Human Resource Management and Change: A Practising Manager’s Guide provides an update to Human Resource Management: Adaption and Change in an Age of Globalisation published by the International Labour Organization in 2001. The book’s key aims are to explore the drivers for change in a turbulent global environment providing practical advice, guidance and frameworks within the human resource management context to assist managers facing change in making sense of it. The book is well written and is a relatively easy read at just under 200 pages long.
The opening chapters (1 and 2) of the publication narrate an excellent and timely reminder of the changing global environment within which organisations exist as well as the drivers of change using the DELTA model (demographics, economics, legal and regulatory, technology, attitude and values). As a practising HR professional managing a large HR service team, the book’s ability to heighten my awareness of my organisation’s operating context and to impress upon me the importance once again of understanding and exploring that further was invaluable. Similarly, key messages running throughout the book including the need for both horizontal and vertical alignment of HR practices with organisational strategy and the importance of people, i.e. the motivation of employees to deliver change were well articulated. The reminder provided to practising managers of some relevant and useful theory was very welcome both in general terms as well as across key HR topics including job design, recruitment and selection and performance management.
In particular the theory articulated in relation to the management of change (Chapter 4) was distilled in such a way as to provide managers with a clear and extremely useful overview of the process of change in organisations. There was clarity on the key point that change varies across organisations and sectors, but the authors helpfully directed the reader to important insights useful in managing change extracted both from the theory but also in terms of how practically to manage change, for example in diagnosing change. The focus on individuals’ emotional responses to change was also a good reminder for managers that leadership through change is critical and in my view that the management of change can sometimes lose focus on the people side of change.
The authors’ identification and handling of the key human resource management issues facing organisations was well considered. In particular, the discussion on the linked concerns of skills shortages, retention and recruitment in a challenging labour market resonated and in very practical terms is an issue faced by many organisations operating in different national and global markets. The coverage then in Chapter 6 where a number of differing approaches to the employment relationship were explored was helpful in the context of managers considering whether and how their workforce might be segmented in order to inform variable strategies for recruiting and retaining employees in a competitive market. Similarly the links between resourcing challenges and the topic of workforce demographics, which is undoubtedly growing in popularity, was a useful leap to make. Potentially, the book might have benefitted from these areas of integration being made more explicit by the authors as both the consideration of the employment relationship as well as workforce demographics provide extremely useful frameworks by which managers can make sense of change as well as prepare for it. That said, however, presumably the very point in including such narration and tools in the book is that they are there as an offering for managers.
The second half of the book (Chapters 7-9) covers the topics of Job design and forecasting, Recruitment and selection and Performance management and performance appraisal. The book had raised my expectations due to expert handling of the contextual issues, importance of alignment of HR practices with organisational strategy as well as the theory on change management. These latter chapters, however, whilst very competently dealing with the mechanics of each of these HR topics, perhaps did not equip practising managers with the knowledge and skills needed in respect of them as comprehensively as they might have done. Potentially there was a gap in terms of both practical guidance on these topics beyond the basics to assist managers in handling the challenging issues of actually securing scarce talent in an exceptionally competitive labour market as well as in respect of the links to successful management of change. The chapters provided an overview of HR practice in these arenas which in my experience are in operation in many organisations whether they are facing change or not. The book might therefore have benefitted from firstly an explicit link between HR practice in these areas and how this might be impacted upon by change as well as additional and progressive thinking. For example in relation to recruitment and selection an exploration of the power of the internet and social media as well as the creativity deployed by many organisations in sourcing staff would have added to the offering.
The style and tone of the book made for comfortable reading and the authors have a talent for explaining some challenging concepts in a clear and unfettered manner which supports the aims of the book to provide practical guidance in managing change to managers. The book’s length is also of benefit in respect of the target audience as are the chapters providing a summary of the key arguments. The approach taken in respect of study guides provided at the end of each chapter with case studies, discussion questions as well as some actual templates and further reading was also well considered given the target audience.
For all of the above reasons, the book does feel particularly well suited to practising managers working in a general capacity managing services, operations and crucially people within organisations. The focus in the foreword that the book is probably best used by managers who may not possess higher academic qualifications is an important insight on the authors’ part in this respect. That said, however, the book provides an excellent reminder to all managers (whether working in the HR field or not) that change is complex, widespread but can be managed and there are many insightful observations throughout the book that practising managers can indeed benefit from in actually managing the change process.
