Les impacts et les conséquences d'une fusion-acquisition sur les pratiques de la gestion des ressources humaines

Abstract

Many firms have experienced or will experience in their lifetime, a change in ownership (a buying, a merger, or other) which would inevitably have repercussions. The reasons mentioned are not only economical, but also strategical, which explains their frequency. This topic has already been addressed from different points of view in the literature. This paper is however distinctive, for it focusses on human resources management (HRM) and highlights the impacts and consequences of mergers and purchases on its practices. It is therefore crucial for our future managers to understand the feelings as well as the ambitions of our employees in a post-merger period in order to adopt an appropriate behavior. We dedicated the first part of this thesis to a theoretical analysis of the different aspects of mergers and HRM based upon scientific articles and books published on the topic. Then, for the practical part, we conducted a study with eight employees who worked for a firm prior to a merger and who kept working for the same firm after the merger. The analysis of the results and their confrontation with the theory enabled us to draw some conclusions in relation to the assumptions previously made. • The merging-absorptions lead both firms to manage human resources in a way that was a mixture of both previous policies whereas a change in ownership tends to rather lead to two parallel HR policies. • Moreover, we can assure that any merger has an impact on HRM practices. In the cases referred to, the impact is mainly noticeable on the standardization of those practices and on the formalization of procedures without necessarily causing a change of convention. • And finally, consequences on individuals are predominantly noticed. To conclude this paper, we mention some guidelines for the future. Keywords : merger, impact, HRM, practices.