University Report: Change Management in Travel Agency Merger Analysis

This report analyzes the change management process of a merger between two travel agencies: Holiday Seekers Travel Agency (traditional) and Small World Travel Agency (virtual). The report explores the necessity of change management during mergers, focusing on restructuring and rightsizing. It examines potential negative impacts on stakeholders, including employees and customers, and proposes solutions. The report highlights the adoption of an adhocracy culture to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. It also applies Kotter's Eight-Step Change Management Model and discusses leadership changes to effectively manage the transition. The analysis considers transparency, communication, and the importance of change management for the merged entity, named J, aiming to blend traditional and modern business approaches. The report includes recommendations for successful implementation and sustainability of the changes, offering a comprehensive view of the challenges and opportunities in the merger process.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT OF MERGERS
Change Management of Mergers
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
The report has thrown light on analysis of the different kinds of travel agencies namely
Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel Agency. It has been seen that one of
the companies have virtual aspects of managing the business and the other have physical
presence in the different countries. Furthermore, this has been noticed that there is change
management process which is required to be taken into consideration by the organizations
during the process of the merger as the restructuring is essential and rightsizing is inevitable
in nature. The different possible negative impacts on the different shareholders which has
affected the overall productivity of the firm in a negative manner.
Furthermore, the adhocracy culture has been taken into consideration by the new travel
agency named J which can improve the overall entrepreneurship behavior along with the
innovations which is essential for the firm in a positive manner. The Kotter’s Eight Step
Change Management Model has been taken into consideration that has helped and assisted
the organization in involving the different employees in the process of the change
management and gained more competitiveness in the different activities which are being
performed by them in a positive manner. Lastly, the leadership changes have been taken into
consideration which has helped the organization in managing the change effectively.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
About the Companies.................................................................................................................4
Present Scenario.........................................................................................................................4
Analysis of the Change Management Process in Mergers of Two Companies.........................5
Possible Impacts of the Change on Stakeholders and Dealing with Such Issues..................5
Leading the change and the team...........................................................................................8
Preparation of Culture to Accept the Change........................................................................9
Proposing a change model...................................................................................................11
Phases of Change Management Model................................................................................12
Maintaining the change and sustainability issues................................................................14
Recommendations....................................................................................................................15
Conclusion................................................................................................................................16
References................................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
The report helps in the overall analysis of the two travel agencies which are about to
merge with one another. Baumgartner and Rauter (2017), has commented that change
management is one of the systematic approaches which helps the organizations in dealing
with the transformation or the transition of the goals, technologies or the processes which will
be adopted by the companies. Furthermore, Lozano, Ceulemans and Seatter (2015), has
opined that the main goal of change management process is to improving the different tasks
performed by the organization and this will impact the structure of the organization or the
different job roles or system which will be beneficial for the success of the organization.
In the respective report, the two organizations which have been taken into
consideration in the respective report are Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and Small World
Travel Agency which are the public companies. The main aim and purpose of the report is
that I have been appointed as the consultant by the regulatory bodies of both the
organizations in order to offer the proper kind of advice in handling the change which is
required to be adopted by the organizations as this will be increasing the overall efficiency of
the organization in an effective manner.
Pugh (2016), has hypothesised that change management helps in incorporating the
different organizational tools which can be used by the organization in making the transitions
which will be resulting in adaption along with realization of the change which will be
beneficial for the organization in an effective manner. On the other hand, Schmidt,
Groeneveld and Van de Walle (2017), has commented that there can be different positive
impacts of the change management on the different tasks which are being performed in the
organization. The ability of the change management can help the organization in gaining
competitive advantage in the entire marketplace.
On the contrary, Singla, Ahuja and Sethi (2018), have opined and hypothesised that
there are different negative impacts of the change management on the organization along
with on the morale of the employees working in the organization. This can be analysed that
the change can be costly in nature and this will lower the morale of the employees working in
the organization. There can be huge drop in the retention level of the employees and this will
create negative impact on the productivity of the entire organization.

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Stead and Stead (2017), has opined that while implementing the change in the
organization, this is essential in analysing the steps which is essential to ensure that the
initiative for the change is successful and this will help the organization in gaining
competitive advantage. Firstly, the identification of the change is required to be identified
which can be improved and present solid case to the different stakeholders which will be
beneficial for the success of the firm after the change process which is being conducted.
Proper planning is essential in nature which will be beneficial for implementing the change in
a positive manner. The different resources are required to be provided along with usage of the
data is essential for the evaluation of the data (Henri, Journeault and Brousseau 2017).
About the Companies
The two companies which have decided to merge together are travel agencies named
Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and the Small World Travel Agency. These companies are
both public companies and have been in the business for a long period of time. The first
company, The Holiday Seekers Travel Agency was established in the year 1960 and operates
as a traditional travel agency whereby it has 50 physical branches in the Middle East with
around 301 employees. The agency takes in bookings for the different hotels, tours, air tickets
as well as other travel concerns. The different customers are dealt with physically and the
customers by taking them at the office and then dealing with their specific needs.
On the other hand, the Small World Travel Agency is a new type of Travel agency
and was established in the year 2001. The travel agency can be stated to be an online virtual
high technology travel agency whereby it does not have any physical branches. The
headquarters of this agency is based in Downtown Dubai and there are around 65 employees
working for the particular agency at large. The agencies are totally opposite in nature
whereby one uses the traditional means and the latter makes use of all the modern means of
conducting business.
Present Scenario
At present the situation is that both these companies have decided to get into a merger
in order to ensure that they can take advantage of the synergy and in lieu of that they will be
sharing all their knowledge as well as resources in order to ensure that they are successfully
able to capture a larger audience. However, the news of the merger has not been made public

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and just the Board of Directors are aware of the situation. The main characteristic on which
this merger is based is that there will exist a profound restructuring along with rightsizing of
the number of employees. A merger can be stated to be a voluntary amalgamation which
takes place between two firms who have and equal terms into one legal entity (Todnem
2005). In case the different companies are public companies then the merger is largely
impacted by the exchange of the pre-merger stock and the formation of one single stock base
for the new organization.
Although the owners of the merger entity remain the same, the managing head often
has to be chosen as one (Bailey 2014). The resources of each of the companies are generally
merged together in order to ensure that maximum benefits can be gained throughout (Amis et
al. 2017). In case the merged entities are competitors, the merger is known as a horizontal
integration which is the case for the travel agent firms whereas, when the merger takes place
between the supplier of a firm and the customer of the firm then it is known as a vertical
integration.
The different characteristics of the mergers are as follows:
 Transparency: There must exist considerable transparency between the different
companies when a merger is about to take place.
 Communication: There needs to exist a considerable form of communication between
the different companies with respect to the terms as well as the conditions of the
specific merger (Kotter 2008).
 Change management: As the merger is often taken as a transition, there needs to exist
a sense of change which needs to be transited well.
For these companies, it is has been decided that, the resultant company will be termed
as J and that it will have a considerable amount of physical branches which is much less than
the number of branches the former company has which will then lead to the rightsizing of the
employees. In this manner, the firm aims to give both a traditional as well as a modern
approach to their new merged company which will be called J.
Analysis of the Change Management Process in Mergers of Two Companies
Possible Impacts of the Change on Stakeholders and Dealing with Such Issues
Steigenberger (2015), has commented that the different stakeholders of the
organizations are affected by the different changes which are being adopted by the higher-

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level employees working in the organization. The different stakeholders of the travel agencies
are inclusive of the national governments, different tourism institutions, customers. The
different tourism establishments along with institutions which are engaged in financing the
different kinds of projects related tourism are the major stakeholders who will be affected
from the changes which will be implemented by the two tourism organizations namely
Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel Agency.
Tukker et al. (2017), have hypothesized that all the stakeholders are affected in an
indirect or direct manner by the merger or the takeover which is being done by the
organizations or the travel agencies which are taken into consideration in the respective
report. On the other hand, Verhulst and Lambrechts (2016), have opined that there are
different negative kinds of impacts on the stakeholders of the different businesses as they are
the major part of the business and this affects their morale in performing the different kinds
of tasks. Webb (2017), has opined that the major and key issue is the analysis of the actual
extent to which the employees will be affected by the transition or the transformation which
have been taken place in the entire organization in a negative or positive manner.
According to Tukker et al. (2017), the stakeholders are the ones who have a total
interest on the success of the organization. As per the stakeholder model, this helps in
analyzing that the all the different parties are affected in a huge manner by the decisions
which are taken place in the management of the travel agencies. In regards to the travel
agencies which are being taken into consideration in the respective report is related to the
both positive and negative impacts as there are few cases wherein the customers, employees,
suppliers along with the local government authorities are mostly affected in a negative
manner due to the transition which takes place in the travel agencies.
Takeover or Merger
Decisions
Supported By? Opposed by?
Reduce the costs Shareholders Employees and Local
Government Authorities
Increase in the Selling
Price by 10% in order to
improve the profit margins
Shareholders and
Management
Customers

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of the customers
From the above table, this can be analyzed and identified that there are different kinds
of oppositions and the support which are gained by the organizations along with the different
stakeholders who will be affected by the changes which are being taken place in the travel
agencies. When there will be increase in the selling price by 10%, this will be beneficial for
the organization, however this will affect the customers in a negative manner which will be
ineffective in nature (Hornstein 2015). Furthermore, there can be different negative impacts
of the mergers of the two travel agencies on the different stakeholders which have been
mentioned above which is inclusive of the following factors:
Firstly, there can be risk of job loss among the different employees working in the
both the travel agencies namely Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel
Agency and this will create and knock the effect on the local economy. The fear of job loss
can be seen among the different employees which will cause clash in the culture as rarely the
two organizations have the same culture. Due to this, this can create negative impact on the
employees which will be impacting the entire productivity and they can lose the different
opportunities for the growth in the organization as well (Brones et al. 2017).
Secondly, there can be uncertainty along with insecurity of the job among the
different employees working in both the organizations. As due to the transition and the
transformation of the organizations, as the transition in the organizational structure and the
systems are integrated in an effective manner which will be beneficial for the organization,
however there will be negative impact on the employees as they will lose their morale in
performing the tasks in a positive manner (Van der Voet 2014).
Lastly, the mergers of Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel
Agency can impact the confidence of the different employees in the different organizations.
The mergers tend to have negative impact on how the employers in the organization treat the
employees while implementing the change in the organization. Carley and Christie (2017),
has suggested that the different employees are likely to quit wherein the new team do not
provide the clear vision and future for the different organizations in a negative manner.
For instance- There are different kinds of examples which can be taken into
consideration which can be helpful in analysis of the reaction of the stakeholders pre and post

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mergers and acquisitions. When Coca-Cola tried to merge with Innocent, there was huge
widespread of the criticism of the customers in the market and this affected the ethically and
eco-friendly business of Coca-Cola as well.
Secondly, the other example is relating to the L’Oréal and Body Shop in which there
was hostile reaction from the different pressure groups and media along with the different
customers and there was no such successful implementation of the same kinds of strategies in
the success of the organization.
Leading the change and the team
Whenever, a merger takes place, it is very important for the business to ensure that
they have adequate leadership capabilities which will then allow them to carry the transition
easily. The business needs to ensure that there exists a considerable program for these leaders
which will then cause a big difference (Kotter 2012). As the mergers can be stated to be quite
high profile and high risk events, the goals are required to be aligned carefully to the
performance and the risks need to be mitigated. According to Salman et al. (2017), it often
becomes a possibility that the leadership is poor and that the different leaders are unable to
build an integrating experience which will then allow them to perform well. Hence, it needs
to be the main objective of the senior management to see to it that this merger of these travel
agencies form a platform to foster both technical as well as leadership skills. The technical
skills are sills like capturing value, integration planning and transforming of the business
support functions.
The leadership skills are skills like steering the teams, managing integrated teams,
navigating a complex matrix among others. It is advised to the J travel agency that the change
needs to be managed by three different layers of leadership, where each layer seeks to ensure
that all the aspects of the organization are adequately covered in the particular change
procedure and that the change is successful to carry out (Small et al. 2016). The following
roles of the leaders and the hierarchy of their leadership procedure has been suggested for the
J Company to carry out:
1. The top management- For the J company, the top team of leaders who will be the
CEO and the other direct reporters will be required to understand the terms and
conditions of the entire change procedure, push the different team members to
perform well and to ensure that define the new company`s strategy at large.

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2. The integration leaders: The second layer of managers will be the integration leaders
who will be provided with the opportunity to ensure that they will be successfully able
to manage the mobilization of the teams and combine the two different companies
easily so that all of them are able to find adequate departments and that the rightsizing
of employees takes place (Salman and Broten 2017). As this merger will lead to a
restoring of the organization, it will be useful to ensure the teams and the departments
are allocated suitably.
3. The broader New Company leadership team: Lastly, the leadership company in the
new company also needs to be formed who will be involved in carrying out the
change and ensuring that they engage themselves in fostering a unique culture in the J
agency which will then ensure higher performance levels.
The leadership style
The leadership style which has to be used by the different members of the leadership
can be stated to be the Transformational Leadership style (Rosenbaum, More and Steane
2018). In this kind of a leadership style, the team leaders work along with the entire team and
plan to ensure that they are successfully able to manage the change and integrate the two
different working styles which are the traditional and the online.
Preparation of Culture to Accept the Change
Fusch and Ness (2015), has commented that there is proper creation of culture is
essential in nature which will be helpful in accepting the change in an effective manner. From
the above case scenario, this can be analysed that Holiday Seekers Travel Agency was
established and this is the traditional kind of agency which has more than 50 physical
branches. There is proper physical presence of the organization in a positive manner.
On the other hand, this can be seen that Small World Travel Agency which have
virtual kind of presence in the entire market and this will be beneficial for the present
generation. From the above, this can be seen that both the organizations have various kinds of
culture which differ from one another.
The company which will be newly formed after the merger of the two companies
which is inclusive of Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel Agency named
J will be having an organizational culture which will be beneficial for the welfare of the
employees working in the organization. Furthermore, such kind of culture of the new

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organization will be beneficial for the overall merger of the organization in an effective
manner and this is successful in managing the different kinds of operations. Doppelt (2017),
has hypothesised that culture of the organization helps in providing framework which is
inclusive of the behaviour of the different employees in the workplace.
The Adhocracy Culture can be adopted by the J Company after the merger of Holiday
Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel Agency which will be beneficial for the
overall success of the firm in an effective manner. The culture of the organization helps in
determining the performance of the different employees which will be beneficial for
managing the different aspects in an efficient manner. The respective culture is based on
creativity and energy which will be beneficial after the merger of both the organizations
Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel Agency (Carley and Christie 2017).
With the respective culture, this enables the different employees in taking risks in
managing the different activities effectively. The adhocracy culture employees are being
considered as the innovators wherein this will be helpful in achieving the corporate results in
an efficient manner as well. With the help of the culture, this will be helpful for Holiday
Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel Agency in analysing and accepting the
culture of one another and gaining competitive advantage in the market effectively as well
(van Rossum et al. 2016).
The major value drivers of the respective culture are the different innovative kinds of
outputs, agility along with transformation. The quality improvement strategy in this
respective adhocracy kind of culture will be inclusive of the delight along with surprises
which will be adoptable by the organizations by creating different kinds of new standards and
anticipation of the needs. This will be inclusion of the continuous improvement along with
finding creative solutions for the new team which will be performed by both the
organizations namely Holiday Seekers Travel Agency and Small World Travel Agency.
The formation of the new team J will be unique and more competitive in nature as
there will be mixture of the different cultures and this will be helpful for the merger to
complete the same in a successful manner. Moreover, the respective organizational culture
will be beneficial for the overall success of the companies and this will be effective in nature
in fostering creative and positive kind of work environment as this will enhance the positive
work environment in an appropriate manner. In mergers, this can be seen and identified that

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there can be different kinds of risks which are being managed by the adhocracy clan culture
of the organization and this will create positive impact on the organization as well (van
Rossum et al. 2016).
Proposing a change model
Managing change can be quite difficult and with respect to this, as a consultant I
recommend the J organizations to use the Kotter`s 8 step model of change whereby they will
successfully able to manage the change of the merger. These eight steps come in the form of
success factors and these steps can be adopted for the benefit. The explanation of the manner
in which these 8 steps can be implemented has been given as follows:
1. Creating urgency: In the given step, it is important to create a sense of urgency in the
business. This goes a long way in ensuring that the different organizational members
understand why the merger is crucial and why the different members of the firm
would be required to abide by the particular change which shall take place in the
business environment at large.
2. Forming a guiding Coalition: The next step is forming a guiding coalition. In this
procedure, when a group of people who are able to drive the particular change come
together and are able to communicate their activities towards the particular change
which is to take place (Rani, Yadav and Jain 2016). This is important to ensure that
change is clearly accepted by all the members of the organization which shall then
ensure a successful transition towards the particular merger
3. Forming a strategy and a related vision: The third step in the Kotter`s Model is to
form a specific strategy with respect to the merger and seeing to it that the
organization is successfully able to ensure that the change procedure is managed well
(Kramer and Magee 1990). This procedure also aims to ensure that the future of the
firm is different from the past and that the present of the merger is linked to reality.
4. Enlisting a group of voluntary leaders: As carried out in the step earlier, the coalition
needs to be set effectively and a group of voluntary leaders need to be formed
effectively which shall help in ensuring that the merger transition and the
amalgamation of the two organizations can be carried out successfully (Kotter 1995).
5. Enabling action by removal of barriers: The main step is to enable action. In this
procedure the barriers of the organization such as the limited structure of the firm
along with the hierarchy needs to be altered adequately in order to ensure that action
can take place and that the merger of the J firm can be carried out successfully.