Change Strategies

 Change strategies

Enthusiasts have seen a transformational power in HRM (...) and transformation, or change, is an inevitable consequence of many human resource strategies. Bertsch and Williams identified two main types of change:

* Turnaround change - financially driven, often to ensure corporate survival by cutting unprofitable products and services. It involves the redesign of organizational structures, disposal of non-core activities and large-scale redundancies. This kind of change is painful but straightforward since existing hierarchical control systems can administer the process.

Behavioural transformations - changing behaviour patterns throughout the company. Hierarchical control is inadequate because different power centres are likely to conflict and differences between business units make behavioural consistency a difficult objective to achieve.

Page 316 (page 173 in the 1st edition) of Human Resource Management in a Business Context outlines three models for effecting these changes.

  See also From fire fighter to strategic partner - A new CIPD survey of 1,180 HR professionals presents a picture of a HR function that has a clear sense of direction, confidence in its role, and committment to demonstrating its contribution to the business.

  Help Your Business Get Out of Its Own Way - Today's roller coaster business climate is filled with enough twists and turns to make some amusement park rides look tame. As a result, companies in nearly every sector mirror this state of affairs, launching a variety of strategies and initiatives in order to respond to the economy's highs and lows. They may take simultaneous actions like laying off hundreds of workers while they outsource non-core functions and hire hundreds of others with different skills to start up a new product line. Or, they may concurrently undertake a management reorganization while doing a push for quality improvement. These and other rapid shifts in direction often leave companies spinning in circles.

 Restructuring

Restructuring (under a variety of labels) is the most common form of major organizational change. According to Kanter, restructuring should not be a defensive cost-cutting process but rather a proactive attempt to achieve innovative products and services: 'focus without fat'. The goal should be synergy.(...)

Unfortunately, employees are a secondary consideration of change in free market organizations. Participative management tends to be squeezed out in favour of project management or corporate politics. Developing on Wilmott's question 'will the turkeys vote for Christmas?', it is evident that they are generally kept in the dark until it is too late. Little account is taken of the people who will be disrupted by the process and those who have to maintain quality and value during a period of major upheaval. Often the principal role of people managers is to sort out the resulting mess and smooth ruffled feathers.

  Effective communication - Have you ever had a conversation with someone and walked away scratching your head and wondering what just happened? "Workplace miscommunication is frequently caused by one of two competing factors: (1) you feel manipulated during a conversation or (2) you leave a conversation uncertain of what is wanted from you," says Dr. Lois Frankel, President of Pasadena-based consulting firm Corporate Coaching International. Here are some of her tips for avoiding these kinds of miscommunications - especially when interacting with people senior to you.

 

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