Nursing higher education mergers: Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

Merger as an organizational change has the potential to create turmoil, unrest, and uncertainty among the employees. Despite the shortage of nursing education workforce, global economic hardships have brought on a recent increase in nursing higher education mergers. The focus on integrated operations of the newly merged organization can burden all involved. Financial and business survival factors can create an unintentional oversight of the employee feelings. Nursing education faculty and administrator’s quality of work lives are related to their performance, which ultimately determines organizational performance. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to evaluate the influence of a nursing higher education merger on the quality of work lives of faculty and administrators. Principal results of this research revealed that faculty and administrators perceived the influence of the nursing higher education merger to be negative in the beginning with a transition to a positive influence over 5 years. Challenges in this merger were related to cultural integration and the magnitude of work required for operationalization. Exact timing of transition of the negative influence to positive was not established and needs further research. These results have implications on the nursing higher education institutions planning future mergers. Nursing education leaders must utilize strategies to address the quality of work life factors during the nursing higher education mergers. Implications of maintaining quality of work lives during an organizational change has the potential to address the nursing and nursing education workforce issues.

Assessing the outcomes of the higher education mergers in South Africa: Implications for strategic management

Objective of the study: The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between perceived merger outcomes, employee organisational commitment and employee job performance in South African higher education institutions.Problem investigated: High levels of negativity towards the mergers have initially been reported. The unbundling of certain mergers has been mooted. The outcomes of these mergers must therefore be evaluated.Methodology: A total of 329 questionnaires were collected from academic and non-academic staff at three comprehensive universities. Descriptive statistics were calculated and multiple regression analysis was conducted.Findings: The empirical results show, amongst other things, that (1) perceptions about merger goal success are significantly related to the organisational commitment and job performance intentions of employees, (2) organisational commitment levels are average and should be increased, (3) perceptions about workload fairness are significantly related to the organisational commitment of employees, and (4) employees have experienced an increased workload.Value of study: The study emphasises the necessity of the continual management of merger goal successes, workload distributions, and administration processes and resources (especially an empowered staff) in the pursuit of stable educational environments in these institutions.Conclusion: Managers of higher education institutions should pursue prudent strategic financial spending and continuously manage the job performance intent and organisational commitment of their staff members. If this is not done, positive perceptions of merger successes could decrease. Such a situation could perpetuate unstable conditions at already affected merged institutions and even cause stable ones to deteriorate.

Goal clarity and trust in management in educational mergers

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore employees' opinions on goal clarity, trust in management and perceptions of organisational readiness for change in the context of the changes caused by the merger to form the Durban Institute of Technology (DIT) in order to increase knowledge about the human aspects of mergers. Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey of staff was conducted, with a sample of respondents completing a questionnaire, which investigated whether or not there were relationships among the change variables, namely goal clarity, trust in management and perception of organisational readiness for change. Findings: The key finding of the study is that the goals of the institution were not clarified sufficiently during the change process at DIT. The correlation of goal clarity, trust in management and perceptions of organisational readiness for change were all significant at the p < 0.01 level; and the direction of the relationship between the variables was strongly positive (between 0.7 and 1.0). Implications: The results suggest that management success in identifying organisational goals clearly during a change initiative could help improve employees' attitudes, thereby increasing the likelihood of merger success, and minimising the negative reactions and staff dissatisfaction often associated with mergers. Originality/Value: Although there is a lot of research in the generic field of mergers and considerable research into mergers in higher education, both overseas and in South Africa, there is a lack of research in the human aspects of mergers. This is especially true of the three key change variables of perceptions of readiness for change, goal clarity and trust in management. Furthermore, what research there is has not focussed on the opinions of individual employees, but on the opinions of trade unions and student representatives. Therefore, this study contributes to filling an important gap in the literature on higher education mergers in South Africa.