ROLE OF HR IN STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
Ever thought of why do companies fail to succeed in spite of the great strategies that they have formulated and pursued all along. Most obvious reason being that companies never realize that to pursue a great unique strategy also requires change in the way we carry out work. You cannot expect to reap rich rewards even with a path breaking strategy, without changing the way you work.
People factor differentiates two companies following similar strategy
Classic example quoted in this context are those Wal-Mart, whose low cost strategy during 1980s and 90s was tried by many of its competitors but not with the kind of success that Wal-Mart has achieved. The difference being people who are passionate about lowest prices. The belief that cost advantage gained by the company is passed on ultimately to the customers, drives and motivates Wal-Mart employees to generate and implement new ideas of cost cutting. This kind of involvement by people was missing in its competitors.
Key role of HR manager - internal consultant
Though companies realize that culture and more importantly its visible attribute – behaviours – affect strategy implementation and yet not many HR managers know how to act or more precisely do not spare a thought on such an important aspect of strategy implementation. To be able to act, HR managers need to know exactly what changes in working style are required for the company’s strategy to be implemented successfully and distinctly in the marketplace. Knowledge of such subtle change in people behaviors is of little help as the changes in behaviours cannot be brought about until there is an unstinting support from top management team, which comes from their understanding of linkage between behaviours and strategy implementation. In this context HR managers must play the role of internal consultants and work closely with top management to impress upon them the need for subtle changes in organizational culture, gain their support and then create awareness, understanding and systems to reinforce the desired behaviours in the people.
To do this HR managers must involve top management and the people in key roles (which may include people heading key functions, union representatives etc.), preferably in a workshop and can put forth the question how the culture of the company can best be described in terms of most pronounced characteristics. The probable outcome could be identification of characteristics such as innovativeness or status quo, learning or belief of being the best, trust or command structure, customer orientation or product orientation and so on and so forth. Next the team may work on desirable attributes that company must value to pursue the new strategy and that gives the clarity on the need to move from old cultural habits to desired cultural tenets. The team must further work on identification of positive behaviours with respect to each of the values for clear communication to one and all.
To do this HR managers must involve top management and the people in key roles (which may include people heading key functions, union representatives etc.), preferably in a workshop and can put forth the question how the culture of the company can best be described in terms of most pronounced characteristics. The probable outcome could be identification of characteristics such as innovativeness or status quo, learning or belief of being the best, trust or command structure, customer orientation or product orientation and so on and so forth. Next the team may work on desirable attributes that company must value to pursue the new strategy and that gives the clarity on the need to move from old cultural habits to desired cultural tenets. The team must further work on identification of positive behaviours with respect to each of the values for clear communication to one and all.
From conceptualization to implementation
After dealing with conceptual part of the exercise to identify and understand the changes required in the way work is conducted to pursue the new strategy, the practical part starts with putting in place the systems and mechanisms to reinforce the identified behaviours.
Changes in systems include incentive and reward schemes for example shift from production volumes and quality to customer satisfaction or from individual excellence to team excellence and knowledge sharing, organizational structure for example to improve responsiveness to markets and customer or to provide renewed thrust to new product development or to penetrate new market and customer segments and perhaps people in key positions – to drive the effort through personal traits and abilities. This kind of effort when results in desired performance levels, enhances commitment to new set of behaviors which will help in improving the systems further.
Changes in systems include incentive and reward schemes for example shift from production volumes and quality to customer satisfaction or from individual excellence to team excellence and knowledge sharing, organizational structure for example to improve responsiveness to markets and customer or to provide renewed thrust to new product development or to penetrate new market and customer segments and perhaps people in key positions – to drive the effort through personal traits and abilities. This kind of effort when results in desired performance levels, enhances commitment to new set of behaviors which will help in improving the systems further.
Complementary effect of culture and performance
This cycle of culture reinforcing the performance and the performance reinforcing the culture will finally enable HR in establishing a cultural infrastructure of sustained competitive advantage that would become difficult for the competitors to emulate.
HR can thus make a big positive difference by keeping in tact the coherence between organization’s strategy and its culture and thus truly be the most important enabler of business results.
HR can thus make a big positive difference by keeping in tact the coherence between organization’s strategy and its culture and thus truly be the most important enabler of business results.
Source: http://www.alagse.com
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