Franke James is Editor/Founder of Office-Politics.com and Inventor of the Office-Politics® Game.

Peter R. Garber has worked as an HR professional for over 25 years and is the author of many business books including: Winning the Rat Race at Work and 100 Ways to Get on the Wrong Side of your Boss.

Dina Beach Lynch, is an Ombudsman, Author and former attorney. An award-winning mediator, Dina served as the Corporate Ombudsman for the 7th largest bank in the US helping over 48,000 employees to resolve workplace issues.

Dr. Rick Brandon is CEO of Brandon Partners. He has consulted and trained tens of thousands at corporations worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries.

Dr. Marty Seldman is one of America's most experienced executive coaches. His 35-year career includes expertise in executive coaching, group dynamics, cross-cultural studies, clinical psychology, and training.

Arnie Herz, is a lawyer, mediator, speaker, author and consultant nationally recognized for his practical and inspired approach to conflict resolution and client counseling.

Dr. John Burton LL.B. M.B.A. M.Div. Ph.D. is an ethicist, mediator, lawyer and theologian. John is currently located in Prince Rupert, B.C., Canada, working with Canada's aboriginal communities.

People moan about the merger and are negative while I believe we have a huge opportunity for growth and improvement...

Brandon and Seldman respond: "Any time a merger or acquisition occurs, it is a fertile time for new unwritten rules in the company, new power holders (both formal through title and informally through influencers with their agendas)."

April 2006

Dear Office-Politics,

Hello, I joined a new organization in business development 2 months ago, the company has been acquired by a larger firm 1.5 years ago and is still in the process of integration. People in my team have been with the company for years and moan about the new regime and are terribly negative all the time while I am enthusiastic and truly believe we have a huge opportunity for growth and improvement. I am very motivated and work hard while my team-mates don’t.

The problem I have is that the marketing manager, who is married to one of the research manager and has been with the company for years, favors my team mates over me i.e. she did a mail shot covering my territory and put on the brochure the contact details of one of my team mates, after it took us weeks to work out territorial splits. I kindly asked her via email if she could change this for a second mail shot she was due to send out yesterday, covering again my target market, and she didn’t. How should I handle it?

1) Email her and cc my new boss (I have a new sales director who started 1 week ago), asking why she didn’t do as I wished.
2) Email her and cc my MD, as well as my line boss, (the MD is from the acquiring company and likes me as I represent the new guard and he’s keen to change things)
3) Leave it and not be confrontational, I am in the probationary period and should keep low profile.

Please help,

Merger

Dear Merger,

Unfortunately, we are missing too much data to safely provide guidance, and do not even fully understand what your meaning is regarding "mail shot covering your territory," how putting a teammate's contact details impacts you (you receive fewer leads?), what relevance the marriage has, how "kind" your first email was versus perhaps "loaded" emotionally in ways you did not intend or realize may have created resentment or revenge, etc. So please know we are making many assumptions that might be inaccurate so accept the following with a "grain of salt:"

AVOID WRITTEN "CONFRONTATION"
Rarely is it wise to be confrontational as a first step, and it is especially less than prudent to do so in an email, since you always come across more emotionally and less constructively than you might in a face-to-face or, minimally, a telephone conversation. An email takes the quick way out, conveys less importance to the issue which you want viewed as mattering to you, and the written objection may be easily forwarded to a senior as "ammunition" against you, claiming that you have a bad attitude or will not deal with issues professionally. You cannot go back in time and correct the first email, but don't repeat this tactic. Instead, personally visit or call the marketing manager to kindly request a sit-down meeting to discuss a request you'd like to make "so that I can contribute more to the organization and be even more productive to the team." Apologize for sending your wishes in an email last time (especially if you cc'ed anyone). Frame this entire discussion under the umbrella as wanting to help her look great in the new organization without using those words! You are not going to blame her, but simply cite your disappointment in not being able to prove to her how productive you can be which was the only reason you made the earlier email request. Do not criticize her ignoring the wish so far, do not talk about your perceived favoritism to your peers, do not raise irrelevant, peripheral issues like her marriage, etc. Just work the business issue at hand without referencing POSSIBLE hidden agendas she MIGHT possess, since this would make her defensive and tip her off that you are onto her. We say never "wound the king or queen," unless you plan to fully take him/her on in full battle. It's way too soon for that. Also, what if you are wrong about the reasons she is marginalizing you? Simply work the desire to contribute more fully and practice verbal discipline. But notice we are NOT suggesting to avoid the business issue and goal you have. Simply do it in a non-confrontational manner.

NETWORK AND LEARN THE NEW RULES
Any time a merger or acquisition occurs, it is a fertile time for new unwritten rules in the company, new power holders (both formal through title and informally through influencers with their agendas). Now is a great time to do your job and continue to pay your dues, but also to build a network with many, including powerful allies. Use your trusted network to explore and test out assumptions and suspicions without earning a reputation of being a gossip or excessive worrier. Find out, perhaps confidentially from your powerful MD ally, perhaps without using names, what he suggests and how you might lobby more effectively with a boss without alienating anyone.

BUILD CORPORATE BUZZ FOR COMPETENCE DURING PROBATION
We assume "probationary period" does not mean you as an individual are in trouble or in a trial period for performance problems in the past, rather that the entire group is vulnerable and being scrutinized for its eventual worth and value to the new parent company. If so, you certainly do not want to be seen as a complainer or trouble-maker, and you do want to cultivate a reputation as someone willing to take on new challenges, higher goals, and positive morale, as you described yourself initially. Build that corporate buzz. You might even approach the Marketing Manager mentioning that the whole group needs to prove worth (if we're correct) for surviving and thriving in the new era, so that you want to step up to the baseball batters box and help her prove the team's power.

YOU CAN ALWAYS ESCALATE
We are not clear how powerful the marketing manager is, whether you report to her in a direct or dotted line fashion, how you get on with the sales manager and the interaction between sales and marketing management, so it's impossible to confidently recommend actions. Still, if your perceived adversary is not more powerful than the sales manager, you have a good relationship with the SM, and it's unlikely to hurt you, you may have nothing to lose by requesting a joint meeting with the MM and SM, always framing the situation as an opportunity instead of a challenge or problem. Your goal is to convey you want no raise or promotion, just the chance to create more revenue for the organization. Work the business issue, but still know you might make the MM angry, so only do this after first having a calm, good-spirited meeting with her in private. If you are going to escalate, tell her you believe it would be helpful to get the perspective from your sales boss since you want to please him as well, so you'd like a 3-way meeting to explore how you can do more in your role since you feel under-utilized (notice no blaming "you" language, just "I" language). Of course, down this path later, you can always even decide to bring in the MD, but first go easy. There is nothing wrong with subtly dropping hints that you are close to the MD and have a good working relationship without making it too obviously a threat as a last resort.

We wish you well, and let us know how you fare! Thanks for writing to Office-Politics.

Best,

Rick Brandon, Ph.D. and Marty Seldman, Ph.D., Co-authors
Survival of the Savvy: High-Integrity Political Tactics for Career and Company Success
www.survivalofthesavvy.com

Feedback from Merger:
This is great advice, thank you very much! I believe Office Politics to be a very helpful website I will regularly visit in the future.