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Intergroup dynamics between the acquirer and the acquired are determinants of post-merger integration success. Mergers and acquisitions scholars call for the adoption of new reading prisms to gain deeper insights on post-merger integration dynamics as the failure rate of mergers remains high. In mobilizing works from social psychology to examine intergroup dynamics, this study aims to respond to this call by shedding light on the post-merger integration process. Typologies of integration processes do not take into account intergroup dynamics that operate within the new entity, which are influencing the decision-making process. To better understand how firms achieve a successful integration (symbiosis), the authors propose a processual analysis of intergroup dynamics in post-merger integration.

The research approach is a qualitative, longitudinal enquiry, which allows us to examine intergroup dynamics in two real-time merger case studies. The integration processes selected for this research include symbiotic integrations. Both integration processes were analyzed over two years, starting with the merger agreement.

This study sheds additional light on the triggers for achieving symbiosis integration by demonstrating the specific role and contribution of each of the parties (majority and minority) during the process. This study shows that post-merger is a process that follows different steps to reach symbiosis, involving majority/minority dynamics. The symbiosis implies minority innovation by adopting new business and organizational practices, mainly inspired by the standards and values of the minority. The study highlights innovation by the minority as a key element in achieving a symbiotic integration. This element can be understood by managers involved in managing the integration as a turning point in the integration process.

The authors investigated symbiotic integration in specific industries; questions can arise about the extent to which findings are transferable to other mergers and acquisitions contexts.

This study advances the understanding of the dynamics between the majority and minority in adopting a processual and longitudinal analysis. On that point, this study gains insights on the “black box” that represents post-merger integration process.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that pre-merger identification plays within a post-merger setting. Social Identity Theory (SIT) has conflicting reports on the role that pre-merger identification plays in post-merger integration. The current research explores a case study where enhancing pre-merger identification resulted in positive post-merger identification and intergroup relations; progressing knowledge in the field by analysing the contextual factors that facilitate this outcome.

The research follows a case study design applying integration method for the study of changes over time. Two sets of in-depth semi-structured interviews underwent content analysis to derive thematic findings. Case detail was also provided to frame the results.

Findings of the research showed that the integration strategy used to facilitate pre-merger ingroup identification reduced the perceived status differences between groups, moderately improved ingroup relations, and significantly improved intergroup relations.

For strategic planners involved in managing change during a merger, the findings provide an alternative integration strategy to be used within a joint-brand structure. The research also provides several analysis points that managers can use to design appropriate integration strategies.

The findings are important for the application of SIT to mergers and acquisitions, which commonly view pre-merger identification as a barrier to integration. The current study outlines the contextual factors which strengthen the relationship between pre-merger identity and post-merger identification.

This paper aims to introduce and illustrate the notion of narcissistic group dynamics. It is claimed that narcissism does not simply reside within individuals but can be characteristic of groups and social systems. In this case, the focus is on narcissistic dynamics in multiparty systems.

Social psychological understandings of group narcissism are complemented with notions from psychoanalysis. A systems-psychodynamic perspective, informed by psychoanalysis and systems theory, is adopted.

Narcissistic group dynamics in a multiparty context are illustrated by observations from a two-day simulation of interorganizational relationships that is called “The Yacht Club” (Vansina et al., 1998).

In the social psychological literature, narcissism thus far has been largely understood as the prevalence of feelings of ingroup superiority vis-à-vis a particular outgroup. Sometimes the term narcissism is explicitly used, in other cases not, for example in social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979), a theory that is built on group members’ need to regulate self-esteem. Psychoanalysts adopt an individualistic perspective while aiming to understand the underlying dynamics resulting in narcissism. A cross-fertilization of social psychological and psychoanalytic perspectives results in deindividualizing and depathologizing narcissism and a deeper understanding of the dynamics of (inter)group narcissism.

In a diverse society, empathy would intuitively seem to represent a powerful force for social good. In particular, we expect empathic people to tolerate (rather than reject) attitudes that might be different from their own, and to resolve and/or avoid (rather than escalate) potential disagreements with others. Some research supports this benign view of empathy, but somewhat surprisingly, there is a “dark” side to empathy, one that can sometimes exacerbate attitudinal conflict. That is, empathy can often be parochial, in the sense that people are inclined to reserve their compassion for others only when they are deemed to be worthy of such support. In this chapter we review classic and contemporary research on the light and dark side of empathy, and consider its implications for the kinds of dynamics that could potentially emerge when people encounter people and ideas that are different from their own.

Purpose – Although extensive research shows that power affects negotiator performance, few efforts have been made to investigate how status conflict among negotiators affects negotiation. This chapter addresses this limitation and explores the question that when groups experience status conflict while simultaneously conducting negotiations, how this status conflict affects negotiator behavior and negotiation outcome.

Approach – We define three basic forms of status contest and develop 12 propositions about the impact of status conflict on between-group negotiator behavior and negotiation outcome.

Findings – We propose that when negotiating with an outgroup, negotiators who experience within-group status conflict will use the outgroup to increase their status within group by demonstrating their value to their own group. In the situation of wholly within-group status conflict and within-group negotiation, individual negotiators will use group concern to gain status. This group concern leads to more value-creating behaviors, but lessens the likelihood of reaching an agreement. When groups experience intergroup status conflict alongside intergroup negotiation, the likelihood of agreement, and the likelihood of integrative agreement, decreases and this is due to an increase in contentiousness.

Value – This chapter suggests that status conflict is an important, albeit neglected, aspect of negotiation and it can affect the outcome of the negotiation. Greater research attention toward status conflict in negotiation should help to improve negotiation effectiveness and the quality of agreements.

This paper aims to extend the consideration of distributed leadership in health-care settings. Leadership is typically studied from the classical notion of the place of single leaders and continues to examine distributed leadership within small teams or horizontally. The purpose is to develop a practical understanding of how distributed leadership may occur vertically, between different layers of the health-care leadership hierarchy, examining its influence on health-care outcomes across two hospitals.

Using semi-structured interviews, data were collected from 107 hospital employees (including executive leadership, clinical management and clinicians) from two hospitals in Australia and the USA. Using thematic content analysis, an iterative process was adopted characterized by alternating between social identity and distributed leadership literature and empirical themes to answer the question of how the practice of distributed leadership influences performance outcomes in hospitals?

The perceived social identities of leadership groups shaped communication and performance both positively and negatively. In one hospital a moderating structure emerged as a leadership dyad, where leadership was distributed vertically between hospital hierarchal layers, observed to overcome communication limitations. Findings suggest dyad creation is an effective mechanism to overcome hospital hierarchy-based communication issues and ameliorate health-care outcomes.

The study demonstrates how current leadership development practices that focus on leadership relational and social competencies can benefit from a structural approach to include leadership dyads that can foster these same competencies. This approach could help develop future hospital leaders and in doing so, improve hospital outcomes.

Ample literature has demonstrated that workers in the creative industries are excluded in terms of gender, race and class. Fewer studies, however, have examined the career advancement challenges faced by creators with disabilities. Drawing on insights from the established-outsider theory, this study aims to fill this lacuna.

The participants were 24 creators in the Israeli film and television industries (FTIs) contending with severe forms of mental or physical and sensory impairment. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore practitioners’ conceptions of the challenges they face in making careers in the FTI, as well as how they contend with these challenges.

Intergroup dynamics yield an established-outsider figuration that situates creators with disabilities in a marginal occupational position in the FTI. Creators with disabilities' lack of access to networks of prominent creators place them in a disadvantageous position in the ongoing struggles over scarce resources in the FTI. The structural features of the FTI, which are intertwined with the social mechanisms of stigmatization and exclusion, make it difficult to breach any figuration once established. In defiance of their occupational figuration, creators with disabilities utilize two tactics aimed at professional advancement: hyper-meritocracy and advocacy. These tactics yield only partial success.

This study does not represent the voices of decision-makers in the film and television industries in Israel.

Implications are suggested regarding the role of culture funds as well as policymakers in advancing workforce diversity and opportunity in the film and television industries.

This study addresses covert and unspoken barriers to equality in the creative workforce. The findings also shed light on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workforce diversity and opportunity in the FTI.

Over the past decade, the U.S. workforce has become increasingly diverse. In response, scholars and practitioners have sought to uncover ways to leverage this increasing diversity to enhance business performance. To date, research evidence has failed to provide consistent support for the value of diversity to organizational effectiveness. Accordingly, scholars have shifted their attention to diversity management as a means to fully realize the potential benefits of diversity in organizations. The principal aim of this chapter is to review the current wisdom on the study of diversity climate in organizations. Defined as the extent that employees view an organization as utilizing fair personnel practices and socially integrating all personnel into the work environment, diversity climate has been proposed as a catalyst for unlocking the full value of diversity in organizations. During our review, we discuss the existent individual- and aggregate-level research, describe the theoretical foundations of such work, summarize the key research findings and themes gleaned from work in each domain, and note the limitations of diversity climate research. Finally, we highlight the domains of uncertainty regarding diversity climate research, and offer recommendations for future work that can enhance knowledge of diversity climate effects on organizational outcomes.

People begin to recognise and develop interpersonal skills from the day they are born — some claim it starts even before that — and they go on learning, or failing to learn, how to use them until the day they die — some say it goes on long after that. When trainees come into training situations at work, as more or less mature adults, they already have a considerable range of interpersonal skills that they have acquired throughout their lives in a variety of contexts.

There remain several underaddressed issues in the procedural justice literature. The authors draw from a rich body of psychological research on how the sociopolitical orientation to group inequality influences individual views on government and apply this to perceptions of procedural justice.

This study uses a laboratory-style experimental design to examine the extent to which social dominance orientation (SDO) shapes how people view the language of law enforcement. Four treatments are tested: procedural justice, rapport, deference, and direct.

The authors find that, overall, exclusively emphasizing rapport – as opposed to procedural justice, deference, or directness – is not beneficial to fostering positive perceptions of police. Additionally, a higher SDO score is associated with lower perceptions of officer respect in the video and regardless of condition. Finally, while higher SDO score is correlated with greater trust in police (both a specific officer and the police in general), it is also associated with a lower sense of obligation to obey both the officer in the video and the police as an institution. Further, procedural justice or direct communication styles can attenuate the negative impact of SDO on views of police better than rapport or deference communication styles. Thus, the picture that emerges from this research is more nuanced than a straightforward relationship between SDO and support for police.

This study used an experimental design to examine for the first time the role that a sociopolitical orientation may play in procedural justice theory. While research finds strong links between procedural justice and increased cooperation with police, obligation to obey, and trust in police, few studies have delved into the individual-level factors that research has yet to delve into whether sociopolitical orientation may play a role in informing police actions and communication training.