This paper researches on the effects of post-merger integration on employee commitment in an organization. The research paper will critically analyze the effects of the post merger integration on the lives of employees in an organization and the case study of a Nigerian bank following the integration process with its merger with other banks will be the basis of the research.

Most often than not, researchers have been interested on how to maintain employee’s sincere commitment, most especially after a merger so that employees can carry on the legacy of the organisation (O’Reilly and Caldwell, 1981). Some of these interests have been generated by the observation that turnover during the early years of employment is often very high especially amongst newly employed or employees who have new roles to play in an organization (Wanous 1977, O’Reilly and Caldwell 1981, Allen and Meyer, 1987); As it has been hypothesised by numerous authors, employees who are strongly committed to their organizations are the least likely to leave after a merger (Allen and Meyer, 1990). However, the issue of maintaining both new and old employees’ commitment still seems a hard nut to crack. Different suggestions and questions have come up as to why employees especially the new employees leave one organisation to another in search of greener pastures. While most reasons have been that they are just assumed not to be committed set of people, however, it would not be right to conclude that these employees are not committed else, we would not have tenured employees in the long run. Other factors such as the inability of new employees to socialize in their new environment coupled with their prior expectations about their organisation, being cut short in terms of rewards, the work environment, job involvement e.t.c, are some of the factors that have affected their commitment so far (O’Reilly and Caldwell, 1981).

Also, studies have shown that the type of commitment employees have towards their organization determines how effective or productive they would be and how long they end up staying with the organization. Meyer and Allen (1990) have extensively researched three types of commitment namely Affective, Continuance and Normative commitment.

While affective commitment is defined as an emotional attachment to the organization, such that the strongly committed individual identifies with, is involved in, and enjoys membership in the organization (Allen & Meyer 1990, p. 2). Employees who are affectively commitment to their organization have also been discovered to have made the organization their preferred choice while they were job seeking. Also, these same sets of employees are those that share similar goals, values, objectives and interest as the organisation they eventually work for. Because the choice of the job was individual and personal, there is a greater probability that they would learn to cope with the challenges they eventually meet there.

Continuance commitment according to Becker (1960:33) is a tendency to be involved in a consistent lines of activity which is based on the individual’s recognition of the costs associated with discontinuing the activities (this can be seen in employees staying with their organisation for the fear of not getting a better job opportunity, loss of attractive benefits and seniority and disruption of personal relations

Finally, it was proposed that normative commitment is the type of commitment where employees have believed from experience either prior to (familiar or cultural socialization) and following (organizational socialization) entry into the organization that there is a value attached with staying in just one organization for a long period or even for the rest of their career. While comparing employees with affective, continuance and normative commitment, employees with strong affective commitment stay in the organization because they want to, those with continuance commitment stay in the organization because they have to, while those with normative commitment stay because they are obliged to, or are just simply being loyal to the organization. Although, most literature have looked at these types of commitment in relation to all the employees in an organization, but for the purpose of this study, employees with short tenure (0-2years) of experience would be focused on.

Prior literature have also establish a negative relations among tenure (and age) and organizational commitment (Wright and Bonnet, 1997). Commitment performance was not found to be strong in early careers. According to (Cohen, A1991, and 1993b) continued employment is presumed to have a strong influence on the development of commitment especially during mergers where organizations have new identity. However other researchers have disputed this hypothesis by saying that new employees get into an organization with higher initial commitment and subsequently develop a performance-engaging behaviour on the job. Also, it was proposed that employees with limited level of tenure, who often feel initially uncertain about their ability to perform well on the job, would increase their commitment to the organisation if they are able to perform well. New employees could develop a “continual” kind of commitment to their organization, not because they already enjoy benefits, but because they have been promised them (e.g. promotion, tenure based benefits).Lastly, they could also be loyal to their organization, and not intend to leave as it is common with majority of new comers.

Mergers and acquisitions is a strategic means by which organizations use to gain profitability so that they can survive the fierce competition the global market. When organizations merge, they bring together their structures, identities, staff and systems to form an entity so as to have synergic advantages. Mergers can affect the lives of people not only as regards their financial gains but in terms of job security. The importance of the treating employees’ right, especially after a merger an organization has a substantial effect on their behaviours and attitudes towards their jobs and the organization itself (Buchanan, 1974; Hall, 1976). Most especially the socialization experiences provided to them in other to be effectively inducted into the new organization (Feldman, 1976). Van Maanen and Schein (1979)’s institutionalised versus individualised dimension of socialization explains two different tactics by which new comers can be socialized and inducted into their respective organization. While institutionalized tactics of socialization is characterized by common initiatory and learning experiences which is often formal and occurs outside an employee’s work setting. There are often also explicit guidelines about the sequence and timing of progression in an organization (Allen and Meyer, 1990). Individualised socialization in contrast is characterised by individual and on the job-learning where employees learn from their mistakes and other colleagues. Also little information is provided about the sequence and timing of progression in an organization. According to Van Maanen and Schein (1979), new comers experiencing institutionalized tactics of socialization are more committed than those experiencing individualized model of commitment.

Also, exploration between employee’s perception of the rewards and support they receive from the organization is also of considerable interest. Employees, who perceive their pay not to be commensurable with the effort they exert into work, might not be as committed as they ought to. Those that perceive the procedures determining their increase in pay (e.g. Appraisal systems, supervisors appraisal) to be unfair are even more likely to be less committed than those who perceive unfairness in their pay level (Folger and Konovsky, 1989).

This study would be carried out in partial fulfilment of an award of a Master degree in International business management at the University of East London. The paper includes an introduction chapter that gives an overview of the employee commitment and highlights problems which the study tends to address. The chapter concludes with giving an outline of the research questions, objectives of the study and hypothesis. The second chapter gives a literature review of all the relevant theories which would be used in the analysis section of the paper. The third chapter is the research design chapter that explains the philosophy and mode of research which is being undertaken. The fourth chapter reports the data analysis from data collection and the fifth chapter is the final chapter of this paper provides recommendations based on the analysis of the research and also gives a conclusion.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

For the purpose of this study, the effect of two factors would be assessed in its determining the type commitment displayed by employees.

The effect of individualized and institutionalized form of socialization tactics on commitment.

The effect of pay perception in determining the type of commitment displayed by employees.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE