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Business Drivers and the Strategic HR Response "Integration is our strategic goal for the customer and it's exactly what we've got to do with the HR team. We're not a welfare department, we're about helping business to maximize performance through people."Ian King 1. This briefing focuses on the main drivers that call for HR to develop a strategic response to business and performance improvement initiatives and other external factors that result in significant organizational restructuring and change. 2. The pressures apply equally to public as well as private sector organization. The example of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust provides an example of how one public sector organization has aligned HR with its revised strategy. 3. Despite the case for involving HR early in the strategic planning process, Business Intelligence's findings show that only one third of HR directors are consulted before strategy is formulated. 4. Anticipating and dealing with the specific challenges of mergers and acquisitions, illustrated by a case study of Canadian news print company, Abitibi-Consolidated. 5. Findings from Business Intelligence's research show that companies rate increasing productivity, compliance with government regulation and/or government protocols, improving shareholder value and reducing business overheads as the top four out of nine business change drivers. 6. In terms of HR priorities, respondents rated recruitment of talented staff, managing change and shaping corporate culture as the top three out of 11 HR activities. 7. The findings from Business Intelligence's research suggest that strategic HR is implemented in a similar way regardless of the company's circumstances: national organizations are broadly similar to global companies in this respect. 8. A case study on Orange shows how the telecoms company handled its integration into France Telecom and used the concept of organizational learning as a means of disseminating Orange culture and practices in the rebranding of FT's mobile business. Cases: RNOH, Abitibi-Consolidated, Orange Group HR If you are a subscriber, click here to read the full briefing. Click here to find out how to subscribe. |
