The Changing Role of HR. HR Transformation

1. 19 October 2011

2. CONTENTS

4. 
End of 18th
Century:
Welfare
Officers
The World
Wars:
Labour/
Employment
Manager
2001 till
now:
Strategic
HR
1945 – 1979:
Personnel Mgt
1980 – 2000:
Human
Resource /
Compliance
Officer

5. Welfare
Officer
Labor
Manager
Personnel
Management
Human
Resource
Management
Strategic HR
→
High

6. →
Compensation
Benefits
Safety &
Workers’
Compensation
Compliance
Labor/Union
Relations
Staffing
Training &
Development
Employee
Relations
Survey Action
Planning
continue
to evolve
Welfare /
Employee
Care
Employee
Welfare
Labor
Relations
Employee
Relations
Personnel
Admin
Human
Resource
Organizational
Effectiveness
High
Transactional
Work Transformational
Work
Strategic
HR Planning
Organizational
Design
HR as
Business
Partner
Culture
& Image
Performance
Management
HRIS
COE
Shared
Svc
Centre

11. Globalization
Economic
uncertainties
Technology
innovations
Profitability thru
Cost & Growth
Intensified
Competition
Increasing value
Organizational
capabilities → fast,
responsive, cost
effective
Creating climate for
action
Unique competitive
advantage
Business savvy
Align with strategy
Strong bench
strength
Change catalyst
Help biz leaders to
achieve objectives

13. Strategic
15%
Strategic
60%
HR needs to realign its service delivery model to add
more strategic value to the organization
% of available resources
Need to expand focus beyond its traditional & transactional role.

14. Dave Ulrich identifies four distinct roles of HR professional
that may add value to a business and create sustainable
competitive advantage.

15. Active Role in setting strategic direction
Effecting Transformation & Change
Process Optimization & Efficiency Motivated & Competent Personnel
P
E
O
P
L
E
P
R
O
C
E
S
S
E
S
David Ulrich — HR Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value & Delivering Results, 1996

16. • Develops & aligns strategies with biz
• Assists line managers in solving organization,
people & change-related issues
• Contributes to management team’s strategic
decision-making
• Fosters systems thinking, customer focus
• Strategically manages workforce development
• Understands the organization’s culture & what
is effective and ineffective
• Institutionalizes change capability within the
organization
• Assists line managers to lead & facilitate change
• Acts as a consultant in organizational
effectiveness
• Enhances management development
David Ulrich — HR Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value & Delivering Results, 1996
• Creates and delivers effective & efficient HR
processes and services tailored to unique
business needs
• Manages people & HR related costs
• Ensures internal &external customer focus
• Applies information technology to rapidly
deliver quality HR products and services
• Develops strategies and helps implement
actions that enhance human capital
contribution
• Helps build workforce commitment
• Ensures fair, ethical, and equitable people
processes and practices
• VOE
P
E
O
P
L
E
P
R
O
C
E
S
S
E
S

17. • Develops & aligns strategies with biz
• Assists line managers in solving organization,
people & change-related issues
• Contributes to management team’s strategic
decision-making
• Fosters systems thinking, customer focus
• Strategically manages workforce development
• Understands the organization’s culture & what
is effective and ineffective
• Institutionalizes change capability within the
organization
• Assists line managers to lead & facilitate change
• Acts as a consultant in organizational
effectiveness
• Enhances management development
David Ulrich — HR Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value & Delivering Results, 1996
• Creates and delivers effective & efficient HR
processes and services tailored to unique
business needs
• Manages people & HR related costs
• Ensures internal &external customer focus
• Applies information technology to rapidly
deliver quality HR products and services
• Develops strategies and helps implement
actions that enhance human capital
contribution
• Helps build workforce commitment
• Ensures fair, ethical, and equitable people
processes and practices
P
E
O
P
L
E
P
R
O
C
E
S
S
E
S

18. • Develops & aligns strategies with biz
• Assists line managers in solving organization,
people & change-related issues
• Contributes to management team’s strategic
decision-making
• Fosters systems thinking, customer focus
• Strategically manages workforce development
• Understands the organization’s culture & what
is effective and ineffective
• Institutionalizes change capability within the
organization
• Assists line managers to lead & facilitate change
• Acts as a consultant in organizational
effectiveness
• Enhances management development
David Ulrich — HR Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value & Delivering Results, 1996
• Creates and delivers effective & efficient HR
processes and services tailored to unique
business needs
• Manages people & HR related costs
• Ensures internal &external customer focus
• Applies information technology to rapidly
deliver quality HR products and services
• Develops strategies and helps implement
actions that enhance human capital
contribution
• Helps build workforce commitment
• Ensures fair, ethical, and equitable people
processes and practices
P
E
O
P
L
E
P
R
O
C
E
S
S
E
S

20. Participates in designing & defining organization’s strategies
Contributes to management team’s strategic decision-making
Focuses on aligning HR strategies & practices with business
strategy  translate business strategy into HR priorities
Strategically manage people & infrastructure to support the
execution of strategies & the creation of value
Strategically manages workforce development

21. Facilitate strategy development
for business teams by using
different techniques
Plan and facilitate strategy
deployment to the whole
organization
Align the organization strategy
with the business strategy to
ensure it will be delivered
Redesign the organization to
support strategy
HR as Strategic Partner should be able to:

22. Knowledge
Requirements
Bring strong technical
expertise to the table
and an understanding of
your company and its
strategy.
Develop new skills as
needed. Understand the
data, the financials, the
market, etc.
Staying focused on
issues that matter to the
business
Delivering capabilities
that make a real
difference
What are the issues that
matter?
What’s keeping business
leaders up at night?
What’s the “elephant on
the table” regarding the
future?
What drives the bottom
line?
Focus on business
objectives
Focus on environment
Provide organizational
capabilities as required
by the strategy
People
Goal alignment
Culture
Knowledge
Requirements
Bring strong technical
expertise to the table
and an understanding of
your company and its
strategy.
Develop new skills as
needed. Understand the
data, the financials, the
market, etc.
Staying focused on
issues that matter to the
business
What are the issues that
matter?
What’s keeping business
leaders up at night?
What’s the “elephant on
the table” regarding the
future?
What drives the bottom
line?
Focus on business
objectives
Focus on environment
Delivering capabilities
that make a real
difference
Staying focused on
issues that matter to the
business
What are the issues that
matter?
What’s keeping business
leaders up at night?
What’s the “elephant on
the table” regarding the
future?
What drives the bottom
line?
Focus on business
objectives
Focus on environment
Provide organizational
capabilities as required
by the business
objectives:
People
Strategy
Culture
Delivering capabilities
that make a real
difference
Staying focused on
issues that matter to the
business
What are the issues that
matter?
What’s keeping
business leaders up at
night?
What’s the “elephant on
the table” regarding the
future?
What drives the bottom
line?
Focus on business
objectives
Focus on environment

24. Becoming a true "player" on strategic business issues → able
to challenge business leaders on their own ground
Architect who can synthesize best practices e.g. Total Reward,
Talent Management, OD, etc into integrated solutions and
implement at speed
Shifting from advising and consulting to challenging,
provoking, confronting business leaders
Letting go of the past and engaging with the future

30. Serves as a catalyst for change
Helps the organization build a
capacity for change
Plan change process with
sponsors
Ensure project team has
necessary skills, training
Coach sponsor
Lead by example by doing it
first within the HR function.
Facilitate the discussions about
the change and its content with
all stakeholders
Coach leaders through the
change
Acts as a coach/mentor to
employees to help them
understand change as it affects
their lives
Emphasize ‘what is in it’ for the
individuals and address
concerns
Strike a balance between the
business and employees
Communicate, communicate,
communicate
Help employees to break from
the past & adapt a new culture.
Sustain the momentum
Internalisation of new
behaviour / way
Recognize & celebrate success
Build on the change

31. Awareness
of desired change
Understanding
of change direction
Translation
to the work setting
Commitment
to personal change
Internalisation
of new behaviour
“Yeah, I saw the memo”
“I understand where we
need to go”
“I know how we need to
do our jobs differently”
“OK, I’m ready to do it
the new way”
“This is the way we do things
here”
Information with some
involvement sufficient here
Significant
involvement
needed
Change Process

32. •Set the
direction
•Create the
desire & will to
change
Unfreeze Mobilise Realise
Reinforce Sustain
•Make early
changes &
build
confidence
•Secure
widespread
shift in
behaviour
•Underpin with
changes in
structure &
people
processes
•Strive for
continuous
performance
improvement
Break with
the past
Build the
energy
Performance
lift-off
Embed new
culture
Push the
limits
The change has to be managed and the HR Professionals have to be skilled
in the change management process.

34. A deep knowledge of change management processes
Problem solving skills
Coaching & conflict management skills
Good communication, influencing & facilitation skills
Networking, Collaboration & team-building abilities
Business mastery
Planning & project management skills
Ability to tolerate ambiguity
A risk taker

37. Voice of the Employee
Develop employee competence
Equip managers with skills to respond effectively to employees; equip the
employees with skills to overcome challenges
Create climate for action
increasing employee commitment and capability

38. 

39. Strategic Partner vs. Employee Advocate
Success in multiple-role framework requires that HR professionals
balance the tension inherent in being a strategic partner on the one
hand and an employee advocate on the other.
HR professionals must demonstrate that they can both represent
employee needs and implement management agenda, be the voice of
the employee and the voice of management, act as partner to both
employees and managers.
HR professionals must strike a balance between the needs of these
potentially competing stakeholders.

40. Being an effective HR professional does not mean simply moving
from operational to strategic work. It means learning to master both
operational and strategic processes and people.
The operational and transactional aspects of HR need to be
handled well. No matter what other strategic and transformational
work is being done, the trains still need to run on time.
A strategic partner has multiple dimensions → HR professionals as
business partners operate in each of the 4 roles.
HR professionals, in order to meet the demands of these new roles,
a shift in mindset and capability is a must.