18. 1998 -> Google started.
19. 2000 -> 2 Million websites on internet
20. 2003 -> iTunes, online music store from apple.
21. 2005 -> You tube
22. 2008 -> This blog containing Formatted text, images, video, voice.

References

[1] Informational Research, an international electronic journal ISSN 368-1613. Available at http://informationr.net/ir/11-4/paper260.html

[2] http://thepostman.wordpress.com/2007/12/10/brainstormings-conventional-old-ways-to-communicate/

[3] Website - www.youtube.com

Communication: Today

Workshop

Part A

First imagine that you are sitting at a dinner table together.

How did you as a group end up being there, i.e. everybody turning up at the same time in the same place for the same purpose.

Describe the chain of actions required/leading to such situation.

• What kind of actions were preceding it?
• What kind of agreements/decision had to be made?
• What was the initiative?
• What was your role in it all?
• What were the others' roles?
• How did you communicate?
• What tools did you use in the process of getting together?

Write a narrative describing it.
Draw a picture of the process.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sep 21^st, London Heathrow International Airport: The day we all met for the first time. We’d all flown in from different places: Aliena from Pakistan, Anil and Anoop from India, Ajeng from Indonesia, but the common thing was, we were all heading to Royal Holloway, for our Post-Graduate studies. Aliena and Ajeng arrived first at the Student Pickup point, and since they were the only two students there, Ajeng introduced herself to Aliena. Anil and Anoop were on the same flight and had already spoken to each other during the flight, and they arrived a while later. We started chatting amongst ourselves and found out that, coincidentally, the four of us had opted for the same course, BIS. By then, the bus arrived, and on the way to the university, we discussed each other’s backgrounds, and came to know a bit about each other. Aliena mentioned the Welcome drinks arranged for Management students the next day, which the others didn’t know about, so we agreed to meet there and continue our chat.

Sep 22^nd, MX34, Royal Holloway: We met at the party, and were happy to see each other again. We also got to meet other students and faculty members. We had loads of fun catching up, and exchanged phone numbers and email ids. After the party we didn’t want to go home early as we were getting along really well, so Anil suggested we’ll have dinner together. We all thought it was a good idea, but were confused about the restaurant, as we were all new to the place. After hearing everyone’s suggestions, Anoop came up with the idea of going to the Hub. Everyone agreed and headed to the Hub.

Sep 22^nd, The Hub: After a long day, all of us were really hungry, so we just grabbed our plates and went down to the buffet table. After filling our plates, we found a free table, and sat down together. Over the course of dinner, our discussions continued. We shared our different life experiences, and had a few laughs over the blunders and goof-ups. Ajeng brought our attention back to the course, and found out that everyone was really concerned about the choice of electives. As Ajeng was from a Management background, and the rest of us from Computing, we had a short discussion about our thoughts about each elective and our expectations from the course. Aliena, who did her Undergraduate degree in the UK, gave us a lot of valuable pointers about the British way of life. She explained to us the use of an Oyster Card, NI and details of getting a bank account. After chatting for hours, we were all glad that we’d met and become friends, and that dinner was a good idea.