Case Assignment:
Read the two attached documents ‘The King Company Background’ and ‘Human Resource Development’.
Address the following questions in an essay format which includes an introduction and conclusion (not a Q & A format):
As an HR consultant, design a process for the King Company to analyze what changes are needed in their HRD procedures, policies, and practices to improve the development of employees. Discuss the process you would follow and why you selected those process steps.
Be sure to bring in what you have learned from your change management, internal consulting, and organizational development readings.
Provide private-sector employer examples of HRM programs, systems, processes, and/or procedures as you address the assignment requirements. Provide names of the employers in your examples. Use different employer examples in this course than what have been used previously in your other papers and courses.
Utilize information from at least 2 sources from the Trident Online Library to help strengthen and validate your discussion.If you cannot access the Trident Online library then please use scholarly articles.
Paper length: 3–4 pages (not counting the cover and reference pages).
Module 3 – Case
The King Company experiences numerous challenges associated with human resource management, necessitating changes in HRD procedures, policies, and practices. To improve its profitability, the company should improve the most important department because training and developing quality employees are the core of business success. The training director, Karmen Scholl, has initiated numerous changes in the organization to improve human resources and achieve productivity results. While some of the changes, such as the “snack and chat” meetings, have effectively improved human resources, there is a need for more changes in training and development to improve human resources. The paper covers the process for the King Company to analyze what changes are needed in their HRD procedures, policies, and practices to improve the development of employees.
Problem Identification
The beginning step in the change management process is to identify the exact problem that the company will work with internal and external consultants to address. The problem identification step is important because a proposed change should address a specific problem. The human resource management-related problems should be outlined clearly to begin designing a solution. The problem-identification step involves analyzing the internal environment to gather as much information as possible regarding issues limiting performance (Odor, 2018). For the company, one of the sources of information is the emails identifying specific problems within the HRD. The emails reveal the things that are going wrong in the company.
Need Analysis
Another critical step in analyzing the need for a change at King Company is acknowledging and understanding the need for change. Some managers could see something that needs to be addressed and jump into findings a solution. For example, Scholl could have realized human resource development issues and immediately created a solution that could become expensive for failing to achieve the intended change objective. To avoid such issues, the management should analyze the data collected during the problem identification phase to understand the need for a change. The need analysis step is critical since the change manager needs to identify the exact need that the change will meet. Since the company already has in-house training on issues, such as on sexual harassment and safety procedures, as well as others when the need arises, there is still need for the identification of other areas that the company needs changes to improve human resource activities and improve the firm’s goals and objectives. Therefore, the company should engage the internal and external consultants to understand the situation and identify the necessary changes in procedures, policies, and procedures. They should understand why the change is necessary by analyzing factors affecting the human resource department.
Analysis of Potential Resistance
An Analysis of potential resistance is a step in understanding the need for change in human resource procedures, policies, and practices. The step is critical since any resistance to the proposed change can have costly effects due to a loss of investment. While training and development are necessary for King to improve its operations, major changes can be affected by resistance from the management or employees. For instance, the training director at King tried to create changes in training and development policies but experienced considerable resistance from some managers, who grumbled that “HR just gets in the way and ties their hands when dealing with difficult employees” (This King Case scenario). Changes implemented without an understanding of the potential change and involvement of other stakeholders are largely unsuccessful. The HARMAN Professional Division, AMX, is one of the employers who have mastered the art of understanding resistance to change and addressing the issue to improve human resource development.
Preparation for the Change
Another important step in change management is preparing the organization for the change. According to Jayatilleke and Lai (2018), the entire organization should be ready for the change and prevent any potential resistance. The organization should be prepared for extensive procedures, policies, and practices logistically and culturally. From occasional emails in the case study, it is evident that King needs changes in the organizational culture through training and development to create a new conducive working climate. During the preparation, the management will focus on assisting employees in understanding the need for the change to support its implementation. The change manager should prepare the approaches to create awareness about the need to address King’s challenges.
Conclusion
King faces considerable challenges that require a strong human resource management team to address. Training and development will address the issues, but they require adequate procedures, policies, and practices to improve its goal achievement. The management should use the identified steps to recognize the need for and prepare a change in human resource development. They should collaborate with other managers and employees to design and implement the change that will improve the human resource department and help the firm overcome other challenges, such as low sales. The entire organization should work towards creating the necessary change for the overall benefit. If they understand the need for the change and implementing it as team will support organizational objectives.
References
Odor, H. O. (2018). Organisational change and development. European Journal of Business Management, 10(7), 58-66.
Jayatilleke, S., & Lai, R. (2018). A systematic review of requirements change management. Information and Software Technology, 93, 163-185.