HRM Training Proposal Organizational Changes and Characteristics

 

HRM Training Proposal

Organizational Changes and Characteristics
            Saint Joseph’s Mercy Care Services (Mercy Care) seeks to adopt a more responsive and robust EI driven performance appraisal system that effectively evaluates the tangible contributions of an individual employee towards the realization of set organizational goals. The switch from the traditional performance review model was necessitated by the apparent misalignment between performance and compensation as well as the design of the appraisal tool. Change initiative requires the top management to conduct comprehensive training to create awareness about the new performance appraisal model targeting all employees to increase the chances of its acceptance and adoption. Managers and supervisors will be trained to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of the new model and then they will guide their subordinates to minimize the level of resistance (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The change will ensure that Mercy Care management makes objective HR decisions.

            The change initiative is necessary since the traditional performance assessment tools provided an extremely one-dimensional evaluation: it was subjective, unfair, and unrealistic since the supervisors failed to objectively assess the employees. The multi-rater feedback or 360-degree appraisals make performance rating more accurate, fairer, and more balanced compared to the old ones (Mone & London, 2014). Since both internal and external sources will be used, it brings together diverse perspectives and allows assessment of both task and behavioral performance. Employees might demonstrate skepticism or resistance to the change; hence, managers must take into consideration major organizational characteristics that will influence the decisions on how change initiatives will be implemented. Such characteristics include clarity of organizational goals; level of cooperation as opposed to control; ability of self-management teams to implement change; leadership development and training; and system of feedback or communication (De Waal, 2013). 

Developing Effective Change Leaders and Followers
            The complexity and administrative burden of the change initiative require effective leadership to ensure its successful implementation. Introducing the 360-degrees performance appraisal model can face stiff resistance since an employee might be apprehensive of being assessed by many sources (Buckingham & Goodall, 2015). The change sponsor, change agents, and all stakeholders must work together to make the vision of the change a reality. Training is a critical component of change implementation process since it enables the employees to facilitate organizational adaptation and reduce resistance to the proposed change. Comprehensive training increases the success rate of any change; besides, it allows the change leaders to create a base of loyal followers with a voice and commitment towards improving individual, team, and organizational performance (Hayes, 2014).

            Effective change managers and agents must use their leadership skills and behaviors rather than their leadership style to influence their followers to accept/embrace the change. They must prioritize the application of flexible leadership style, management support, accurate evaluation of the change processes, and constant communication as well as encourage employee involvement to realize a sustainable change (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Effective change leaders instill confidence and a sense of urgency in their followers; besides, they must perform organizational analysis to manipulate factors that promote learning, trust, and collaboration to deal with all demands or burdens of the change process.

Change Resistance Management
            Most organizations, including Mercy Care, find it very challenging to implement a change initiative due to stiff resistance from different stakeholders. The organization seeks to be more objective while evaluating its employees to make informed HR decisions like promotion, compensation, and training (Bititci, 2014). Hence, it seeks to adopt the 360-degrees performance appraisal technique. All line managers and supervisors are expected to undergo training to facilitate the successful implementation of the new model. Nonetheless, the management expects resistance due to various reasons like low tolerance to change since employees think that the change may impact them negatively. Other reasons include the need to maintain status quo because of self-interest; a belief that the change is not essential due to misinformed assessment; lastly, misinterpretation of the change and its implications due to lack of trust and misunderstanding (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).

            There are different strategies that can be applied to deal with change resistance. The change leaders must focus on education and communication to create awareness about the change initiative. Fir