Dynamic Inter-organizational Communication Network in a Post-merger Integration

During a Post-Merger Integration, the communication structure of an organization changes profoundly. Effective communication and personal interaction are crucial for the success of Mergers and Acquisitions, as many such endeavours fail to achieve their targets. Mergers and Acquisitions involve the combination of two organizations to create a new entity. Creating personal networks across organizational boundaries can build bridges between several organization entities to create a cohesive, adjustable and resilient holistic organization and leverage synergies. However, little actual network data on communication and network structure during Post-Merger Integration is available. Our results are based on two merged organizational units with approximately 3,800 employees in total and a collective sum of around 250,000 email connections from an actual Post-Merger Integration data set. We show that various communication networks stabilize over time in Post-Merger Integration and, that homophily is partially reflected in the informal social network. We also find that homophily occurs on a department level but somewhat less on an organizational level and that some critical departments communicate less than expected. Our results indicate that the formal merger is reflected in the communication and ego-network structure. We expect that our findings will add insights into Post-Merger Integration research and how networks are adapting, since the findings are based on actual organizational network data.