Role of the HR manager in M&A

HR Role in Mergers and Acquisitions
Vincent Held, Switzerland
The HR role in M&A is very limited as far as I know. It's more a task for the top management...

HR Role in Mergers and Acquisitions
Janice Johnson-Lorde, Student (MBA), Trinidad and Tobago
@Vincent Held: The role of HR is fundamental for a merger to be successful, since the human element can make or break any organization.
According to Ulrich, there are 4 Human Resource Management Roles: that of strategic partner, administrative expert, change agent and employee champion. This must be at every level; in my view the first two at the top level as you have suggested and the other two to treat particularly with the needs of the employees so that they can be engaged in the process and be part of the formed coalition as Kotter and Cohen suggest as part of the change management process.
A merger is a situation of change that must be treated with a high level of sensitivity. Those at the top level carry out mostly figurehead, leadership and liaison roles while other leaders carryout more decisional and humanistic roles. Therefore HR has to be at the top to advise on strategic approach to decision making in the interest of sustainability and viability of operation that is fundamentally human in nature.