Vision - Voice - Identity

After reviewing my research material it is very evident that merging institutions fail to acknowledge the 'people' element within the process - which can become very costly or lead to failure of completion.
A few common themes arise regarding communication with internal stakeholders (or the people merging effects) and I am considering how I want to frame the paper to address how to navigate these common challenges.

Communication needs of team undergoing a merge:

Internal teams or internal stakeholders need a voice in the process. Information should not be filtered with a top down communication model. Internal teams need to feel PART of the process.

The new vision needs to be clear and communication delivery needs to be timely and appropriate to audience. A lot of upper management or boards create this as they go or forget establish exactly what they meant even after a merge is complete. Too much time for communication to be delivered allows misguided information to be created among internal teams and fosters mistrust due to looming unpredictability.

The team's identity needs to remain intact or transform so loss of identity is not realized. Role clarification is mandatory.

Vision - Voice - Identity

Possible titles for Literature Review: Validating Vision and Voice within a Merging Team

Ok ok - it needs some work. Titles last. Paper first.

I've also arranged an interview with an employee currently in merging transition and I will be developing questions around the content of my paper to ask her.

The plane plan

My other class feels like another internship - spending most my time chasing a community partner. Combined with my recent illness, I now must spend my spring break catching up on my research so that I can start drafting my lit review. Because I will be traveling out of the country (with many hours spent on the plane) I have downloaded all the journals I intend to read to my iPad. What a perfect time to become immersed in journals. Away from distractions  - stuck in a chair in the sky. I am confident my selected material is on the right track and have already identified that 'loss of identity' is a common theme in challenges facing internal groups in regards to merging. I am actually excited to read journals under travel circumstance. Seems like a win win and gives me a mission to get through extended plane hours...I never do well sitting still and grow restless when I don't have a project to trouble shoot. My an advisor and I will be meeting again shortly after I return. Perfect.

Spring semester is half over.

"No one not panic - I have a plan"