Respond to:

As an ethical leader this situation of acquisition raises quite a few risks. The breakout session for public administration mentioned that the, "focus on ethics is magnified because of the public's perception on circumstances out of their control". (Nowakowski, n.d.) and this statement can really apply as well for employees of a company that is being acquired by another. There is huge potential for unjustified layoffs, large changes to policy for budgeting reasons, and all manner of other ethical decisions that can be made incorrectly in the name of decisive integration with the new management. One way that I believe that Microsoft in this specific situation was able to mitigate this issue was in their decision to have, "Mark Benjamin will remain CEO of Nuance, reporting to Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Cloud & AI at Microsoft". (Cornell, 2021) This enabled Microsoft to maintain the image of familiarity and normal control within the company, while also bringing in their own leadership to start the process of integration. When these types of acquisitions happen, leaders really need to keep in mind the overall goal of the acquisition and ensure that the process to get there aligns with the parent companies code of ethics, as well as just good business practices in general. This allows the parent company to maintain a good face, and allows the acquired company to not resist the large change in their comfort routine of work.

If an organization that I work for were to face a takeover or a merger, I would try to inform my organization as soon as possible so that they are not blindsided. Additionally, I would try to make the vision clear in the process of the merger. In the case of the Microsoft example, I would present the potential massive positives of the merger such as, "Microsoft suggesting that merging Nuance's voice biometrics into the companies' combined offerings can help reduce clinician burnout while enhancing early detection and treatment of diseases". (Choi, 2022) this, along with the other benefits presented in the article could really be used to get our people excited about the future and the ability to use the work that they dedicate nearly every day of their lives to impact a massive much increased amount of people. Keeping the mentality of ownership and pride in what they have accomplished to far, while also looking to a beneficial future can really get everyone onboard.