Mergers and Acquisitions: The Human Factor focuses on the influence of human factor in the realization of mergers and acquisitions. The book first tackles the importance for managers to understand mergers and acquisitions, merger phenomenon, and the impact of mergers and acquisitions on organizational performance. Discussions focus on traditional approaches to merger and merger failure, assessing merger gains, growth in merger and acquisition activity, and merger motives. The text then elaborates on the effect of merger process to employees and organizational culture and its assessment. Topics include organizational culture and the individual, how to assess organizational culture, types and origins of organizational culture, transactional differences between mergers and acquisitions, and absolute truths about mergers and acquisitions. The manuscript examines the implications of cultural type for inter-organizational combinations, including cultural compatibility, cultural dynamics of organizational combinations, and the application of the cultural dynamics model to collaborative and organizational marriages. The text is a dependable source of data for researchers interested in the factors involved in mergers and acquisitions.

Mergers, acquisitions, and alliances continue to be almost an everyday feature of the contemporary business scene, yet at least half prove to be unsuccessful. The authors show the contribution that psychology can make to our understanding of the merger phenomena - how it affects organizational performance, and how it affects the managers and employees involved. Mergers, Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances is intended as a guide to successful organizational marriage. Great emphasis is placed on the issue of cultural compatibility as it concerns partner selection, integration practices and venture outcomes. The book also focuses on cross-national mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. With the increasing economic activity within the European Union and between the unions of other countries, there is a need to know more about the corporate and national cultures in these strategic alliances. The authors have drawn upon an extensive body of research based on recent cases in a wide cross section of industries across Europe. The book is unique in showing the actual effect mergers and acquisitions have on people, and consequently on the performance of the 'new' organization. It will be particularly relevant for decision makers - those who are involved in planning and implementing a large organizational change, and those responsible for ensuring successful integration afterwards. It would also be extremely useful for postgraduate management students, personnel executives and management consultants.

This practical book offers the HR professional guidance on the people issues involved in the process of mergers and aquisitions. Topics include: HRM; influencing the decision to merge; establishing effective communications; handling job insecurity, pay and benefits; the four R's - re-selection, redundancy, early retirement and relocation; support systems and counselling; creating a new corporate culture; and establishing new roles and training.

In the modern world, few people enjoy a career for life, and upon reaching mid-career find that, instead of being a time for consolidation, it has become a time for change. This book, which is based on recent research, examines the motives, experiences and personal characteristics of successful and unsuccessful potential career changes. From these findings, it provides practical information to help and guide those considering career change. It should be of interest to those considering a career change, those made redundant or retiring early and women returners.

Looking at stress at work, this book takes various work situations and provides solutions to them. For example - how to deal with difficult people at work and how to handle crises situations such as redundancy, mergers, sexual harrassment and ethical problems. The stresses and strains of the interface between work and home are also explored.

"Conservation gardening incorporates environmentally friendly techniques into the care of urban landscapes. Prior research has demonstrated an ecological benefit of this approach to residential land management. This research was undertaken to better understand the individuals who partake in conservation gardening. A mail questionnaire was developed that included several connection to nature indicators, an outdoor recreation inventory, and demographic questions. Participants (n = 180) included individuals from three regional conservation gardening certification programs in the US. Study participants demonstrated high connection to nature across multiple indicators, and environmental concern was motivated by non-human species and other people as opposed to personal benefit. The connection to nature indicators employed in the study demonstrated high correlation with each other. Conservation gardeners were active in outdoor recreation; high participation rates were documented in the categories of bird watching, gardening, and hiking, with moderate participation rates in kayaking, and cycling. Several demographic trends were evident in the study population. Participants tended to be older, well-educated, above-average earners, pet owners, and the majority of individuals were female. Employment status of participants was divided equally among being a homemaker, working full-time or being self-employed, and being retired, and over half of the individuals in the survey were volunteers. This research established baseline data for the conservation gardening population, identified avenues for future research, and provided suggestions for reaching populations not currently represented in the conservation gardening community."--leaf ii.

Mental Health and Stress in the Workplace