Different Ways to Change Management -- "Systems Thinking"

I have been observing the way Organizational change management through leadership has been taking shape for the past two decades. I have seen an explosion in the number of very useful tools to help change agents to effectively explore, understand and communicate about organizations, as well as to guide successful change in those organizations. Systems thinking is a major breakthrough, even if the change agent is not an expert about systems thinking, even a basic understanding can cultivate an entire new way of working.

Integrated Solutions a Business Value Driver & Enabler to HR

Business Value Drivers.

In business the only industry that matters you is your own industry. HR has to understand Business processes better than any other employee in the company deep knowledge, may it be a small, mid or large global enterprise.

People & Talent - Business Enablers

With the economic uncertainty present in today's markets, it's increasingly important to have visibility into your workforce – ensuring your company never misses an opportunity. Globalization and demographic changes exert pressure on companies to find, develop, and retain the best people and talent, while also reducing HR costs.

Use of best integrated enterprise applications for the people professionals called "The HR", help minimize costs, improve insight, improve operational efficiency, effectiveness and stream line some their cumbersome processes increasing your flexibility. And greatest of all a customizable solution enables you to carry out industry specific processes.

Hiring new employees is a multistage process that often involves several software applications and corporate departments. Applications must be reviewed and evaluated, candidates selected and interviewed, and new staff entered into the employer’s human resource and payroll administration software. Manual interfaces – in particular, transition points from paper documents to electronic systems – are notoriously slow and prone to error, compromising the integrity of data. Deploying an integrated software environment that encompasses all affected processes and data is therefore a high priority for enterprises with complex hiring requirements would be a valued scenario to drive business improvement.

The Solution

One such value scenario is to have a e-HR module which interactive forms links the recruitment function with the employee relations function. When candidate submits the application, the solution automatically parses the data internally reducing data entry time by 75%. When a job applicant has been accepted, the personal information is transferred from recruiting module to the human resources/controlling department, via a user-friendly, interactive electronic form that is automatically preloaded with the applicant’s information. Position-specific data may be added manually to generate the employment number. An automated work-flow generates a new employee master record in Records Management as well as a payroll record. Additional steps, such as health insurance registration etc., follow. With the exception of very few manual entries, the entire process should be automated. This basically helps in reducing the paper flow to almost zero. Data quality improves dramatically. The availability of accurate, reliable applicant data and automated processes will definitely lower our cost of hiring. The hiring managers can view the status of candidates as and when they need. When a candidate accepts a position, the date of joining is fed into the system. Thus e-HR module should be an end-to-end, enterprise-wide process for talent management and one that speeds the time-to-fill process for open positions, reduces recruitment costs and drive business improvement and has better resource management abilities.

The Experience

As a Senior HR professional, I have been associated with one such solution for more than 8 years and having worked closely in designing and customizing HR needs with our internal projects team I have achieved better results through "SAP - HR". In early 2000 when the SAP fire was fast catching up in Hyderabad, India, I was one of the fortunate HR professional to have already been a super user trained with hands on in house experience. I was approached by several local SAP training Institutions to teach their students SAP HR modules during week ends. Added to this, I have been an active Interviewer in hiring HR functional professional consultants in SAP area in the organizations I have worked. Today, I have been invited by a leading global publisher to author a book on "Interview Questions - SAP HR".

LET'S BELIEVE !!! VALUES CAN DO WONDERS

LET'S BELIEVE !
VALUES CAN DO WONDERS

Its obviously a nice thing to have a set of values pinned proudly at the corporate entrances. Nevertheless, these values should be embedded in the core corporate culture - lest they remain to have been designed to convince the outside world, rather bringing change, spinning wonders within. If, there are gaps between what you say and do - then its' all over. If, percolated down to the bottom line, vouched and preached properly - Values Can Do Wonders.

Amidst my busy schedule, one day I visited to a large Corporate House. As usual, the receptionist with her dark sticky lipstick and with that broad artificial smile on her face made me to ease at the artistically decorated lounge. Ooh! it took a little while before I could meet the guy I went to see. While gazing hangouts, my eyes caught the glimpse of the Corporate Value Statement pinned proudly on one of the walls. There are some words like 'creativity' and 'innovation' together with a few aspirational phrases like 'striving for excellence', 'cutting edge', 'together we grow' and 'putting customers first' etc. etc.....

I really don't know, do such grand statements of corporate principles really mean anything - or they are just only few artistic words on those glossy bulletins. Sometimes, the wordings are such, they give you a feel that these statements are designed to convince the outside world in order to meet their business objectives.

Believe it, Values act as ' Corporate DNA ' . Its' only the values that contain the identity and helps the businesses to prepare for the future and cope for the challenges. Of course the values enhance the corporate reputation. There are quite many shining examples of values-driven companies who are outperforming their competitors. Actually these companies put values before the pursuit of profit and reap the rewarding harvest. Large Corporate Houses through relentless pursuit of excellence play a vital role in fostering Values. Companies with distinct Values are quite clear in their vision that they are responsive as a corporate citizen.

Facing the Change
If, the values are to be translated into positive action, the top management needs to look into the continuous employee involvement. It is just not sufficient for the companies to coin the vision & value statements on a piece of paper and expect change to happen - sorry, its the employees who have to see and link it up to what they really mean to them personally. Putting values into action begins only when an employee puts his own personal values and explore how these connect with the Company’s. This process gets paid off by the employees commitment and improved performance on the job, through clear understanding of the corporate values. This can be measured by incorporating values into performance management system.

I strongly believe, organizations should assess their values at least once in every three years in order to gauge the organizational direction. Through this, companies can reap better benefits by correcting the areas of inconsistencies between what the company says and what it does and the subsequent culture differences.

V-Talent
In these days of E-Business and E-Commerce, the concept of V-Business / V-Commerce (Value based Business / Commerce) plays a pivotal role. Lets understand briefly this concept of V-Business / V-Commerce (Value based Business / Commerce). Talent is the core essence of today's business. Talent will choose or gel well in an Organization whose values are in tune with their own. Living Corporate Values can play a vital role in helping the values-driven talent to focus on what's important during organizational transformation. A clear set of corporate Values and principles will help employees to understand better and prepare them to participate fully in the changes.

The success
The blueprint for the success of V-Business / V-Commerce depends on ‘3Cs’ - Clarity, Commitment and Communication.

First the companies need to achieve clarity from three angles - top management clarity about business objectives, whole company clarity about what the values actually mean, and finally the individual employee clarity about what they need to do differently to succeed in doing wonders.

Secondly the commitment is so important that there can't be any casualty from the senior team members in this process. Both the Management and their Human Asset should be committed to Commitments.

Lastly an improper communication can lead to a mismatch in aligning the values. There should be open channels of communication for employees to give and receive advice and information.

If you have big values and don’t practice, the gaps between what you say and do can be spotted immediately - and then it’s all over. But, Values Can Do Wonders, if vouched and preached properly.

Babu_IIT_C

babu,
r u tr.
no c ts dys.
lets keep in touch. :-)

Regards,

Hi HR

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