Communication Process
In a period of uncertainty, both UBS and Credit Suisse should employ effective
communication with the stakeholders involved to prevent any informational gaps. For
example, an effective communication structure will include engaging appropriate channels,
delivering timely information, employing a feedback loop.
A comprehensive notification system to be implemented during emergencies and crises to
broadcast messages to the stakeholders.
To internal stakeholders:
1. Employees
UBS and Credit Suisse can organize occasional town hall meetings to discuss and
disseminate information to specific departments on how they would be affected by the
merger. Instead of leaving employees confused and anxious, they should immediately address
concerns that employees have. This minimizes the anxiety of employees. The information
should be transparent and straightforward, not leaving any speculation. Furthermore, the
company could disseminate regular updates through emails.
2. Shareholders
Organize meetings to communicate and discuss the subsequent steps of the business. The
merits of the merger should be shared to persuade the shareholders to trust the company in
their decisions and prevent them from selling their stocks.
To external stakeholders:
1. Clients
Through press releases, the companies could communicate how the business will be affected
after the merger and give assurance about the continued service they could provide. Prevent
any uncertainty surrounding clients as it could drastically affect profits once clients lose
confidence and trust in the company. In fact, an interactive video would be a more effective
way to communicate as it builds a stronger connection between the two parties. It can also
better express and convey the company’s sincerity behind the merger.
2. Public
Even though the public are not paying clients, it is still critical to provide updates regularly
through press releases or the media instead of keeping silent about the entire situation. This
could enhance public relations through trust in a period of uncertainty.
All stakeholders should be updated on the procedure of the merger, including information
about the challenges and successes faced so that the stakeholders understand the entire
situation. UBS should build momentum for the public to look forward to the merger to build
public relations. Furthermore, the companies are to monitor and ensure that information
disseminated is factual and correct any myths found on the internet.
Furthermore, it is critical to employ a feedback loop after the entire merger for the company
to understand how effective they have been in their communication to the stakeholders. For
example, the company could conduct an after-action review workshop through surveys and
website feedback to analyse their communication process and then take corrective action.
Leadership
Following a merger, UBS could still face uncertainty in many aspects. The managers should
provide guidance, inspiration, and motivation to employees to continue meeting targets and
complete their tasks instead of being faced by a slump. The managers should lead change and
steer the large integrated teams. With a merger being unfamiliar to most top managers, the
company should provide training to equip them with the right integration techniques, else it
will be foreseeable that the structure will crumble.
For example, while employees may be dysfunctional and unmotivated after the merger, the
top managers could employ transformational leadership to encourage the employees by
creating a valuable change in how the employees view the value of their work. This causes a
change where the employees become more motivated to contribute towards the profitability
and productivity of the company.
New Organizational Structure
After the merger, the employees previously from Credit Suisse will be plunged into an
entirely new organizational structure of UBS. Since both UBS and Credit Suisse has different
organizational structures, there is inevitable differences in the system of values, norms, and
assumptions shared by both companies. Therefore, both UBS and Credit Suisse should come
to a consensus on the structure like attitudes and feedback styles since frustrations will arise
when management practices are not aligned between the two companies. Afterwards, there
needs to be a review of the organizational structure and UBS is to introduce and integrate all
employees into the system. This can be facilitated through an introduction course about the
workings of UBS, a tour of the company, and the overall workings of the company. The
introduction course should be interactive and instil a sense of belonging and inclusion into the
company. This will lay the foundation for the employees on what to expect from working at
the company. Furthermore, a strong organizational structure that is understood by all
employees can boost morale, encourage positive discretionary behaviours, and even facilitate
coordination between employees. Furthermore, UBS can even offer incentives and training to
the new employees to fully integrate them into the company.
Organizational Justice
Since UBS has specified that there would be job-cuts after the merger, it is critical that UBS
handles the entire dismissal procedure well. The company should evaluate the performance
and skills of the parties from both UBS and Credit Suisse to find the most suitable person for
the role, to prevent loss of critical talent. The company should consider:
1. Distributive justice
Decision made is based on objective reasons. Do not discriminate against employees.
2. Informational justice
Employees affected should be notified in advance, instead of learning about their
retrenchments last minute. The company can consider having a longer retrenchment period
for employees so that they can fully settle by looking for a job replacement elsewhere while
having a steady income.
3. Interpersonal justice
Treat the retrenched employees with respect and do not belittle them.
To further convince the employees, the managers should urge employees to consider a wider
view regarding the merger and understand the company’s needs.
UBS should provide additional support to those affected by the job-cuts. For example, UBS
could help the retrenched employees find new jobs by working with unions such as
Workforce Singapore and even provide monetary incentives.
Team building
After the merger, there is reshuffling in the company and top managers could change.
Mergers are especially harmful to workplace relationship as there is a loss in security, fear of
the unknown, and threat to one’s expertise with the amount of manpower available.
1. Mergers breed jealousy and distrust with one another. The competition between the
parties is detrimental to workplace performance.
2. Employees feel that they have lost a sense of control and that the company does not
take in one’s concerns into the merger since nothing can be done about the merger
anyways.
This means that the idea of a team should be reinforced where the interdependent employees
share a common goal and are mutually accountable to each other. Everyone working under
the department should also view each other as indispensable.
Team building exercises should be conducted to introduce the employees to one another. For
example, a field trip to the beach could be held, which doubles up to relieve stress from work.
The trip could increase internal cohesion, build team spirit, and allow employees to
understand each other on a deeper level. This reduces the distrust since the employees now
have a personal relationship with one another. Also, this allows employees will feel
supported in their career. After team building, the employees are likely to be more connected
and invested in the success of the company. A team will experience less turnover as they feel
more integrated into the workplace and even delivers greater productivity. This can only be
achieved if the team is well-bonded and have a tight relationship with one another, which
comes with team building.
Conflict Management
The employees from the two different companies are likely to have different working styles
and different working cultures resulting from different risk appetites of both banks. Conflict
will likely arise from both perspectives. From UBS’s perspectives, the influx of employees
from Credit Suisse would threaten their expertise and hence face a fear of dismissal. From
Credit Suisse’s perspective, the employees must adjust to an entirely new environment and
work culture, causing them to become stressed.
This means that both parties from UBS and Credit Suisse have something to lose and
perceive each other as a threat to their personal interest. Most of the employees would be
resistant to the change arising from the merger due to a fear of the unknown, loss of sense of
security, and a threatened expertise.
The tension and negative attitudes towards one another will impair the commitment of
managers and employees to the success of the merger and they are less likely to care about
appropriateness of their behaviour since they have so much pent-up frustrations. In addition,
it is likely that the different working styles and team dynamics will cause employees to clash
when dealing with negotiations and solutions. Hence, it is critical that an appropriate conflict
management method is employed. The best way to resolve conflict between two different
employees is for them to collaborate. They should share with one another the pros and cons
of the respective strategies and learn from each other after sharing information. This helps to
maximise both parties’ interests and builds a foundation of trust between both parties.