HR to the Rescue. Case Studies of HR Solutions to Business Challenges

291 Pages·1998·3.986 MB·English

by  Edward M. Mone and Manuel London, Ph.D. (Eds.)

HR to the Rescue
~~
Case Studies of HR Solutions
to Business Challenges
Copyright 0 2000 by Butterworth-Heinemann. All rights
reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This book,
or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
HR to the rescue : case studies of HR solutions to
business
challenges / Edward M. Mone and Manuel London,
editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-88415-397-5 (alk. paper)
1. Personnel management-Case studies.
2. Organizational change-Case studies. 3. Human
capital-Case studies.
I. Mone, Edward M. 11. London, Manuel.
HF5.549.H658 1998
65 8.3-dc2 1 98-20775
CIP
Transferred to Digital Printing 2008
A c kno wl edgment s
This book evolved as a result of discussions between the editors
about the state of HR practice today, a time when the terms
change agent and organization transformation are being widely
discussed in the field’s literature, as well as in the hallways outside
most HR departments. HR professionals today are, more often
than not, struggling with these concepts and how they relate to
their own evolving roles and practice. As a result, we believed that
there was value to be gained by providing a forum for real-world
practitioners to tell their stories about how they have dealt with
the thorny issues of being change agents faced with the challenge
of driving and supporting organization transformation in today’s
environment. We hope our readers will find these stories both
affirming and educational.
We owe a heartfelt thanks to many people, but only a few can
be mentioned here: First, the chapter authors, for their honesty,
insight, and courage, and for their belief in the editors’ vision of
this book; second, Victoria Marsick, for providing the editors
with reactions to their ideas and steering them in the direction of
Jack Phillips, the series editor, who graciously embraced the con-
cept for this book and was supportive throughout the entire
VI I
process; third, Sharon Williams, who always provided the lead
editor with a supportive climate for developing his professional
skills and testing his ideas; fourth, Kelly Perkins, our editor at
Gulf, whose skill and enthusiasm was often needed and well
appreciated; finally, our families, Marilyn, David, and Jared
London, and Ceil Mone, for always being loving and extremely
supportive.
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Contributors
Dennis J. Adsit, Ph.D., received his undergraduate degree in
mathematics and psychology, summa cum laude, from Bowling
Green State University in Ohio. He received his master’s and doc-
toral degrees from the University of Minnesota in industrial and
organizational psychology. Currently, Adsit is a vice president at
the consulting firm of Rath & Strong, a division of Aon Corpora-
tion. He offers consulting in culture realignment, large system
change management, conflict resolution, and globalization to pres-
idents and senior executives. Adsit’s previous work experience
includes serving as director of human resources for a large,
French-owned high-tech multinational company. He also served as
its manager of organization development. As an adjunct faculty
member of Northeastern University’s Human Resource Manage-
ment Department, Adsit teaches leadership and human resource
management courses in the Evening MBA and High-Tech MBA
programs. He is also an associate editor and a member of the
executive advisory panel for the Academy of Management’s publi-
cation Executive.
$22 Conner is the director of people development at Colgate-Pal-
molive. In this role, she is responsible for leadership development,
performance development, workforce planning, and HR capabili-
ty. She has an MBA from the University of Georgia and a BA in
psychology from the University of Miami. She is currently work-
ing on her doctorate in human resource development at George
Washington University.
IX
Thomas Diamante, Ph.D., consults with a variety of Fortune
500 organizations to produce desired organizational change,
resolve conflict, and improve management effectiveness. A former
human resource manager for a Fortune 10 company, Diamante’s
consultations reflect the perspective of an internal manager as well
as his experience as an external organizational change consultant.
He holds a doctorate in industrial and organizational psychology
from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. His work
appears in diverse publications, such as the Journal of Business &
Psychology, Psychological Reports, The Leadership 6 Organiza-
tion Development Journal, Academic Emergency Medicine, The
Journal of Management Development, and HR Magazine. Dia-
mante is an assistant professor at Dowling College’s Graduate
School of Business on Long Island, N.Y.
Carol Gorelick co-founded SOLUTIONS for Information and
Management Services Inc., a management consulting company
that specializes in implementing work-group and collaborative
technologies for knowledge and document management applica-
tions. Before she founded SOLUTIONS, Carol held executive
positions at Prudential Securities, American Express, American
Airlines, Lufthansa, and AT&T. Carol has an MBA, with distinc-
tion, from the executive program at Pace University and a BA in
economics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
She has been an adjunct professor at Baruch College and Pace
University, teaching management and data processing courses.
Stephen John, Ed.D., was Zurich-based global head of organiza-
tional learning and development for SBC Warburg. He has an
MBNCPA and a doctorate of education in adult and organizational
learning from Columbia University. He is presently a principal at
Arthur Andersen LLP specializing in human resource strategy devel-
opment and implementation. He is particularly interested in design-
ing and implementing technology-enabled organizational develop-
ment interventions that significantly improve business results.
Henvik Holt Larsen is associate professor of human resource
management at the Institute of Organization and Industrial Sociol-
X
ogy, Copenhagen Business School. He has a master’s degree in psy-
chology and economics from the University of Copenhagen and a
master’s degree in organizational behavior from the University of
Wisconsin. Larsen also holds a diploma in international economics
from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, and is completing
his Ph.D. at the Copenhagen Business School. His major research
interests are in the areas of (1) career, organization, and manage-
ment development, (2) training, and (3) appraisal systems. He has
authored numerous books and articles in these areas.
Manuel London, Ph.D., is professor and director of the Center
for Human Resource Management in the Harriman School for
Management and Policy, State University of New York at Stony
Brook. After receiving his doctorate from Ohio State University,
he taught for three years in the business school at the University of
Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. He then held a variety of research
and human resource management positions at AT&T. He moved
to Stony Brook in 1989. His research interests are principally in
employee and management development (including career motiva-
tion theory, performance evaluation and feedback, training, and
retraining and job placement for displaced workers). His recent
books include Self and Interpersonal Insight: How Individuals
Learn About Themselves and Others in Organizations (Oxford,
1995) and Jobs, Careers, and Economic Growth (Jossey-Bass,
1995). He has been an associate editor of the Academy of Man-
agement]ournal and on the editorial boards of the Academy of
Management Review, the ]oumal of Applied Psychology, Person-
nel Psychology, and Administrative Science Quarterly. He is cur-
rently senior editor of the Society for Industrial and Organization-
al Psychology’s Professional Practice series.
Stinne Madsen is a master’s student in the human resources
program at the Copenhagen Business School Institute for Industri-
al and Organizational Sociology. She has a BA in business law and
has worked in both profit and not-for-profit organizations in Den-
mark and the United States.
XI
Edward M. Mone has twenty years of experience in career, lead-
ership, and organization development. Currently, he is director of
people processes and systems at Booz*Allen & Hamilton Inc. For-
merly HR division manager for strategic planning and develop-
ment at AT&T, he has held a variety of human resource and orga-
nization development positions since 1982. Before that, he was a
partner in an outplacement and career management firm based in
New York City. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member
at the Harriman School for Management and Policy, State Univer-
sity of New York at Stony Brook. He holds an MA in counseling
psychology, has completed doctoral-level coursework in organiza-
tion psychology, and is currently a doctorate-of-education candi-
date at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he research-
es individual, team, and organization learning. He has
co-authored and co-edited books, book chapters, and articles in
the areas of human resources and organization development. He
also maintains a limited consulting practice.
Lilian Morgensen holds an MS in information technology and
is the director for staff and management development at Den
Danske Bank, where she has held a number of positions in infor-
mation systems and human resource management. She frequently
speaks at human resource conferences and has contributed to a
number of publications in the field.
Tanya Ryttevagev Olsen holds a master’s degree in human
resource management from the Copenhagen Business School in
Denmark and is now a research assistant at that institution.
James B. Shillaber, Psy.D., is director of organization develop-
ment and training at Berlex Laboratories, a manufacturer and
marketer of innovative pharmaceutical products in Montville, N.J .
He has been using HR systems, programs, and processes to imple-
ment business strategy at Berlex since 1992. Prior to joining
Berlex, Shillaber was a management consultant with Wm. Schie-
mann & Associates Inc. in Somerville, N.J. He received his bache-
lor’s degree in psychology and human development from Hamp-
shire College and his doctorate of psychology from Rutgers
University. He is a licensed psychologist and a licensed family ther-
apist, and he has research and practice interests in community
development.
CofeenA . Smith is the associate director of leadership develop-
ment at Colgate-Palmolive. In this role, she is responsible for glob-
al succession planning, executive staffing, and high-potential man-
agement. She has also served as a human resource generalist for
Colgate’s international operations in Asia, the South Pacific, Cen-
tral Europe, and Africa. She has a master’s degree in labor rela-
tions from Cornell University and a BA in psychology from Vil-
lanova University.
Lyle Yorks, Ed.D., is chair of the Department of Business
Administration and professor of management at Eastern Con-
necticut State University. He also serves on the executive develop-
ment faculties at Louisiana State University and the University of
Tennessee at Knoxville and as an adjunct faculty member in the
adult education doctoral program at Teachers College, Columbia
University. He regularly serves as a consultant for companies
worldwide. Before coming to ECSU, he was a senior vice president
of Drake Beam and Associates in New York City. He has also
worked in the Corporate Management Systems Department at the
Travelers Insurance companies. He has written several books, and
his articles have appeared in the Academy of Management Review,
the California Management Review, Human Resource Develop-
ment Quarterly, the Sloan Management Review, and many other
professional journals. He holds a BA from Tusculum College, an
MA from Vanderbilt and Columbia universities, and a doctorate
of education from Columbia University.
Xlll
Preface
Today’s CEOs and organization leaders are faced with compet-
ing under new and constantly changing rules, which regularly
affect the global business landscape. Competition from around the
world has forced executives with profit and loss responsibilities to
develop a quality focus, think globally, shift core competencies,
establish strategic alliances, downsize, and divest (or in the case of
AT&T, trivest). These frame-breaking business initiatives need
support to focus, motivate, develop, sustain, and reward the
employee behavior necessary to ensure overall success. The cases
in this book show how human resource professionals design and
implement work processes and programs that contribute to orga-
nizational change and development.
Consider the need for employee development in the following
situations:
A quality-driven organization must employ people who under-
stand and can manage a process-driven environment-one in
which people work on projects and processes across functions,
levels, and departments.
An organization changes its business, perhaps by moving into
new products or taking over sales and distribution functions pre-
viously handled by vendors, and it needs employees to learn new
skills and functions.
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Two companies form a joint venture, requiring that employees
develop a new spirit of cooperation and collaboration.
A firm that downsized its staff to reduce costs and enhance effi-
ciencies changes career opportunities for the remaining employees.
An organization in the process of divesting units (for example,
by spinning them off into separate corporations or by selling
units to other companies) requires that remaining employees
adopt a new sense of corporate identity and purpose.
This book is about transformation. Through case studies writ-
ten by human resource practitioners engaged in organizational
change, we describe a set of significant business challenges facing
corporate leaders and human resource professionals. Our empha-
sis is on demonstrating how human resource development (HRD)
principles, strategies, and programs can ensure the requisite busi-
ness transformations to meet those challenges.
Many business leaders are realizing that HR practitioners can
offer much more to the enterprise than maintaining personnel
transactions such as payroll, benefits, and compensation. As
important as these functions are, executives and HR practitioners
alike increasingly recognize the transformational nature of HRD
functions. Human resource development is a key component of
successful organizational transformation. For example, HR per-
sonnel get involved in determining job requirements to make the
business successful, in recruiting and hiring people who match the
new and emerging skill demands, and in training these new
employees and managers, as well as existing personnel to ensure
they have the required knowledge and skills. Significant changes in
how business is conducted entail concomitant changes in how
employees are attracted, developed, maintained, and rewarded.
Our goal is to help readers learn from the experiences presented
here by highlighting the human resource side of strategic business
initiatives, some of which proved successful and some of which did
not. This book should be of value to a wide audience, including the
following: organizational leaders and managers who are interested
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