A Case Study of a Post-Acquisition Organizational Healing Intervention: Enablers and Outcomes

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the effectiveness of an organization-wide healing intervention that aimed to fortify an uncertain relationship that existed between the new management and existing employees in a post-acquisition scenario. There was an inherent tension in the relationship, because the sociocultural sensibilities were at variance, with the acquiring management team being from the developed western part of India while the employees were from an emerging economy state from eastern India. From the content analysis of interviews of respondents at various organizational levels, this study identified enablers facilitating the healing process at the individual and collective levels. In fact, three types of enablers of organizational healing were identified: Leadership-linked, social and cultural. This study’s key finding is that these enablers elicit mid-level healing outcomes, which in the long run are likely to result in improved organizational outcomes.