A case study of the perceptions of faculty and students in a selected MBA academic program, of the leadership practices and challenges inherent in organizational mergers and acquisitions

The purpose of this single case exploratory study was to gain an understanding of faculty and MBA students perceptions on what leadership practices they perceived to be important for leadership and management in the business merger and acquisition organizational environment. These leadership practices were viewed using the five practices identified and validated by Kouzes and Posner (2002) and two additional practices from the business organizational change leadership literature described by Connor (1998). These seven leadership practices that made up the conceptual framework for this study were as follows: (a) Model the Way (Kouzes & Posner, 2002), (b) Inspire a Shared Vision (Kouzes & Posner), (c) Challenge the Process (Kouzes & Posner), (d) Enable Others to Act (Kouzes & Posner), (e) Encourage the Heart (Kouzes & Posner), (f) Nimbleness (Connor, 1998), and (g) Resilience (Connor).; The sample was a select MBA program from an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) membership university that included eight volunteering faculty and fifteen volunteering MBA students, utilizing two unique data collection instruments that were designed for this study. The written survey constituted the base source of data for this study, and the second data collection instrument was in the form of interviews, which included open-ended and focused questions derived from the conceptual framework.; Findings from both responding faculty and MBA students indicated that two of the seven leadership practices of Inspire a Shared Vision (Kouzes & Posner, 2002) and Resilience (Connor, 1998) were perceived to be critical for leadership in mergers and acquisitions. This study also revealed that the participants at this select MBA program had a good understanding of leadership practices and the special challenges inherent in business mergers and acquisitions, and they perceived the need for a specialized leader to take responsibility and facilitate a successful integration process. Finally, this study provided an initial inquiry for future research on how the use of these select leadership practices could potentially contribute to an improved success rate in business mergers and acquisitions.