Managing Secrecy-Transparency Tensions: The Communicative Role of HR Managers During M&As

Abstract

During change communication, HR Managers constantly balance the competing requirements of organizational secrecy vis-à-vis employee needs for transparent communication to help to deliver the desired outcomes of M&As. Yet, relatively little attention has been paid to these tensions faced by HR Managers during M&As. Hence, drawing on twenty semi-structured interviews with international HR Managers who have considerable experience in integrating companies and M&As, this study qualitatively examines the experiences of HR Managers on the contradictory demands of change communication during M&As. The findings first reveal the pressures for organizational secrecy and its workforce implications during M&As. The findings then highlight the communicative role of HR Managers to provide transparency, amidst the secrecy, and its contributions to organizational change during M&As. This study then discusses the important theoretical and practical implications of recognizing this communicative role performed by HR Managers to contribute to the literature of change, human resource management, and the human side of M&As literature.