Change

Citation

Nolan, S. (2014), "Change", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 13 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-02-2014-0014

Change

Article Type: Editorial From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 13, Issue 3

The theme of this issue of Strategic HR Review is change, which is ongoing and fast paced and has an ever widening impact on the HR function. There is a strong focus on cultural change, with authors discussing different means of achieving it, from strengths based development to blended learning, as well as how to maintain it in the long term. There is also a focus on preparing leaders for successfully implementing change and keeping human capital strategies relevant in a changing global environment.

The case study, "Living the future: a strengths-based example of restructure and culture at Boehringer Ingelheim", by Nicky Garcea, Alex Linley and Rebecca Harrison, shows how the strengths-based model is not solely a recruitment model but also a valuable development tool that can be used to embed cultural change within an organization. A cultural change initiative to adopt an account management approach within sales, led the case organization to embed strengths within four levels of the organization – recruitment, team development, performance review and talent management, and day-to-day operations. The initial plan was to recruit existing employees from a strengths-based perspective into new roles in order to find latent talent within the organization. The end result has been strengths-based development for all staff to help them discover what energizes and engages them. Strengths are now at the heart of the organization’s culture and its day-to-day operations.

"How blended learning can create a more inclusive culture", by Angela Peacock, addresses a specific type of culture change. The author discusses blended learning techniques and methods as the best way to create a more inclusive culture in an organization. While traditional training has many benefits, alone it is likely to make a short term impact. For a longer term impact, continuous embedding is required and this can be achieving through a blended approach that combines traditional methods with new, virtual and web-based solutions. The author discusses the different methods available and shares a case study where blended learning was used on a global scale to create an environment more inclusive of female talent.

In "Is culture change a fad? Driving business results at Penna, 10 years on", Bev White, Gary Browning and Javier Bajer discuss how a global HR services group went through a culture change intervention that had a long-term, sustainable impact. The key to changing and maintaining its culture – so far, for ten years – has been largely down to vigilance and monitoring and a no zero policy to behaviors that do not match those outlined at the outset. Since implementing the new culture, the organization has been through acquisitions that doubled it in size overnight, seen many new people join and been faced with the recession, yet it continued to consistently focus on its desired cultural behaviors and to facilitate their enactment. The result is that it has continued to grow and has survived the tough economy of recent years.

In "Creating leaders for successful change management", Eddie Kilkelly outlines the importance of developing effective change leaders. Using his experience of change management, the author first looks at why change programs so often fail in today’s environment – often due to an over-focus on process and a lack of focus on people and, in particular, leaders. He believes that change leaders need leadership, mentoring and development to help them deliver success. He looks at how one organization used a Change Academy to refresh and build the skills of its leaders and managers and to create a network for cooperation and knowledge sharing. It is tied in to personal development plans, and aligned with industry qualifications, giving participants a meaningful development path. It reflects the importance the organization puts on change initiatives and professionals and it uses people skills to successfully deliver change.

In "Developing a human capital strategy in today’s changing environment: eight forces shaping HC strategy", Jack J. Phillips, PhD, and Patti P. Phillips, PhD examine the changing global environment from a HR perspective. They look at the internal and external forces that are having the most impact on human capital strategies. Adapting human capital strategy to address the most current issues will help make organizations more profitable and more efficient as well as improve perception of the HR function as one that has a direct role to play in organizational success. The authors identify the eight forces that are having the most impact in today’s environment and examine how they can be addressed by HR. Giving them strategic importance raises their priority within the organization and moves HR away from administrative processes.

Sara Nolan
E-mail: strategichrreview@gmail.com