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ROI Communication helped a global computer company
plan and implement effective internal communications to earn employee
trust and support during a bruising proxy fight, merger and integration.
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In 2001, a global
computer company announced the largest high-tech merger in history,
sparking a contentious proxy battle with the founders’ family members.
Embattled, the company leadership needed its employees — many of them
shareholders — to support the merger. Meanwhile, employees were
receiving conflicting information from a variety of sources — the
company, the media and the grapevine — and weren’t sure who to trust.
Recognizing that this confusion threatened the endeavor’s success, the
company brought in ROI Communication to help gauge employee sentiment on
a range of issues, rebuild trust in leadership, strengthen support for
the merger, and establish a stronger communications infrastructure for
the pending integration. |
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Collaborating with the
company’s internal communications team, ROI helped:
- Identify employees’ communication needs and develop a
communications strategy to help company leaders meet them.
- Establish a baseline employee understanding of the merger and
integration process, the company’s goals, and their roles in achieving
them.
- Create new channels through which employees could learn more
about the process, such as the online “Ask-an-Integration-Question”
service.
- Solicit employee feedback through weekly surveys and report
trends.
- Manage large-scale communication projects and events.
- Create merger-specific web sites, articles, brochures,
posters and key messages.
- Develop briefing documents, speeches and talking points for
executives.
- Design and implement processes and tools to
communicate key information throughout the organization.
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Communications
throughout the merger and subsequent integration proved highly
successful. With ROI Communication’s expertise, the company’s
internal communication and leadership teams were able to:
- Gain an accurate, comprehensive understanding of major
employee concerns.
- Design and execute a communications strategy that helped earn
sufficient support from employees to win shareholder approval for
the merger.
- Articulate the company’s emerging strategy and the employees’
role in its success.
- Establish a robust internal communications system — including
roles, tools and processes — that even today helps facilitate
effective communication between employees and management.
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