Throughout this course, you will review scenarios involvingCompany A, which has been acquired by Company B. Company A wasfounded in 1956 in Mobile, Alabama. The average age of itsworkforce is 57 and it is comprised of 40% Caucasian and 85% male.Company B was founded in 1997 in San Francisco, California. Theaverage age of its workforce is 35 and it is comprised of 45%Caucasian and 50% male.

These two companies have been staunch competitors in themarketplace for several years and the employees of Company A areresentful of integrating with their former rival. There are manystrategic and ethical challenges involved in this acquisition. Afew of the goals of the acquisition project are listed below:

Managing the Communication and InformationSharing:

The company wants to keep employees informed of how theacquisition will impact them.

The company wants to be sure that they provide enoughinformation to satisfy the employees, but not provide so much thatthe employees feel overwhelmed.

The company wants to be sure that the timing of thecommunication matches their execution of the changes within the twoorganizations.

Managing the Consolidation and Changes:

There is no doubt that there will be layoffs as a result of theacquisition. The company wants to do what is best for theacquisition in a way that inflicts the least amount of harm to theexisting employees.

The company wants to make the decisions about who to layoff inthe fairest way possible.

The company wants to try and limit exposure to potentialdiscrimination (age and gender) stemming from thelayoffs.

Managing the Relocations of Some theEmployees:

Another impact of acquisitions is that employees may be asked torelocate in order to maintain employment in the newly formedorganization.

The company wants to manage the expenses and potentialdisruption with the relocations.

The company wants to assess relocations verses hiring newemployees locally.

Let us look at the role and responsibilities of HR managersregarding managing the company’s goals related to the recentacquisition.

Instructions:

You have a wide variety of employees encompassing differentages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds represented in these twocompanies. As a Strategic HR Director, your goal is to create aworkforce that will effectively move the newly formed companyforward.

Now, address the following issues:

Identify all of the information you would need toeffectively manage the three goals above.

Identify the challenges and potential issues related toimplementing the three goals above.

Develop recommendations for strategies to address thesechallenges and help the newly formed company meet itsgoals.