HR Strategies

Chapter 7
• STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION
• Transformation, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is: ‘A change in the
shape, structure, nature of something’.

• Organizational transformation strategies are concerned with the

development of programs that will ensure that the organization
responds strategically to new demands and continues to function
effectively in the dynamic environment in which it operates.

• Organizational transformation strategic plans may involve radical

changes to the structure, culture and processes of the organization.
• This may be in response to competitive pressures, mergers,
acquisitions, investments, disinvestments, changes in technology,
product lines, markets, cost reduction exercises and decisions to
downsize or outsource work.

• Transformational change may be forced on an organization by

investors or government decisions.

• It may be initiated by a new chief executive and top management

team with a concern to ‘turn round’ the business.
• A distinction can also be made between first-order and second-order
transformational development.

• First-order development is concerned with changes to the ways in

which particular parts of the organization function.

• Second-order change aims to make an impact on the whole

organization.
• Types of transformational strategies
• Four strategies for transformational change have been identified by
Beckhard (1989):

• 1. A change in what drives the organization – for example, a change from

being production driven to being market driven would be transformational;

• 2. A fundamental change in the relationships between or among

organizational parts – for example, decentralization;

• 3. A major change in the ways of doing work – for example, the

introduction of new technology such as computer-integrated
manufacturing;

• 4. A basic, cultural change in norms, values or research systems – for

example, developing a customer-focused culture.
• STRATEGIES FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
• Knowledge management strategies aim to capture an organization’s
collective expertise and distribute it to ‘wherever it can achieve the
biggest payoff’.

• Trussler (1998) comments that ‘the capability to gather, lever, and use
knowledge effectively will become a major source of competitive
advantage in many businesses over the next few years’.
• Approaches to the development of knowledge management
strategies

• 1. The codification strategy – knowledge is carefully codified and

stored in databases where it can be accessed and used easily by
anyone in the organization.

• Knowledge is explicit and is codified using a ‘people-to document’

approach. This strategy is therefore document driven.

• Knowledge is extracted from the person who developed it, made

independent of that person and reused for various purposes.
• It will be stored in some form of electronic repository for people to
use and allows many people to search for and retrieve codified
knowledge without having to contact the person who originally
developed it.

• This strategy relies largely on information technology to manage

databases and also on the use of the intranet.
• 2. The personalization strategy – knowledge is closely tied to the
person who has developed it and is shared mainly through direct
person-to-person contacts.

• This is a ‘person-to-person’ approach, which involves sharing tacit

knowledge.

• The exchange is achieved by creating networks and encouraging face-

to-face communication between individuals and teams by means of
informal conferences, workshops, brainstorming and one-to-one
sessions.
• COMMITMENT STRATEGY
• The concept of commitment refers to feelings of attachment and
loyalty to the organization.

• A commitment strategy will be concerned with the development of

communication, education and training programmes, initiatives to
increase involvement and ‘ownership’, and the introduction of
performance and reward management processes.
• STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING A CLIMATE OF TRUST
• Thompson points out, trust is an outcome of good management. It is
created and maintained by managerial behavior and by the
development of better mutual understanding of expectations –
employers of employees, and employees of employers.

• Clearly, the sort of behavior that is most likely to engender trust is

when management is honest with people, keeps its word (delivers the
deal) and practises what it preaches.

• Organizations that espouse core values (‘people are our greatest

asset’) and then proceed to ignore them will be low-trust
organizations.
• More specifically, trust will be developed

• if management acts fairly, equitably and consistently, if a policy of

transparency is implemented,

• if intentions and the reasons for proposals or decisions are communicated

both to employees generally and to individuals,

• if there is full involvement in developing reward processes and

• if mutual expectations are agreed through performance management.

• CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES
• A continuous improvement strategy aims to improve the quality and
reliability of products or services and their customer appeal, enhance
operational systems, improve service levels and delivery reliability,
and reduce costs and lead times.

• Continuous improvement is defined by Bessant et al (1994) as ‘a

company-wide process of focused and continuous incremental
innovation sustained over a period of time’.
• Focused – continuous improvement addresses specific issues where the
effectiveness of operations and processes needs to be improved, where
higher-quality products or services should be provided and, importantly,
where the levels of customer service and satisfaction need to be enhanced.

• Continuous – the search for improvement is never-ending; it is not a one

off campaign to deal with isolated problems.

• Incremental – continuous improvement is not about making sudden

quantum leaps in response to crisis situations; it is about adopting a steady,
step-by-step approach to improving the ways in which the organization
goes about doing things.

• Innovation – continuous improvement is concerned with developing new

ideas and approaches to deal with new and sometimes old problems and
requirements.
• CUSTOMER SERVICE STRATEGY
• to develop effective, coherent and integrated policies, processes and
practices for ensuring that high levels of customer service are achieved.

• A customer service strategy indicates what the organization intends to do

about customer service in the future and how it proposes to do it.

• The aim of the strategy will be to achieve service excellence.

• As defined by Johnston (2002): ‘Service excellence is simply about being
easy to do business with, which involves delivering the promise, providing
a personal touch, going the extra mile and resolving problems well.’ He
suggests that a reputation for service excellence can be developed and
sustained by ‘having a strong service culture, a distinct service personality,
committed staff and customer-focused systems’.
• The strategy will cover what action will be taken to create a customer
centric culture, how the customer service infrastructure will be developed,
the processes required to identify and meet customer needs and
expectations and measure satisfaction, how the right attitudes, skills and
behaviors will be fostered, and how the various internal systems and
processes – the infrastructure that supports customer service – can be
improved.

• The strategy will deal with both external and internal customers. It will be
concerned with integrating the programs for continuous improvement and
quality management that ensure that a quality product or service is
delivered to customers.

• It will also address issues relating to the recruitment, training and reward
of customer-focused staff.