Sergio González Begega

Mona Aranea, Cardiff University
Sergio González Begega, University of Oviedo
Holm-Detlev Köhler, University of Oviedo

Corporate mergers or acquisition force companies to re-establish or even re-invent the corporate identity that shall give sense and direction to management (Vaara and Tienari, 2011). Despite the widely acknowledged importance of employee co-operation for successful post-merger integration (Edwards and Edwards, 2015), studies on changing employee voice in the post-merger TNC remain limited in number (Edwards et al., 2017).

Our longitudinal case study examines how managerial identity talk (Koveshnikov et al., 2016) affects transnational employee voice during the post-merger integration process. We present empirical evidence from the case of ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steel producer, created in 2006 through the merger of the European company Arcelor and the Anglo-Indian corporation Mittal Steel. We explore how ArcelorMittal’s current set of corporate values has come about through a struggle over meaning in the contested social terrain of the global firm.

Our qualitative dates comprises two sets of qualitative interviews with managers and employees of the company, the first carried out between 2002 and 2006, the second conducted between 2014 and 2016. We trace the deconstruction of transnational employee voice institutions in the company back to cultural identity talk and an executive exodus among managers. Our in-depth case study of ArcelorMittal gives insights into the changing nature of managerial identity discourse during and after major corporate mergers and the impact of corporate culture on the quality of employee voice in the global firm.

Key words

Transnational corporations; mergers and acquisitions; cultural distinction drawing; identity talk; ArcelorMittal; employee voice

References

• Edwards, M. R., Lipponen, J., Edwards, T., & Hakonen, M. (2017). Trajectories and antecedents of integration in mergers and acquisitions: A comparison of two longitudinal studies. Human Relations 70(7): 1258–1290.
• Edwards T and Edwards M (2015) Perceptions of employee voice and representation in the post-acquisition period: Comparative and longitudinal evidence from an international acquisition, Human Relations 68(1) 131-156.
• Franca V and Pahor M (2014) Influence of management attitudes on the implementation of employee participation. Economic and Industrial Democracy 35 (1): 115-142.
• Koveshnikov A, Vaara E and Ehrnrooth M (2016) Stereotype-based managerial identity work in multinational corporations. Organization Studies 37 (9): 1353-1379.
• Kristensen PH and Zeitlin J (2005) Local Players in Global Games. The Strategic Constitution of a Multinational Corporation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Melkonian T, Monin P and Noorderhaven NG (2011) Distributive justice, procedural justice, exemplarity, and employee’s willingness to cooperate in M&A integration processes. An analysis of the Air France-KLM merger, Human Resource Management 50 (6): 809-837.
• Vaara E and Tienari J (2011) On the narrative construction of MNCs. An antenarrative analysis of legitimation and resistance in cross-border merger. Organization Science 22 (370-390).