Middle Managers’ Relational Dynamics in the Context of Acquisitions: Balancing Strategic Interdependence and Organizational Autonomy

Abstract

During acquisitions, middle managers (MMs) play a crucial role in facilitating the integration of two previously separate organizations, thereby facing the challenge of balancing competing needs for strategic interdependence and organizational autonomy. Drawing on interviews with acquiring and acquired MMs, this study explores the unfolding dynamics of framing the relationships between both groups. We introduce the concept of actionable intersubjectivity as a core ability of MMs to take into account the presence of the other while accomplishing integration tasks. We propose a grounded process model that traces how actionable intersubjectivity is developed to varying degrees throughout the MMs’ relational dynamics occurring in the various interaction spaces provided at each acquisition stage by getting a sense of the other (pre-acquisition), by deciphering how the other think (approval), by experiencing how the other act and react (post-acquisition I) and by putting oneself in the place of the other (post-acquisition II). Our paper contributes to mergers and acquisitions research in two ways: (1) by unpacking the relational dynamics between MMs and introducing actionable intersubjectivity as a crucial ability in the context of acquisitions and (2) by extending our understanding of MMs’ role in balancing strategic interdependence and organizational autonomy during the acquisition process.