Assimilating Structural Change
Background
This case is from a well-established organization in the manufacturing industry. Given the aspirations of the organization, the fast pace of change and need to have greater functional depth, the Human Resources team was looking to move from a decentralized business unit HR function to a more hybrid structure with centers of excellence in various areas that help formulate strategy and manage non-customer facing functions of the team.
Opportunity Statement
This had led to upsetting the proverbial apple cart and found little resonance with certain segment of Human Resources leaders and Business leaders in various units.
This further led to poor engagement in the team, slow pace of change, frustrated leaders at the COEs and in general an environment of stress in the system.
The Intervention
The core of the intervention lay in trust building and listening to the key stakeholders during the diagnostics process. The reasons against the change were varied ranging from lack of control, to operational gaps that may arise.
The whole team was brought together in a 2-day intervention, to bring out issues in a non-threatening environment through use of sociometry and psychodrama. Once the issues were brought to the table and alignment sought, the team worked together through OD methodologies to find the solutions that had been elusive thus far.
The Outcome:
The team left the intervention with a resolve and a plan which was implemented in the subsequent weeks. It involved addressing various apprehensions that business leaders had, overcoming the team’s own blocks, ways to improve communication and more. This was followed up by a workshop on helping the teams to build skills in resolving interpersonal conflicts.
