Murky Waters

The 1^st of April marked the day in which Marsh and McLennan companies acquired Jardine Lloyd Thompson. This meant that the two companies, and each of their sectors in the building which I work were to merge. Of course this would change the dynamics of the workplace due to the looming fact that the current workers within each specialized sector would have to “kindly” welcome 50 new workers in their office space. Within the marine insurance sector however, July 5^th, the day of the move, meant that the new workers had to come to their building so the members of JLT would still be on their, as they liked to call it “home turf.”

Obviously to the new intern, my co-workers were not going to absolutely verbally annihilate the coming merge but there was a notable tension with regards to the new management system – or rather the uncertainty of what was to come. On my third day I had the privilege of meeting the President of specifically the marine and cargo sectors, who was surprisingly an American in a company dominated by those residing from the United Kingdom. She would remain as the president of both the sectors but now has a co-partner to which she works alongside.

At the end of my first week a “town hall” was held. This entailed the leaders of each section discussing the specifics of when the merge was truly going to happen as there was more to be altered. The new signage had just been put up as well as new business cards which were to now say MARSH JLT rather than the former which read JLT. I, luckily, received what can now be referred to as “vintage” merchandise as I was given a tote bag that says JLT. What I forgot to consider was how odd it will be when the employees move in as they are truly meeting each other for the first time and as a brokerage company they will have to consistently work together to maintain the specialized relationship with the clients yet simultaneously figure out how to merge two different structures of leadership into one. And quite literally, something I may have possibly seen in Professor Goethals Theories and Models class was there right before my eyes in the meeting. It was a diagram of the future leadership structure which described how the management was going to attempt to merge the two different styles of the businesses. As JLT focuses predominantly on relationships with the client in person which is something Marsh is now going to attempt to do more of.

All in all my first week was incredibly interesting as it provided me with not only knowledge I learned in the classroom but additionally how work dynamics can truly be altered especially when the underlying purpose of the company relies on a positive workplace and good communication skills.