Human Resource Development and the Management of Change

1
Human Resource Development and the Management of
Change

• EMBA 642
• Management of Change
• Thornhill et al Chapter 6 - Robin Snell

2
Coverage - 1st half of Chapter 6 (pp. 154-170)

• A. Exemplary case Human Resource Development
  (HRD) at Xerox Document Company, UK.
• B. HRD as a vital but neglected lever of
  organisational change.
• C. The contribution of HRD to business strategy
  implementation and formulation
• D. The contribution of HRD to work restructuring
  and job design
• E. The contribution of HRD to changes in other
  human resource management functions

3
Main Points of first half of Chapter 6

• HRD is at the heart of managing change, because
  any change process requires people to act /or
  think differently
• Many companies mistakenly neglect the importance
  of HRD as a vehicle of strategic change .
• HRD can contribute to all levels of strategic
  change

4
Coverage - 2nd half of Chapter 6 (pp. 170-184)

• Three visionary means of achieving effective,
  continuous change management (F, G H).
• F. Manager Development - the development of
  managers as developers of others
• G. The Learning Organisation - is it a
  realistic strategic vision?
• H. The Strategic Human Resource Management
  Learning Cycle as a means of supporting
  organisational learning
• I. Are these visions feasible?

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Aims of part two of Chapter 6

• To raise three CRITICAL QUESTIONS regarding the
  three visionary means
• 1. Manager Development - what would motivate
  managers to see themselves as developers of
  others?
• 2. The Learning Organisation - what would make
  this compatible with the way people, cultures and
  organisations operate?
• 3. The Strategic HRM Learning Cycle - what would
  relax senior managers defensiveness, and allow
  this to happen?

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A1. HRD at Xerox Document Company (1)

• A UK subsidiary of Xerox Corporation, employing
  2300 staff.
• The company business strategy is to gain
  competitive advantage through customer
  satisfaction (supported by company-wide
  programmes). Teamworking supports this.
• Four programmes have built the company commitment
  to teamworking
• Team Xerox
• Self Managed Work Groups
• Employee Motivation Satisfaction survey
• X Team Initiative

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A2. HRD at Xerox Document Company (2)

• Decisions have been progressively devolved to the
  level of the team
• The X teams programme is designed to enable the
  teams
• to take more responsibility for day to day
  running of their work area
• to manage their own performance
• to manage continuous improvement
• Teams volunteer to try to become X teams

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A3. HRD at Xerox Document Company (3)

• Volunteering teams must find a sponsor (often
  their line manager). 36 teams have registered.
• They must conduct a self-assessment against 4
  sets of criteria
• customer assurance
• process management
• team motivation satisfaction
• empowerment
• They must get the sponsor to approve their
  self-ratings, which are them validated by an
  assessor
• 10 teams have had their ratings validated.

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A4. HRD at Xerox Document Company (4)

• Only if a team has received a validated rating
  does it qualify as an X team.
• Ratings are on a 1-7 scale (7 world class)
• So far one team has got a 5 rating, six team have
  got a 4 rating.
• Teams must decide how to improve their
  performance (e.g. through re-engineering, skill
  development, etc) and then re-assess themselves.

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A5. HRD at Xerox Document Company (5)

• The sponsors role is to
• help with the self-assessment
• provide clear direction, goals, performance
  measures
• engage in coaching, facilitating counselling
• The X team programme builds on the company's
  long-established values, but has had a big impact
  on the knowledge, skills attitudes (KSAs) of
  the workforce, because of
• job redesign (job enrichment)
• emphasis on the interpersonal skills of managers
• empowerment

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A6. HRD at Xerox Document Company (6)
multi-skilling approach
Each X Team has a Learning Matrix for all its
members
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A7. HRD at Xerox Document Company (7)

• The teambuilding programme has been supported by
  many HRD initiatives.
• Team building days
• Each team audits the skill development of
  members, using the Learning Matrix.
• The HRD department has adopted a Skills
  Partnership mission, with an office layout more
  like a retail shop. There is a full time team
  facilitator
• Training needs identified from the bottom up
• Training needs met through a mixture of formal
  training programmes and planned self-development
  and planned on-job developmental experiences

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A8. HRD at Xerox Document Company (8)

• A concerted effort to identify performance
  discrepancies and Training needs through
• the X team itself
• the sponsor
• annual performance review, which has a set of
  competency dimensions
• leadership attributes (e.g.)
• decision making
• quick study
• Cultural dimensions (e.g.)
• open honest communication
• organisation reflection learning

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A9. HRD at Xerox Document Company (9)

• Training for Sponsors of an X Team
• a detailed support pack gives guidance of
  responsibilities and self-assessment
• Own needs are identified by consultation with the
  team facilitators and with the X Team
• Needs met through mentors, shadowing, formal
  courses, etc., as appropriate.

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B1. HRD Defined

• HRD is the set of processes that are directed
  towards equipping employees with the KSAs that
  are necessary to achieve corporate objectives.
• Needs can be met by a mixture of top-down
  initiatives and self-development
• HRD and recruitment selection are not competing
  alternatives
• They go hand in hand
• Choose and train the best

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B2. HRD is the Linchpin of HRM

• If training and development is not a high
  priority, if it is not seen as vital to the
  implementation of business strategy, then the
  company is unlikely to have any commitment at all
  to human resource management. (see diagram on p.
  161)

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B3. HRD is often Neglected !

• Consider whether Hong Kong has similar problems
  to the UK
• historical under-investment in HRD both by
  government and by companies themselves
• government-led vocational training is
  present-oriented rather than future-oriented
• business strategists at Board of Director level
• think only of short-term finance and accounting
  logic
• lack understanding of or concern for HRD

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B4. The Relevance of HRD to the Management of
Change

• HRD is a key component of wider HRM strategies
  designed to
• create new working practices
• build motivation and commitment
• build a flexible, empowered workforce
• Neglect of HRD leads to
• decline in a companys ability to innovate
• decline in a companys ability to respond to
  change

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C1. Contributions of HRD to Business Strategy
Implementation Formulation (1)

• This is called first-order strategic
  integration
• Strategic HRD (SHRD) involves alligning HRD
  activities with the company's vision, mission,
  and strategic goals, so that enhancing the KSAs
  of employees at all levels grows both the
  individual and the organisation.
• SHRD can ensure that employees possess the
  necessary KSAs to manage new demands arising from
  changes in the competitive environment

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C2. Contributions of HRD to Business Strategy
Implementation Formulation (2)

• How SHRD can help implement business strategy
• 1. Identifying what do our people need to be
  good at? (and then helping to provide these
  KSAs)
• 2. Fostering a learning climate that prepares
  people to cope with uncertainty and mindset-shift
• (PTO)

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C2. Contributions of HRD to Business Strategy
Implementation Formulation (3)

• How SHRD can help implement business strategy
• 3. Through running training programmes (e.g.
  superior quality service) to support a wider
  change programme
• 4. Supporting the development of change agents
  and transformational leaders
• (PTO)

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C3. Contributions of HRD to Business Strategy
Implementation Formulation (4)

• How SHRD can help implement business strategy
• 5. By adjusting training to the companys
  business life-cycle
• induction career development when co. is
  growing
• outplacement job enlargement training when the
  company is downsizing
• 6. By remedying top managers KSA discrepancies
  leadership, vision, communication, team building,
  etc
• (PTO)

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C3. Contributions of HRD to Business Strategy
Implementation Formulation (5)

• How SHRD can help implement business strategy
• 7. By forewarning top management of likely KSA
  discrepancies that would block an envisaged
  business strategy (e.g. shift to emphasise
  quality) and by meeting these needs in advance
• 8. Enabling employees to become more innovative
  and drive business strategy from the bottom-up

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D1. Contributions of HRD to Work Restructuring
and Job Design (1)

• How SHRD can help with second-order strategic
  integration
• Enables the implementation of cost reduction
  strategies by helping remaining employees learn
  to do more with less
• Enables rapid adjustment to changes in market
  conditions, and the implementation of customer
  responsiveness strategies, requiring
  multi-skilling, lean production, autonomous
  working groups, empowerment, delayering, matrix
  structures, project based teams, etc etc.
• employees will need to be prepared for and helped
  to adjust to job enrichment and teamworking

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D2. Contributions of HRD to Work Restructuring
and Job Design (2)

• All this restructuring and job redesign,
  entailing job enlargement and job enrichment,
  will give rise to training development needs
• Technically-oriented KSAs, (quality, inventory
  management, maintenance, etc.)
• Conceptually-oriented KSA (problem-solving, risk
  assessment).
• Behavioural KSAs for teamworking and managing
  others leadership, giving receiving feedback,
  appraisal etc.
• See egs on the table on p. 168 of Thornhill et al

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E. The Contribution of HRD to Changes in Other
Human Resource Management Functions

• This is called third-order strategic
  integration
• HRD is nearly always a necessary vehicle for
  enabling changes in other HRM functions.
• e.g. training performance appraisers and
  appraises in the use of a new appraisal system
• e.g. career management and HRD go hand in hand
• e.g. HRD is an integral component of skill based
  reward management systems
• e.g. HRD is one key ingredient in a corporate
  culture change programme, and a major training
  programme is often a key symbol of such change

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Coverage of 1st half of Chapter 6 (pp. 154-170)
HRD and the Management of Change

• Exemplary case Human Resource Development (HRD)
  at Xerox Document Company, UK.
• HRD as a vital but neglected lever of
  organisational change.
• The contribution of HRD to business strategy
  implementation and formulation
• The contribution of HRD to work restructuring and
  job design
• The contribution of HRD to changes in other human
  resource management functions

28
Task Answer the First 3 Questions in the Dales
Pickles Preserve Case

• The case is on pp. 180-184 of the Thornhill et al
  textbook
• The questions are on p. 184

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We Now Cover the 2nd half of Chapter 6 (pp.
170-184) HRD the Mgt of Change (2)

• The THEME IS The role of managers in change
  management
• The development of managers (manager
  development
• The learning organisation is it a realistic
  strategic vision?
• The role of strategic Human Resource Management
  in supporting organisational learning

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F1a. The role of Manager Development in Org.
Change

• Manager development refers to the learning and
  growth of managers based on an analysis of their
  learning needs.

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F1b. The role of Manager Development in Org.
Change

• Manager development is an important factor in
  organisational change, because
• The quality of an organisations managers has a
  big impact on organisational performance
• Managers have a key role in developing their own
  staff (and for that, they themselves must undergo
  development)

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F2. Two Key Development Needs of Managers

• 1. Managing ongoing organisational change
• 2. Competence as a developer of staff
• acceptance of the developmental manager role
• ability to listen to empathise with
  subordinates
• counselling skills
• staff appraisal skills
• coaching and mentoring skills
• facilitating experience sharing among staff
• being a positive role model of learning and growth

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F3. Blockages to the Developmental Manager Role

• But managers may not see staff development as
  part of their role, possibly because of
• preoccupation instead with short-term profits
• lack of collaboration with HR specialists
• lack of motivation, possibly because of lack of
  incentives
• their own lack of necessary education

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F4a. Possible Catalysts for Developing the
Developmental Manager Role -1

• Managers may have no alternative but to take on
  this role, as organisations must change to keep
  up with changing market conditions
• Organisations are required, under pressure, to
  innovate and take risks
• Managers are often required by culture change
  programmes to take on a developmental role.

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F4b. Possible Catalysts for Developing the
Developmental Manager Role -2

• Managers who have undergone development
  themselves may be inspired one to adopt a
  developmental role
• Closer partnership between HRD specialists and
  line managers (less training based, more learning
  oriented)
• It seems to be an emerging trend, at least in the
  West

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G1. The Learning Organisation

• A learning organisation facilitates the learning
  of all its members while continually transforming
  itself
• It must constantly adapt to a changing
  environment
• A very seductive idea
• Has been heralded as the only means to sustained
  competitive advantage

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G2a Some features of the Learning Organisation - 1

• The LO derives behavioural implications from both
  successes and failures
• Learning is valued as a necessary ongoing process
• Learning to learn is seen as important
• Learning from outside and outside, at all levels
  of the organisation.

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G2b Some features of the Learning Organisation - 2

• Learning from outside and outside, across
  specialist boundaries
• Learning is continuous, ongoing
• Unlearning, and knowledge management
• Learning is a means to enable organisational
  transformation

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G3a. The Learning Organisation and Double-Loop
Learning

• Some theorists argue that learning organisations
  are able to engage in double-loop learning on a
  collective basis.
• So lets look at the concept of double-loop
  learning...

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G3b. Single Loop and Double-Loop Learning (1)

• Single-loop learning detecting errors in
  organisational processes (e.g. students falling
  asleep in lectures) and correcting them (waking
  them up)
• Double-loop learning building new conceptions
  of what organisational processes should be (e.g.
  co-operative learning) by challenging existing
  values, procedures, knowledge and cultural values
  (e.g. constructive controversy).

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G3c. Single Loop and Double-Loop Learning (2)
ACTIONS
OUTCOMES
Single Loop
EVALUATE OUTCOMES
RETHINK ACTIONS
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G4. Necessary Conditions for the Learning
Organisation

• Employees
• who are committed to managing their own
  continuous development
• who are capable of managing this
• Mechanisms
• that support mutual learning
• that capture and share learning
• A culture that supports
• experimentation risk taking
• independent thinking, constructive conflict,
  pluralism
• authority based on expertise rather than position

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G5. Barriers to the learning Organisation

• Bureaucracy
• Command control mentality
• Monolithic authority (not pluralistic)
• The blame culture
• The genuine difficulty and stress of living and
  working gladly through transformations
• single-loop learning is easier to handle
• perhaps we humans can only handle a mild version
  of the learning organisation!

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H1. Organisational Learning Through a Strategic
HRM Learning Cycle

• Aim of Strategic HRM Learning Cycle
• to develop an organisation that is capable of
  implementing strategy and learning by
  institutionalising an organisational learning
  process
• 4 key groups at Unit level
• senior management team (SMT)
• employee task force (best employees) (ETF)
• process consultants (profilers)
• teams led by general managers (GM), reporting to
  SMT

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H2. The Functions of the SHRM Learning Cycle

• The SHRM cycle identifies the management
  practices and capabilities/incapabilities from
  top to bottom of the org., that are helping or
  hindering the achievement of business strategy
  goals
• It assesses the impact of these internal
  strengths and weaknesses on business stakeholders
  and on staff co-ordination, commitment and
  competences
• It identifies HR-related remedies

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H3. In Order to Work,the SHRM Learning Cycle
Requires...

• Deep examination of the organisations management
  philosophy, values and practice
• Selecting and developing managers who possess the
  competencies to manage change and promote a
  learning culture

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H4. SHRM learning cycle
SMT sets business strategy
SMT sets up ETF
Profilers Brief the SMT
Data collection by ETF and profilers about
co.s good bad mgt practices
Follow-up, monitoring by profilers
Review of implementation plans by GM and ETF,
GMs feed back to their SMT boss
Data fed back to SMT with GM teams observing
Implementation planning
Deeper diagnosis, e.g assessment of impact of
bad mgt on business prospects
Vision of org, redesign for better strategy
implementation
ETF employee task force
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H5. Typical Management HR Problems Identified
through the SHRM cycle

• Poor teamwork in the top management team
• Poor communication upwards downwards
• Unclear or conflicting strategic priorities
• Inappropriate management style
• Poor co-ordination between functions/divisions
• Deficient career development
• Lack of management competence

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H6. Positive Outcomes of the SHRM Learning Cycle
Process (one case study)

• Managers accepted the diagnosis (even when there
  were implied criticisms of their own
  behaviour/output)
• SMT were committed to SHRM
• Better co-ordination between the functions
• Better performance of the SMT

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H7. Disappointments When Trying to Conduct the
SHRM Learning Cycle

• When SHRM learning cycle was tried among various
  units in one case study company, researchers
  found
• Failure to involve the ETC (employee task force)
  in the process
• Failure to repeat the cycle after the first time
  round it.
• Less commitment to the cycle at lower levels
• Lack of upward appraisal
• Little done about promotion criteria
• Little interest shown in job satisfaction
• Key managerial deficiencies were not addressed

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H8a. Why the Barriers to the SHRM learning cycle
remain (1)

• Senior mgt are uncomfortable discussing
  difficult issues (e.g. their own deficiencies)
  with subordinates.
• They may not want open, fact based conversation.
• They may not know how to receive feedback without
  loss of self esteem
• They may not know how to admit to weaknesses
  without feeling incompetent

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H8b. Why the Barriers to the SHRM learning cycle
remain (2)

• Senior mgt may want to preserve managerial
  prerogatives and hierarchical designs
• they may not really want employee involvement
• They may want to preserve existing relationships,
  careers, self-esteem
• They may see the SHRM learning cycle as
  time-consuming
• If senior mgt. dont listen, employees become
  cynical, learn to stay silent next time around!

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I1. Are these Visions Possible?
Are the blockages just the limitations of company
culture that eventually can be removed or are
they human nature type limitations?
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I2. We Come back to the three CRITICAL QUESTIONS
regarding the three visionary means

• 1. Manager Development - what would motivate
  managers to see themselves as developers of
  others?
• 2. The Learning Organisation - what would make
  this compatible with the way people, cultures and
  organisations operate?
• 3. The Strategic HRM Cycle - what would relax
  senior managers defensiveness, and allow this to
  happen?

55
Task Answer the 4th Question in the Dales
Pickles Preserve Case

• The case is on pp. 180-184 of the textbook
• The question is the last one on p. 184