RECENT ASSIGNMENT

Topic:
Discuss: At the centre of many HRM approaches to organisational transformation and
culture change is the concept of the HR professional as change agent. Discuss the role of
HR in managing change within organisations.
Format: Essay
Length: 2000 words
Due date: Midnight Friday Week 11
Assignment information:
Discuss the role of HR in managing change within organisations. You will need to:
• Identify and discuss possible catalysts for change
• Discuss resistance to change
• Identify potential areas of change management that would involve HR
• The role of HR professionals in implementing change and the competencies they
would require
Use appropriate theories to support your arguments
Your assignment must be in essay format. However, heading are acceptable.
CDU Harvard referencing style must be used.
For the assessment criteria refer to the assessment rubric on learnline.



Example on assignment.
Early organisational change management theories suggested that organisations could not
be effective if they were constantly changing, as it was thought that people required routines
in order to demonstrate improved performance. It is now argued that change is vitally
important so much so that change becomes a routine in itself. One would find it hard to not
argue that one of the main tasks of managers today is the leadership of organisational
change (Todnem 2005). However, as organisations continue in this journey of ongoing
organisational change the Human Resource (HR) professional must also establish itself and
define its role in this process.
This paper will discuss the role of HR in managing change within organisations. It will do this
broadly by identifying and discussing the evolution of the HR professional’s role in managing
organisational change. Specifically this paper will briefly discuss and analyse Human
Resource Management (HRM) history as a catalyst for change, contemporary HRM focusing
on theoretical frameworks relating to HRM as a change agent and the skill inventory required
by HR professionals to be successful in organisational change roles.
Organisational change can be described as ‘any alteration planned or unplanned in the
status quo that affects the structure and resources of an organisation’ (p. 50 Hartel &
Fujimoto 2010). According to Burnes (2004) change is an ever presented reality of
contemporary organisations both from a strategic and operational perspective. He argues
that the contemporary organisations should be on the front foot when identifying and
responding to change particularly in an environment of globalisation, deregulation, rapidly
improving technology, a knowledgeable workforce and shifting social demographics. Despite
change being the norm for the contemporary organisation resistance is ever present and is
often described as a normal reaction (Heathfield 2013).
Beitler (2005) proposes that generally when organisations plan to change they deliver the
‘unworkable plan’ which results in resistance from employees. This usually involves senior
managers identifying the need for change, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) announcing the
change, followed by the senior managers hoping that the change will work. Heathfield (2013)
implies that change conjures up feelings of anxiety and uncertainty as employees perceive
that they will lose a sense of security. Ogilvie & Stork (2003) propose that change has
always been part of the HR fabric however what has varied over time is the nature of change
and HR’s role in the design, implementation and management of change in an organisation.
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History: The Catalyst for Change
The history of HR involvement in organisational change arguably presents an evolutionary
progression that describes HR practitioners as playing an operational and more
administrative role that has largely responded to the changing context of work. Furthermore,
what history has done is consistently argued that HR should play a key role in managing
organisational change (Andrews, Cameron & Harris 2008).
The early industrial era of the 1800’s saw an increase in organisational growth and factories
where becoming larger, more complex and less efficient. The response to managing this
change included the development of a number of movements including scientific
management, welfare work, and vocational guidance which are arguably the foundations of
HR and HR in managing organisational change. These movements focused on the practical
and operational tasks required by HR to respond to change and make the organisation more
efficient, productive and profitable. HR activities included the development of work
processes and systems, recruiting, selecting, hiring and training staff, negotiating
performance based wages, keeping personnel records and to certain extend job design, fit
and employment programs (Ogilvie & Stork 2002) .
What these change movements did for organisations was fundamentally decrease the
pressure on line managers and supervisors with the aim to increase productivity and
therefore profit. However, Ogilvie & Stork (2002) conclude that these new decision making
centres were not met with enthusiasm as managers, supervisors and workers resisted this
change as they felt it took away their power and autonomy as work had become
depersonalised and routine. Furthermore, HR units also struggled to find a correct fit, where
they there to help employees, monitor them, or eliminate them? (Ogilvie & Stork 2002).
The next phase in the evolution of HR in managing organisational change started with the
World War periods and arguably has continued to evolve since. Leading up to this time HR
functions had stabilised and began to diversify their role as they became more influential
within the organisational context (Ogilvie & Stork 2002). Ogilvie & Stork (2002) infer it was at
this stage that HR functions faced their first real external environment challenges resulting in
change which included, social – war, legal – legislation and economic – financial. The types
of activities and tasks that HR units facilitated during this time of change included
standardising work arrangement, institutionalising senior positions, developing job evaluation
frameworks, regulating behaviour through legislative frameworks and the development of
strategic human resource management. It was thought that as HR functions were perceived
to becoming more strategic in nature in response to the evolving external environment, they
were also criticised of aligning with senior management whilst at the same time attempting to
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be effective in driving incremental change and providing leadership and advocacy for
transformative change (Ogilvie & Stork 2002).
Contemporary HR as Change Managers
Current literature suggests that contemporary HR as a function has been failing to fulfil its
potential as agents for change, struggling to synergise strategic, operational and traditional
HR processes and practices (Long & Ismail 2012). A common challenge for the HR
specialist is the need to move from transactional models of change management to strategic
change professionals (Rees & Johari 2010). For the context of this paper, change agents
can be described as groups or individuals responsible for leading change (Alfes, Truss & Gill
2010).
Andrews, Cameron & Harris (2008) argue that the practice of change management is
problematic and is not the responsibility of one particular change agent. They infer that in
contemporary organisations there are four types of change agents which include senior
leaders, middle managers, external consultants and teams, concluding that change
management it is not the sole responsibility of the HR professional. Ulrich (1997) takes a
similar stance stipulating that HR departments should be agents for continuous
transformation, strategic partners, administrative experts and employee champions when
managing change.
Ulrich (1997) suggests that HR professionals do not themselves execute change but they
play a change maker role, making sure that the change is carried out. He advocates that HR
professional must go beyond delivering services, maintaining records and auditing and
spend more time performing strategic HR planning and making contributions to
organisational design, strategy development and strategic change. Furthermore, Ulrich
(1997) argues that HR management should be responsible for easing the effect of change in
organisations and protecting employees against some of the unwelcome side effects. Alfes,
Truss & Gill (2010) insinuate that there is in fact very little empirical evidence to support
Ulrich’s (1997) vision of HR as a change maker, suggesting that their role is generally
constrained and more often reactive.
Caldwell (2001) goes beyond Ulrich’s (1997) ‘change maker’ stance and submits a
functionalist view of HR as a change agent, suggesting that the role has grown in terms of
significance and complexity. Caldwell (2001) presents a four role typology for HR to manage
change, which include; champions, adaptors, consultants and synergist. These different
typologies recognise that arguably unlike other theories change is not linear and requires
differentiated parcels of knowledge and skill which often overlap. Thus, suggesting that the
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most important action is for HR to proclaim itself a strategic partner of change in order to be
fully viable in the process as an agent (LaMarsh 2004). Lawler & Mohram (2003) also
support a more strategic approach to HRM as change agents but claim that generally the HR
specialist receives more job satisfaction from undertaking traditional HR processes rather
than being a business partner in change.
Conversely, Tondem (2005) presents a pragmatic view to organisational change and the role
of the HR professional more broadly, arguing that the above theories are confusing and lack
the empirical evidence to support them. Tondemn (2005) insinuates that change
management tends to be adhoc, discontinuous and fails as employees generally don’t view
HR professionals as playing a proactive role of ‘change maker’. Edgly-Physon & Huisman
(2011) concur in that the HR function generally lacks the perceived respect from employees
arguing that the HR function must first justify itself if it is to play a key role in leading
organisational change. Tondem (2005) concludes that there is the need for a more valid
framework.
A common argument presented in literature is that the contemporary HR professional should
not be seen as the leader of change initiatives rather a facilitator and a support function in
the change process (Long & Ismail 2012). This argument is in line with Caldwell’s (2001)
proposal of the change adapter role in which support is provided throughout the change
process. Nevertheless, the challenge of becoming a strategic business partner has arguably
remained an elusive goal for many HR professionals (Lawler & Mohram 2003).
Competencies of HR in Managing Change
Long & Ismail (2012) can be viewed as taking a more personalised view to HR in managing
change suggesting that HR functions require specific skill competencies that value add and
offer sustainable competitive advantage in order to be effective change agents. They
propose that technical and administrative skills alone are not sufficient to enable HR
professionals to be effective change agents. Long & Ismail (2012) purport that business
competencies are imperative to the skill inventory of HR functions as they allow better
understanding of the organisations individual needs. Furthermore, Lawler & Mohrman (2003)
imply that HR functions need to be experts in business strategy and implementation if they
are to be recognised as change agents.
Long & Ismail (2012) summarise the following competencies as critical to the HR functions
role in order to be effective in change agents. These competencies include culture
management, effective relationship and communication skills, HR development,
performance management, value chain knowledge, HR technology and conflict
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management. They suggest that the central responsibility of HR is that of culture
management, arguing that if an organisation is going to remain competitive and be on the
front foot with change this key HR function is ongoing. Buchanan & Boddy’s (1992) findings
concur with those of Long & Ismail (2012) who agree that change agents should have good
communication skills, team-building abilities, goal setting and influencing skills.
Long & Ismail (2012) suggest that HR specialists that fail to attain these competencies not
only limit their own career progression but they limit the ability and effectiveness as a change
agents and therefore as strategic business partner. Furthermore and arguably of more
importance, HR specialist that fail to attain these competences may result in employees
ongoing demonstrated resistance to change in general. Moreover, Long & Ismail (2012) do
propose a similar position to what has been discussed previously, in that HR should begin to
work with unit areas and line managers in areas of change.
What this paper has fundamentally analysed and discussed is the evolution of the role of HR
in the organisational change process. This paper has noted that the role of the HR
professional has changed over time from traditional (operational) to somewhat more
strategic in nature. Furthermore, it has presented frameworks and theories such as Ulrich’s
(1997) and Caldwell’s (2001) that support the notion that HR professionals should be
strategically focussed when dealing with change, proposing that HR professionals play a role
as a strategic change partner, not necessarily leading the change, but certainly being a key
stakeholder. However despite these findings, there is little evidence to support these
theories in practice and in fact the analysis suggests that HR as change agents are generally
failing, preferring to revert back to more traditional and operational HR processes and
practice.
The author suggests that as HR fails to play the strategic change partner role, more
pressure is being put onto line managers to not only deliver operational and strategic
business outcomes but also be the leaders in area of change. Finally, the author argues that
if HR is failing in its role to be a strategic change partner then do they really have a ‘value
add’ role at all? Further research is therefore required.
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Reference List
Alfes, K, Truss, C & Gill, J 2010, ‘The HR manager as change agent: evidence from the
public sector’, Journal of Change Management, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.109–127, via Routledge
Journals online.
Andrews, J Cameron, H & Harris, M 2008, ‘All change? Managers experience of
organisational change in theory and in practice’, Journal of Organizational Change
Management, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 300-314, via Emerald Journals online.
Beitler, M. A 2005 ‘Overcoming resistance to change’
http://mikebeitler.com/freestuff/Overcoming-Resistance-to-Change.pdf, viewed online 20
May 2012.
Buchanan, D. & Boddy, D 1999, The Expertise of the Change Agent: Public Performance
and Backstage Activity, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Burnes, B 2004, ‘Kurt Lewin and the planned approach to change: a re-appraisal’, Journal of
Management Studies, Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 977–1002.
Caldwell, R 2001, ‘Champions, adapters, consultants and synergists: the new change
agents in HRM,’ Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 39-52, viewed
via Emerald Journals Online.
Edgley-Pyshorn, C & Huisman, J 2011, ‘The role of the HR department in organisational
change in a British university’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 24 No.
5, pp. 610-625, via Emerald Journals online.
Hartel, C.E.J & Fujimoto, Y 2010, Human Resource Management, 2nd Edition, Pearson
Australia.
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Heathfield, S.M 2013, ‘How to reduce resistance to change’
http://humanresources.about.com/od/resistancetochange/a/how-to-reduce-resistance-tochange.
htm, viewed online 17 May 2012.
LaMarsh, J 2004, ‘Building a strategic partnership and HR’s role of change manager’,
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Assessment of Trends and New Directions, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.
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online.
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of Organisational Change Management, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 254-271, viewed via Emerald
Journals online.
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times of strategic organizational change’, Journal of Organizational Change Management,
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Change Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 369–380, viewed via Routledge Journals online.