Personal communication the key to calming job doubts during acquisitions

Michael Kramer

Debbie Dougherty

During the past twenty years, mergers and acquisitions have become common in the United States, particularly in the airline industry. Affected employees often experience uncertainty and stress during these organizational changes, especially when they are part of an acquired organization. A new study by researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that personal communication is the key to relieving this anxiety.

The study, led by Michael Kramer, Communication, examined the reactions of airline pilots during the acquisition of their airline by another airline. Throughout the acquisition process, communication in the forms of public announcements, news releases, phone hotlines and face-to-face meetings was used to keep the pilots informed. The study found that while the employees experienced the greatest amount of insecurity about their work setting, this uncertainty could be reduced most by personal communication, such as meetings and discussions with supervisors.

"When they are part of an acquired organization absorbed into a larger one, employees lose their previous corporate identity, must learn a new culture and language, and wonder how the merger will affect their job security, requirements and procedures," said Kramer, who conducted the study along with fellow MU Communication professor Debbie Dougherty and former MU professor Tamyra Pierce.

Through surveys, questionnaires and interviews, Kramer and his team looked at more than 100 pilots who would be working for a new airline. The average age for the pilots was 49 years, with an average of 15 years of service to their current airline and an average of 22 years working as a commercial pilot.

One month after the acquisition was announced, two months later and five months after that, the researchers examined types of uncertainty (i.e. financial implications, work settings, work relationships), along with the most likely sources of information, such as official sources, outsiders, peers, union officials and the media.

Kramer found that the pilots experienced significantly higher levels of uncertainty about their work setting than for either financial issues or customer impact. Also, the value of information the pilots received from official sources increased over time. In contrast, Kramer noted, the value of information pilots reported receiving from union officials decreased over time, as well as the information received from the media.

The researchers also discovered that official communication, including personal meetings and discussions from supervisors, was considered by the pilots to be the best way for reducing work setting uncertainty.

The study, Managing Uncertainty During a Corporate Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study of Communication During an Airline Acquisition, recently was published in the January 2004 issue of Human Communication Research.

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Michael Kramer
Debbie Dougherty
Department of Communication

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