The Human Resource Professional's Guide to Change Management

Melanie J. Peacock

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781631577673
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Gestion des ressources humaines

The ability to help an organization effectively deal with change is a key competency that all human resource (HR) professionals must possess. However, many people in the HR function have not received any formal training or instruction on how to fulfill this important role. This book provides HR professionals with key concepts and practical techniques to successfully launch, support, and sustain change management initiatives within their organizations. Pragmatic tools and explanations will illuminate critical change management competencies and processes, thereby enabling HR professionals to take on strategic and active roles. As well, understanding of one's own reactions to change will also be explored to assist HR professionals to effectively manage and guide change. Questions posed at the end of each chapter allow for personal reflection and growth, thereby providing further development of skills relating to change management. This text is an excellent resource for HR students, those new to practicing HR and seasoned HR professionals alike.

CHAPTER 1

Why Change Management Matters to Human Resource Professionals

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

—Mahatma Gandhi

The skills and competencies needed to succeed as a Human Resource (HR) professional are complex and involve a dynamic interaction of many differing and diverse capabilities. As the HR profession has grown and evolved, so too have the required qualities and abilities of HR practitioners. No longer seen as a dumping ground for employees with performance issues that cannot be corrected, or a holding spot for someone filling time until retirement, the HR department is now valued as a critical resource in helping organizations achieve their strategic outcomes.¹ As such, a key reason that change management matters to HR professionals is due to the changes and evolution of the profession itself.² In order to stay abreast of the demands and rigor within the profession, HR professionals must be capable of adapting and responding to change, thereby altering their own competencies and knowledge. Further, when examining the qualifications within various HR designations (e.g., CPHR, CHRP, CHRL, SHRM-CP),³ the ability to effectively deal with and facilitate organizational change is highlighted. The expectation that HR professionals are well versed in the complexities of change management, and how to help organizations effectively utilize, benefit from, and sustain change, is clearly detailed within these designations.

As well, it is readily acknowledged that a company will only succeed if it has the correct people, in the correct places, doing the correct things at the correct times.⁴ As such, HR professionals are tasked with playing a key part in ensuring that this strategic alignment and configuration occurs. So what does this really mean? How do HR professionals ensure that a company succeeds and achieves desired strategic outcomes? Are HR professionals really people-people, and is liking and understanding others enough to bring about key organizational results? The balance between focusing on operational requirements and attending to peoples’ needs and wants is an issue that HR professionals should readily acknowledge and must not shy away from. As such, it is imperative that HR professionals be ever aware of the changes that organizations experience, and how to assist with these amendments through the dynamic interplay of meeting both the organization’s (operational) and peoples’ (emotive) needs. This again highlights the need for change management competencies.

Is It Human Resources or Humane Resources?

When I first meet people they usually ask me about my work. When I explain that I am an HR professional, the next part of the conversation is inevitably predictable. I cringe when people tell me that since I’m in HR I must like people and respond by saying “Oh, indeed I like people. I like to fire people, I like to tell people they did not get the job, I like to tell them that they are not meeting performance expectations….” This typically puts a quick end to the dialogue, but the serious and truthful nature of my reply should not be easily dismissed. The practice of HR often involves tough decisions and actions—from terminations to disciplinary meetings to assisting employees during times of grief and illness. This type of work certainly speaks to having a skill set that encompasses much more than just liking people, thus clearly demonstrating a change from previous labels of personnel, or the people who must enjoy dealing with employees.

HR professionals are tasked with ensuring that organizations achieve their objectives with and through the most valuable assets—their people.⁵ This is not easy or simple work and means having to, at times, engage in difficult conversations and issues. It can, at times, also involve celebrating and recognizing good work and accomplishments. Through a strategic lens, HR professionals are viewed as those who understand how to plan for and implement policies and procedures that enable employees and organizations to succeed. In summary, being an HR professional means having to deal with an organization’s human assets in good times and bad, from the start of someone’s employment to the end of their tenure with a company, and through the myriad of situations that arise in between. The altering and varying circumstances that HR professionals become involved in further speak to the importance of change management, as this role is not static with a limited set of requirements. As such, HR professionals who understand and appropriately use change management tools and techniques are better able to do their jobs, as the nature of the work requires someone who is able to quickly adjust and meet new or altering demands.

The Heart of the Matter

Dealing with people issues means dealing with people. At first glance this appears rather simplistic or repetitive, but it is important to remember that human beings are the central component to the HR profession. The ability to deal with people in a strategic, competent, and yet compassionate manner is critical to the enactment of an HR professional’s role. As such, it is not unreasonable to expect HR people to be able to communicate with, engage with, and work with others, with a goal of achieving strategic outcomes.⁶ Therefore, HR professionals are often seen as the heart of an organization.

For this analogy to hold true it is important to remember that the heart is only one critical, yet admittedly very important, component of how the whole body works. The heart helps keep other processes and functions within the body (the organization) aligned and working well to ensure the desired overall result, which is a healthy and high-functioning entity. When the heart stops or does not work as it should, no other functions within the body will fare well. As such, concrete (often difficult) and strategic decisions and actions pertaining to diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices have to be made to ensure that the heart functions properly, thereby ensuring an effective and top performing body. This is similar to the tactical decisions that HR must develop and implement so that an organization operates effectively and produces top results. While very practical in its operation, the human heart is also known for having the capacity for emotion and dealing with issues in more than just a rational manner. So, defining HR as the heart of an organization is again rather appropriate. An organization’s operational functions must be attended to and adhered to, often resulting in strategic conversations, decisions, and actions.⁷ However, emotive components must be nurtured and honored as well. As such, the practice of HR is not a choice between two areas of focus, but rather a way of finding pathways to ensure effective operations and functionality while honoring and upholding the emotive elements within an organization. While simple and basic, at the heart of the matter (pun intended), the truth is that accomplishing great results through both function and form (operational and emotional effectiveness) is not a simple task. Engaging and motivating people, while representing the interests of both employers and employees, is a delicate, multifaceted juggling act, and ever evolving challenge. As such, HR professionals must be adept at managing change as the interests of employers and employees are dynamic and require an ability to keep up with the changing, often conflicting requirements, as they present themselves. This leads to a further complexity for an HR professional and presents a potential challenge within this role, as both employers and employees are viewed as clients.

Who’s the Boss?

A difficult question that HR professionals must resolve is who they actually work for and represent. Is it the employers or is it the employees? I argue that this is not an either or query, but that through careful, well-thought-out, and skillful plans and actions, both groups’ needs are addressed. In fact, it is only through meeting the needs of both groups that organizations will truly succeed. However, this is not an easy outcome to achieve. Often the needs and requirements of employers are seen to be in conflict with those of employees.⁸ This is not just the case in unionized environments, although these more regimented workplaces often seem to amplify these divergent interests. In unionized and nonunionized work settings alike, employers’ desired outcomes, and the pathways to achieving them, often do not align with employees’ needs and interests. For example, an organization may want to serve clients across a diverse geographic area, but employees may dislike travel and time away from home. Such requirements could be seen as distracting from employees achieving a work–life balance. As another example, a company may want employees to put in extra hours in order produce a certain amount of products and employees may have health and safety concerns around this due to resulting fatigue. Situations abound where employers’ and employees’ needs, motivators, and desired outcomes do not align. As such, it is imperative that an HR practitioner be able to find the common and overlapping requirements for management and employees and in doing so change employers’ and employees’ perspectives and understanding in order to create synergies within and across the company. This, in turn, reduces barriers and perceived distances between people while providing opportunities to achieve sought-after results. This need to find commonality and overlap exists across many of the practices and processes most commonly dealt with under the HR umbrella such as the following: Recruitment and Selection, Orientation, Work Design, Compensation, Learning and Development, and Performance Management. For example, how can the need for new employees to be socialized and welcomed to an organization be balanced with an employer’s desire to get people working as soon as possible? Or, how can an employee’s need for a fair and sufficient salary be met while still ensuring that a company remains profitable? So while discussions continue about how HR professionals can find a seat at the decision-making table and how HR professionals can truly be viewed as strategic partners, the reality is quite simple—find ways to change employers’ and employees’ limited and self-serving views and find ways to develop and implement strategic processes, practices, and policies that meet the needs of both parties in meaningful and practical ways, thereby ensuring focused efforts on achieving desired company objectives. In order to accomplish this, HR professionals must have a solid understanding of change management principles as organizations continue to evolve and grow. In other words, HR professionals must develop, implement, and monitor processes, practices, and policies that meet the needs of both employers and employees within an environment that is ever fluctuating. In doing so, HR professionals must also be seen as those who can guide and facilitate others on how to effectively use and follow new processes, practices, and policies. These expected competencies clearly necessitate that HR professionals are well versed in change management tools and techniques.

Summary

Evolving requirements within the profession itself necessitate that HR professionals be able to skillfully change and enhance their own capabilities in order to remain current and relevant in the field. HR professionals who cannot manage change will not be able to evolve and develop themselves in response to the advancing requirements within this specialized discipline. Further, HR professionals balance operational and emotive needs within an organization and the facets within these requirements are ever shifting. Therefore skillful change management assists HR professionals to meet the fluctuating needs of both employers and employees, thereby ensuring desired organizational outcomes can be achieved.

It is clear that HR professionals need to possess change management capabilities. However, knowing what needs to change (i.e., processes, practices, and policies) is not enough. In addition to this, it is critical that HR professionals have a deep and rich understanding of the complexities around why change should occur and how to enact effective and lasting change. While HR professionals are typically the people whom others turn to for guidance and advice on what responses are required to deal with change, HR professionals are also expected to provide advice and guidance on how to effectively manage change. This point is critical and bears repeating: Knowing what needs to change is not sufficient, as HR professionals must also be skilled in recognizing why change is necessary and how to manage change. The remainder of this book will help you do all of this. Chapter 2 reviews the driving forces for change and explores why change may be required at various times in an organization’s evolution. Chapter 3 then reviews the different categories of change organizations typically face and why it is important to differentiate among varying types of modifications. Chapter 4 addresses a formula for managing change, while Chapter 5 focuses on resistance, which is one specific element within the formula. Chapters 6 and 7 then review specific tools and techniques to launch and sustain organizational change. This is followed in Chapter 8 by an exploration of important communication tools and techniques to use during times of change and Chapter 9 brings all ideas presented throughout the book together, highlighting the role that HR professionals should play within change management, including the importance of self-exploration and self-development.

As such, your journey through this text will leave you with a deeper understanding of how to, in your role as an HR professional, help organizations enact meaningful and lasting change.

End of Chapter Questions

• Based on your own experiences, what advice would you give to someone having to deal with conflicting interests and needs from employers and employees?

• What has been the biggest change you have noted in the HR profession over the past five years and how has this impacted and influenced you as an HR practitioner?

• What do you anticipate will be the one or two biggest changes that will occur within the HR profession within the next five years? How are you preparing yourself for this?

• What are three key points of learning that you want to take away from reading this text?

CHAPTER 2

Forces for Change

No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.

—Robin Williams

A key part of managing change is understanding why change is required, or in other words being clear about the driving force behind a change. Many elements that drive organizational change will impact and influence processes, practices, and policies that an HR professional is responsible for devel...