Unconscious Sabotage

[rmitz]

I was reading this article in my RSS reader this morning, and a thought occured to me.

Dropped Call Earns Ousted Sprint CEO $55.3 Million in SeverenceIt is a matter of fact in many mergers like this, that many of the people helping to integrate the merger are going to lose their jobs following the merger. This clearly means that it is in their

Comments

[hyperiate]

Generally retention bonuses like that and severance packages are used in cases where a person's name is at least as or more important than their role. This usually happens at the top levels of the company, where the pool of qualified people is relatively small. Also, keep in mind that most of these top people are contracted, and the severance and change-of-control terms are stated at the outset

[rmitz]

While the people at the top rungs of the ladder are "rare" in some sense, they are also the most interchangeable. Most people do not realize this, but it's true. One set of numbers is pretty similar to another set of numbers and management issues in a different company.

With respect to the rank and file seeking other opportunities with the bonus...that is perfectly reasonable and something they should be allowed to do. Maybe you will be somewhat weaker after the transition, but those people probably would have left anyway. They were paid a bonus to integrate the companies, and the fact that they were treated with respect and equanimity should in itself be an additional cause to promote their retention.

The note about "no one rank and file person can affect the company" is somewhat true, but is besides the point. The point is to motivate everyone across the board to 1) save money and 2) save time by not working consciously or unconsciously against the process.

[hyperiate]

First point:Sure, to an extent management is management, and if it can be done one place it can be done another. There are, however, a multitude of intangible matters that a new executive must deal with before they can actually be effect. They must get to know the other members of the exec team, how they work, how they state things, etc. They must get to know their subordinates -- again, how they work, what the issues are, what's been done in the past to deal with them, why it has or hasn't worked, and what the future looks like. They need to get to know the corporate culture -- if management by meeting is part of the culture, someone who is used to a more direct management style is not going to make much headway

[rmitz]

First, regarding management: I've found those particular issues easier to come up to speed with than many others. It's a different kind of skill, sure, but the management shouldn't be the most directly relevant issue in a merger, which is what I'm addressing here. Some is, of course, in terms of merging the two hierarchies, but those aren't generally the issues which drag on...the ones which fail to get resolved are more technical

[ohhim]

I feel like I should chime in here (given my experience on the topic), but really haven't seen any uber-consistent patterns here around what works best