Table 1 Skills identified in the review...

Table 1

Skills identified in the review

Skills	Task	Description	Studies
Cognitive knowledge-based skills	Provide operational support	Functioning day-to-day support requires operational knowledge and is key to gaining managers trust to be invited to contribute to change initiatives	Antila and Kakkonen (2008), Björkman and Søderberg (2006)
	Knowledge of compliance and labour legislation	Knowledge of labour law and compliance aid in regulatory processes, M&A, downsizing or contractual changes	Abugre (2014), Alfes et al. (2010), Antila (2006), Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015), Roche and Teague (2012)
	Be able to manage negotiation and downsizing processes	Manage the process and negotiate with unions in downsizing	Roche and Teague (2012)
	Support M&A process	HR managers’ own capabilities and activities to support in M&A process affect involvement, while management is responsible	Antila (2006), Antila and Kakkonen (2008)
	Utilise knowledge about business and culture	Understand the culture and business well enough to be able to create the right HRM activities supportive of the change	Antila and Kakkonen (2008), Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Paik and Belcher (2012), Torka et al. (2008)
Intellectual skills (analytical skills)	Be creative	Rapidly reinvent and digitalise people, information and performance management to support working from home	Misra et al. (2023)
	Construct and negotiate	Exercise analytical skills to manage changes in regulatory processes or contracts	Abugre (2014), Alfes et al. (2010), Antila (2006), Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015)
	Design and implement	Use strategic skills to create HRM practices supportive of the change	Andreescu (2004), Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Sarvaiya et al. (2021)
Social communication	Disseminate information	Inform employees of changes	Brown et al. (2017)
	Facilitate perceptions	Facilitate employees’ and managers’ perceptions, trust, and motivation	Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Bagdadli et al. (2014), Paik and Belcher (2012), Ripamonti et al. (2020)
	Communicate and mediate	Communicate with employees and leaders in a timely and transparent manner. Act as a liaison	Abugre (2014), Alfes et al. (2010), Rees and Johari (2010)
Cooperation and involvement	Manage involvement	Promote involvement and widespread participation of organisational members to achieve buy-in for change or support innovative progress	Andreescu (2004), Ripamonti et al. (2020)
	Work with management	Work with top management and supervisors to ensure positive reception of HRM innovation initiatives	Stirpe et al. (2013)
	Cooperate with stakeholder	Cooperate with unions, through good negotiation and problem-solving	Alfes et al. (2010), Antila (2006), Antila and Kakkonen (2008), Roche and Teague (2012)
Influence stakeholders	Negotiate HR’s role	Use influencing techniques, e.g. credibility building, agenda management and continuous delivery, to negotiate HRs role	Andreescu (2004)
	Legitimise HR	Proactivity and active participation in change processes not only increase awareness of HR issues but also promote future HR involvement, thereby legitimizing HR and its concerns within the organization’s power dynamics	Alfes et al. (2010), Antila and Kakkonen (2008), Heizmann and Fox (2019)
	Raise credibility	Individual HR with a high level of expertise can positively affect management view of the HR function, give legitimacy, and raise credibility	Andreescu (2004), Gollan et al. (2015)
	Understand expectations	HR functional-level learning capabilities can enable better understanding of internal stakeholder expectations	Amarakoon et al. (2018)
	Convince managers	Convince top management to support and invest resources early in change	Shook and Roth (2011), Torka et al. (2008)
	Use productivity-outcomes as persuasion	Use focus on productivity-related outcomes or dominating discourses to persuade managers of the merits of change initiatives	Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Francis (2007), Heizmann and Fox (2019)
Support and monitor managerial behaviour	Build capability	Develop HRM activities for building manager capability as change leaders	Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015), Francis and Baum (2018), Gollan et al. (2015)
	Monitor interpretations	Implement activities and monitor managers’ interpretation of HRM	Bagdadli et al. (2014), Gollan et al. (2015)
	Ensure adapted leadership	Employ behavioural counselling to ensure managers adapt their leadership to the virtual workplace	Misra et al. (2023)
	Coaching	Use coaching skills to support managers	Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015), Francis and Baum (2018)
	Facilitate sensemaking	Facilitate leaders and middle managers to engage in sensemaking, ensure leaders engage long term in strategic change	Kieran et al. (2022)
Leadership behaviours	Set an example	Act as role models for the desired behavioural change, to build credibility and understand what the change entails	Edgley-Pyshorn and Huisman (2011), Francis and Baum (2018), Parkes and Davis (2013), Rees and Johari (2010)
Leadership behaviours	Lead change effort	Take a leading change agent role, explain the change needs, provide clear direction, involve stakeholders, shape employees’ behaviours to enable change	Alfes et al. (2010), Zhang (2020)
Manage emotions	Reduce change resistance	Convey a sense of fairness and reduce anxiety and resistance to change	Abugre (2014), Amarakoon et al. (2018), Antila (2006), Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015), Paik and Belcher (2012)
	Support emotions	HR support others’ emotions, keep employee morale and productivity up through relations and administrative solutions	D’angelo et al. (2022), Misra et al. (2023)
	Manage emotional burden	Cope with ambiguity, tensions, and emotional burden of supporting others when change is unpredictable in a complex environment	D’angelo et al. (2022), Francis and Baum (2018), Ripamonti et al. (2020)
Handle tensions	Balance goals	Balance business interests and employee well-being	D’Cruz et al. (2014), Misra et al. (2023)
	Balance critique and good relationships	Challenge and critique managers, while forming good relationships and partnerships	Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Gollan et al. (2015), van Gestel and Nyberg (2009)
	Balance role contradictions	Develop professional identity that allow performing in competing roles	Roche and Teague (2012)
	Manage ambiguity	Various roles can lead to role ambiguity, need to assess how to respond	Baran et al. (2019)

Skills	Task	Description	Studies
Cognitive knowledge-based skills	Provide operational support	Functioning day-to-day support requires operational knowledge and is key to gaining managers trust to be invited to contribute to change initiatives	Antila and Kakkonen (2008), Björkman and Søderberg (2006)
	Knowledge of compliance and labour legislation	Knowledge of labour law and compliance aid in regulatory processes, M&A, downsizing or contractual changes	Abugre (2014), Alfes et al. (2010), Antila (2006), Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015), Roche and Teague (2012)
	Be able to manage negotiation and downsizing processes	Manage the process and negotiate with unions in downsizing	Roche and Teague (2012)
	Support M&A process	HR managers’ own capabilities and activities to support in M&A process affect involvement, while management is responsible	Antila (2006), Antila and Kakkonen (2008)
	Utilise knowledge about business and culture	Understand the culture and business well enough to be able to create the right HRM activities supportive of the change	Antila and Kakkonen (2008), Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Paik and Belcher (2012), Torka et al. (2008)
Intellectual skills (analytical skills)	Be creative	Rapidly reinvent and digitalise people, information and performance management to support working from home	Misra et al. (2023)
	Construct and negotiate	Exercise analytical skills to manage changes in regulatory processes or contracts	Abugre (2014), Alfes et al. (2010), Antila (2006), Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015)
	Design and implement	Use strategic skills to create HRM practices supportive of the change	Andreescu (2004), Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Sarvaiya et al. (2021)
Social communication	Disseminate information	Inform employees of changes	Brown et al. (2017)
	Facilitate perceptions	Facilitate employees’ and managers’ perceptions, trust, and motivation	Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Bagdadli et al. (2014), Paik and Belcher (2012), Ripamonti et al. (2020)
	Communicate and mediate	Communicate with employees and leaders in a timely and transparent manner. Act as a liaison	Abugre (2014), Alfes et al. (2010), Rees and Johari (2010)
Cooperation and involvement	Manage involvement	Promote involvement and widespread participation of organisational members to achieve buy-in for change or support innovative progress	Andreescu (2004), Ripamonti et al. (2020)
	Work with management	Work with top management and supervisors to ensure positive reception of HRM innovation initiatives	Stirpe et al. (2013)
	Cooperate with stakeholder	Cooperate with unions, through good negotiation and problem-solving	Alfes et al. (2010), Antila (2006), Antila and Kakkonen (2008), Roche and Teague (2012)
Influence stakeholders	Negotiate HR’s role	Use influencing techniques, e.g. credibility building, agenda management and continuous delivery, to negotiate HRs role	Andreescu (2004)
	Legitimise HR	Proactivity and active participation in change processes not only increase awareness of HR issues but also promote future HR involvement, thereby legitimizing HR and its concerns within the organization’s power dynamics	Alfes et al. (2010), Antila and Kakkonen (2008), Heizmann and Fox (2019)
	Raise credibility	Individual HR with a high level of expertise can positively affect management view of the HR function, give legitimacy, and raise credibility	Andreescu (2004), Gollan et al. (2015)
	Understand expectations	HR functional-level learning capabilities can enable better understanding of internal stakeholder expectations	Amarakoon et al. (2018)
	Convince managers	Convince top management to support and invest resources early in change	Shook and Roth (2011), Torka et al. (2008)
	Use productivity-outcomes as persuasion	Use focus on productivity-related outcomes or dominating discourses to persuade managers of the merits of change initiatives	Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Francis (2007), Heizmann and Fox (2019)
Support and monitor managerial behaviour	Build capability	Develop HRM activities for building manager capability as change leaders	Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015), Francis and Baum (2018), Gollan et al. (2015)
	Monitor interpretations	Implement activities and monitor managers’ interpretation of HRM	Bagdadli et al. (2014), Gollan et al. (2015)
	Ensure adapted leadership	Employ behavioural counselling to ensure managers adapt their leadership to the virtual workplace	Misra et al. (2023)
	Coaching	Use coaching skills to support managers	Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015), Francis and Baum (2018)
	Facilitate sensemaking	Facilitate leaders and middle managers to engage in sensemaking, ensure leaders engage long term in strategic change	Kieran et al. (2022)
Leadership behaviours	Set an example	Act as role models for the desired behavioural change, to build credibility and understand what the change entails	Edgley-Pyshorn and Huisman (2011), Francis and Baum (2018), Parkes and Davis (2013), Rees and Johari (2010)
Leadership behaviours	Lead change effort	Take a leading change agent role, explain the change needs, provide clear direction, involve stakeholders, shape employees’ behaviours to enable change	Alfes et al. (2010), Zhang (2020)
Manage emotions	Reduce change resistance	Convey a sense of fairness and reduce anxiety and resistance to change	Abugre (2014), Amarakoon et al. (2018), Antila (2006), Barratt-Pugh and Bahn (2015), Paik and Belcher (2012)
	Support emotions	HR support others’ emotions, keep employee morale and productivity up through relations and administrative solutions	D’angelo et al. (2022), Misra et al. (2023)
	Manage emotional burden	Cope with ambiguity, tensions, and emotional burden of supporting others when change is unpredictable in a complex environment	D’angelo et al. (2022), Francis and Baum (2018), Ripamonti et al. (2020)
Handle tensions	Balance goals	Balance business interests and employee well-being	D’Cruz et al. (2014), Misra et al. (2023)
	Balance critique and good relationships	Challenge and critique managers, while forming good relationships and partnerships	Arrowsmith and Parker (2013), Gollan et al. (2015), van Gestel and Nyberg (2009)
	Balance role contradictions	Develop professional identity that allow performing in competing roles	Roche and Teague (2012)
	Manage ambiguity	Various roles can lead to role ambiguity, need to assess how to respond	Baran et al. (2019)

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