hr transformation case study

8/4/2019 HR Transformation Case Study

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case study

BOSTON 617.234.2700 SAN FRANCISCO 415.343.2600 www.interactionassociates.com

BUSINESS CHALLENGE & CONTEXT

The Human Resources unction was not eectively

linked to the business, and the HR organization o the

worlds largest medical device company was struggling

to rame HR issues in business terms. In order to bring

silod divisions

together and

create one, unied

platorm or HR

business processes,

this organization

outsourced its

HR systems and

processes, creating

an urgent need or

members o the

HR unction to

rerame their role

and capabilities.

Not only was this an

HR transormation,

but also a business

process and changemanagement proposition in an organization that was not

skilled at designing, acilitating and realizing the benets

o widespread organizational change.

The HR unction lacked a plan, not only to engage HR

itsel, but to also engage the wider organization, and it

didnt help that the biggest source o resistance to change

was coming rom members o the HR organization itsel.

People knew that because o the outsourcing, jobs would

be eliminated, and they were struggling to visualize

what their new roles would/could be, and how they

needed to prepare themselves to be successul in the new

organization.

This meant getting aligned on the HR business case

or change and internalizing it, learning new skills and

capabilities aligned with business needs and working as

a newly ormed cross-organizational team, to ensure that

HRs history o alse starts wasnt repeated.

VISION OF SUCCESS

The main objectives o this eort were to ensure that the

new HR organization would be able to:

Deliver greater cost-eectiveness and operational

eciency to the business show savings.

Demonstrate the capability to deliver high-leverage,

business oriented work with a smaller, leaner

organization.

Successully implement an HR business process

outsourcing project with the chosen vendor or all

transactional work in key HR areas: Payroll, Benets,

Compensation, L & D, Stang, ER, etc.

Increase manager and employee sel-service, provide a

world-class service center and on-line support.

Rerame the perception o HR rom a pair o hands to

a value-added business partner.

Re-design and restructure the HR organization to

support and orce high-value work, including re-

Reraming HR as aStrategic BusinessPartner or the Futurewhile Realizing the Efciencies &

Cost Savings o Outsourcing

vitalstatistics

Theworldslargestmedical

device company dedicatedto less-invasive medicine

Morethan25,000employees

26manufacturing,distribution & technologycenters

Morethan13,800+patentsinover45countries

$8.5B+inrevenues

................................................................


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assignments, hiring and down-sizing (as needed).

Change the HR toolkit so that the question o what

will I do now, i the HR stu is gone? could be

answered and so that members o the HR organization

could implement their new work with competence andcondence.

Help the HR organization grapple with their loss o

identity and the creation o a new identity inside the

organization to acilitate deeper partnership with the

line organization.

Ensure sustainable change inside the HR organization.

Build HRs muscle as leaders o organizational change

and business process improvement so that the HR

organization could become a model or collaborative

change in the organization, and be able to transer this

capability to the business

OUR COLLABORATIVE CHANGE SOLUTION

Organizations that outsource HRs transactional

activities save money and gain a fexible, scalable, and

improved process or delivering services. They also create

an extraordinary opportunity to re-contract with line

managers to provide strategic, value-added services. How

can OD proessionals help create a higher-perormance

organization, where HR is a strategic partner to the

business? This organization partnered with Interaction

Associates to solve this dilemma.

The collaborative change eort was characterized by its

complexity and scope. It was a short-term implementation

with long- term, sustainable change expectations attached

to it. It was an eort that touched the work, processes,

systems, roles, skills and structure o HR service delivery

a complete transormation o the HR model.

Multiple stakeholders were involved, including senior

executives, the entire HR unction, and ultimately all

managers and employees, as well as the outsourcing

vendor team. To be successul and to realize the business

case or the investment, this change had to be widely

supported and adopted at all levels o the organization.

With all o these variables in mind, the vision or the

implementation and roll-out o the change centered

on a collaborative change approach. There were too

many stakeholders with too many interests and agendas

which required the HR unction to lead the change while

maintaining superior service, re-dening its strategic role,

rebranding the unction, developing new skills, and work

across unctions and business as an aligned team never

beore had this been done.

By using Interaction Associates Collaborative Change

Management Framework, the HR organization was able to

transorm itsel rom a transactional cost center to a highly

eective strategic business partner. Collaborative change

is the practice o designing and implementing complex

organizational change in a way that involves the right

people at the right time in order to create and implement

a strategic, robust and collectively owned uture state;

it involves aligning and mobilizing three key levers or

success:

1. Setting direction or the HR organization

2. Gaining commitment both rom within the HR

group and rom internal clients, and

3. Developing the internal capabilityneeded to tackle

new responsibilities.

DirectionValues

MissionVision

CommitmentInvolvementOwnershipAccountability

CapabilitySkillsTraining/Learning

Process &Systems

In the direction phase, we worked with key stakeholders

and HR leaders to determine the transormation goals

and strategy o the outsourcing eort, identiy the

portolio o services that would be oered, and the way

they would be delivered to the customer. In this phase

the HR organization was redesigned, and tasks, job

denitions, relationships and respective responsibilities

that enabled the core business process were assessed

and dened. Making the case or change was a critical

element o this phase. Some o the outcomes o this

phase were: Alignment among senior executive change


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sponsors around a clear vision, case or change, goals and

metrics, the change strategy, key leadership behaviors, and

decision-making processes and authority.

In the commitment phase, the people most responsible or

driving the change were enrolled and aligned behind the

initiative. Roles were dened and operating agreements

made. This highly collaborative process was the main

key to success. The major outcome o this phase was to

create a laser-sharp ocus on the people (involvement) and

process (transparency) side o the change. By utilizing

stakeholder involvement on the ront-end, we were able to

reduce the cycle-time o resistance that oten derails major

change eorts.

In the capabilityphase, needed competencies were

identied and assessed across the HR organization.HR designed and delivered a process or building and

maintaining the individual and team competencies needed

to ulll the uture vision o the new HR organization.

Our ocus in this phase was to build both individual and

organizational skills to lead and implement collaborative

change and to operate as internal, value-added

consultants and thought partners or business leaders

throughout the organization.

RETURN ON INVOLVEMENT

As a result o our partnership, our client was able to:

Exceed the desired cost savings laid out in the business

case or this change initiative. This achievement helped

each HR leader become a visible partner in the business

and exponentially increased the HR organizations

credibility because they could show their results along

with everyone elses.

Implement a new organization structure and increase

HRs fexibility via an interchangeable structure that has

both a COE ocus and a shared services/regional ocus.

As a result o this new structure, the organization was

able to integrate a new acquisition seamlessly, in recordtime, and support it rom an HR perspective.

Become a model or how to design, lead and implement

a successul collaborative change initiative inside the

organization. Not only did the HR unction build its

own condence and competence as change leaders, but

business leaders throughout the organization began to

make requests o HR to lead subsequent company-wide

organizational improvement eorts. There were two key

business process improvement projects that ollowed

the HR transormation that were ully led and managed

leveraging the new capabilities and partnership HR hadorged with business leaders (internal clients).

is a 40-year-old performance improvement company with a focus on leadership,

teamwork, and process consulting. We equip Fortune 100 companies and government agencies with

practical skills, tools and mindset to think strategically and work collaboratively to solve problems and

create opportunities. We develop leaders at all levels as well as those who manage organizational change.

Our skilled consultants have been helping companies overcome their toughest challenges since 1969.

hr transformation case study

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