Stressful situations? The case of management buyout/buyins

Abstract

An investigation was undertaken into the important, yet neglected area of the people aspects of management buyout (MBO/MBI). Since prior work suggests that management is, by far, one of the most crucial factors in the success of MBOs an in‐depth study focused on the characteristics of buyout managers, the culture of management buyout teams, and influences on behaviours during the transaction. This paper reports one part of the study ‐ that relating to management buyout stressors. The aspect of the transaction that generates the most stress was found to be time pressure. Generally, however, the results suggest that stressors, identified by the literature and through focus groups, were not perceived as stressful by this group of buyout managers. Related to this, was the finding that the majority were able to cope with these stressors. Regression analysis indicated that a key factor in manager’s ability to cope was the open/interactive nature of the management team culture.