Role of HR in Mergers & Acquisitions: A Theoritical Proposition

Mergers and acquisitions are gaining momentum in various industries due to the globalization process. Nowadays organizations are spending a great deal of their financial resources for pursing this strategy and for attempting to create a competitive advantage over their competitors. Most of the mergers and acquisitions carried out within the organization seem to be effective both from a financial and strategic perspective but does not suffice to reach its objective, due to the inadequate skill, knowledge and experience of the team involved in the procedure. It is essential for the human resource management (HRM) executives to handle these situations with utmost care. The HR executives must be capable of handling such challenges during the merger and acquisition process. It is the responsibility of the HR executives to assure that the cultural and communication issues emerging before, during and after the mergers are taken into account. The effects of the merger and acquisition process on people must be analysed properly and its adverse impact must be reduced by implementation of adequate strategies by the HR professionals. This paper is focused on creating a conceptual framework to understand the strategic role played by the HR executives in the mergers and acquisitions process