The role of organizational leadership capability in mergers & acquisitions

Organizations are focused on growth, and one important means to enhance growth is inorganic growth through merger & acquisition (M&A). As an important component of inorganic growth, the literature spends significant time focused on human factors as a critical component supporting accomplishment of stated goals and objectives of the M&A. Yet, the literature is less robust when looking at the role of leadership as one of the major aspects of human factors to consider in M&As for both the acquirer and the target organization. While the literature recognizes the importance of leadership as a component of successful M&As, it is largely focused anecdotal aspects of leadership and little or no focus on empirical studies of leadership in M&As. For these organizations engaged in M&A activities, understanding the role of organizational leadership capability as a predictor in M&A success can be a key differentiator. M&As generate a large amount of risk and this requires assessing and understanding variables that impact M&A success in order to reduce the risk of the M&A decision and enhance chances for successful integration at the conclusion of the M&A deal. Within this dissertation, organizational leadership capability as determined by 360-degree leadership assessment instruments are leveraged across a wide range of M&As and industry sectors to identify organizational leadership capability areas and competencies that might be predictors of M&A success. Identifying organizational leadership capability profiles through these combinations of leadership areas and competencies can aid M&A decision making and reduce inherent risk in those decisions