Author: Samuel Greengard

Because reengineering involves a myriad of HR challenges, it provides HR with a golden opportunity to put its stamp on a firm. “It’s up to HR to take the initiative and define its role,” says Janet Caldow, a senior consultant at IBM Consulting Group in White Plains, New York. “In most cases, things aren’t clearly defined during a reengineering project. Those who step forward gain the opportunity to blaze the trail.”

Experts say HR can provide valuable guidance and direction as a project unfolds. HR’s expertise can encompass a wide range of areas. They include:

1. Shaping the process:
   Although senior management may lay down the general guidelines and direction the reengineering effort will take, HR often can play a major role in determining whether it will succeed. At many companies—including Minneapolis-based IDS Financial Services, Monterey, California-based CTB and Palo Alto, California-based Syntex—HR helped create the selection criteria for members of the steering committee. HR also can interview and evaluate candidates. Even as the process filters down through the organization, HR can play a key role in determining how team leaders and team members are selected.
2. Creating job statements and role descriptions that reflect the new corporate order:
   It isn’t enough to plug existing job descriptions into new positions created from reengineering. It isn’t enough to use existing methodology to create new positions. Reengineering requires serious introspection about what the company is trying to achieve and what job and role responsibilities will help realize the goals. “It’s a whole new way of thinking. The idea is to write job statements instead of descriptions, to outline roles vs. tasks, and to structure work around the customer rather than a specific function or department,” says Mary Layman, vice president of HR for CTB.
3. Working out compensation issues:
   Pay scales and rewards must be structured to create the desired results. For example, a company that wants to focus on customer service must measure and compensate the work force based on that criteria. Likewise, HR must think about whether it should pay employees for specific tasks they should perform from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or offer skill-based or knowledge-based pay. “Too often, there’s a disconnect between the basic strategy and what HR actually does,” says Caldow.
4. Training the new work force:
   “A company may have award-winning training programs, but they probably aren’t going to have a lot to do with the overall reengineering strategy,” says William A. Wheeler, a partner at the consulting firm of Coopers and Lybrand in New York City and co-author of Business Process Reengineering: Breakpoint Strategies for Market Dominance. Experts agree that it’s important to provide plenty of training on specific skills employees will need in the newly reengineered company, but that teamwork, decision making and trust building must also be heavily emphasized over a period of time.
5. Molding the new corporate culture:
   Stories, ceremonies, awards and rituals all have a major impact on how people behave. Caldow insists that human resources can alter thinking by helping form a new ethnography. It must be consistent throughout the organization, and it should be backed by plenty of symbolism. Yet, the change won’t occur overnight. It may take weeks or months before a real breakthrough in thinking takes place.
6. Facilitate communication in the work force:
   Nothing is as frightening to a work force as change, and nothing changes a work force as much as reengineering. Newsletters, videos, letters, E-mail messages, and companywide and departmental meetings are all useful tools in quelling anxiety. Moreover, good communication can help a work force understand how reengineering may benefit it in the future.

Personnel Journal, December 1993, Vol. 72, No.12 p. 48H.

If there’s one piece of the reengineering puzzle that is absolutely essential, it’s creating and shaping the right team to map out and oversee the change. It’s no simple task, however. Committee members require tremendous insight, creativity and fortitude. They must take huge risks, knowing that the future of the company rides on their shoulders. What can HR do to make sure the right people are chosen? How can it ensure that the dozen or so committee members make the best possible choices? Those who have been through reengineering say one of the keys is to provide expertise early on. That means helping design an effective interviewing process, sitting in on actual interviews, and creating a system to help determine who would best fit the requirements.

According to Bruce Carswell, senior vice president of human resources for Stamford, Connecticut-based GTE Corp., the main focus should be to get “change-agent types” involved. “These are the people who nobody in the organization wants to give up,” says Carswell. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re all senior-level managers. At Minneapolis-based IDS Financial Services, people from all levels of the organization wound up on the reengineering committee. The company invited everyone in the organization to apply for one of 30 positions, and wound up with more than 750 applications.

Another important factor is pulling together people with diverse skills and knowledge. When Monterey, California-based CTB assembled its project team, Mary Layman, the company’s vice president of human resources, recognized the importance of having people from various disciplines and approaches involved in the decision-making process. “We wanted divergent points of view so that we could grind out all the negativity in the committee. We weren’t looking for people who simply wanted to go along with things,” says Layman. That required people with a good deal of stamina. “You need people who remain committed to the vision when everyone around them is saying that it can’t be done. There were moments of desperation when key people were ready to throw in the towel,” she says.

Imbuing the committee members with the right philosophy is no less important. A month to six weeks of analytical and creative training—much of it handled by outside specialists—isn’t unusual. “These aren’t skills people are born with, they’re skills that must be developed. There’s a lot of unlearning that has to go on,” says Chris Wells, director of human resources for Palo Alto, California-based Syntex Inc. The push to endure the process must continue unabated. Otherwise, at the first hint of political turmoil or after a few minor successes, the campaign will fizzle. In most cases, that means that reengineering must be led by someone with tremendous clout—a CEO, COO, or the equivalent at the business unit level. In the end—if all goes well—the committee reinvents the company. It finds ways to eliminate unnecessary work and boost productivity. But as Layman puts it, “It’s a process that never comes easy. It’s a constant test of your determination and abilities.

Personnel Journal, December 1993, Vol. 72, No.12 p. 48J.

Reengineering a company is a huge challenge, especially when it involves 6,775 independent financial planners scattered at 160 offices throughout the country. That’s the situation at IDS Financial Services, the Minneapolis-based provider of mutual funds, life insurance and annuities.

In 1991, the firm began examining its structure after realizing that it had a serious problem retaining its independent work force. More than 70% of the company’s financial planners were leaving within four years; half were bailing out after only 12 months. Although IDS remained highly profitable, “It’s an incredibly competitive industry. If you want to remain a leader, you have to look constantly for ways to do things better,” says Marie Davis, who as IDS’ director of employee and client communications was a member of the company’s reengineering committee.

IDS had tried tweaking its compensation system. It had made changes to the products it offered. It had instituted numerous training programs. All this effort produced only a minimal gain. So senior management decided to completely reinvent the way the firm works. After senior management performed a step-by-step analysis of the way work is performed and visited 30 U.S companies that had best practices in such areas as training, these executives worked with HR to interview and assemble the reengineering committee. The company formed a steering committee that included 30 members from senior management. IDS then formed the reengineering committee, which included 30 rank-and-file employees from all sections of the company. Their task? A 14-month assignment to study problems and suggest radical improvements.

The changes have created new ways of doing work within the company. Although financial planners will remain independent within the field, they will work together more than in the past. For example, their approach to selling financial services will resemble more of a partnership. Financial planners soon will have access to teams of experts in such areas as estate and tax planning, with whom they’ll share commissions. Further changes within the headquarters will increase the contact planners have with support staff. Teams that are trained cross-functionally can provide instant answers to planners’ questions.

HR’s role in the reengineering has been enormous. The staff of 250 has worked hard to keep employees and independent planners abreast of changes. The 60 trainers (who are a part of the HR staff) also have worked with the reengineering committee to develop creativity skills, trust building, change management skills and problem analysis. They’re also preparing to work with the financial planners, who will need coaching in teamwork and quality measures.

Yet the company is plowing ahead with full implementation of the program in 1994 and 1995. It’s investing $70 million in the reengineering effort, and adding to the $100 million it already spends on training. Its goal: to retain 80% of the financial planners after the first four years, raise the customer satisfaction level to 90% and increase the speed of overall operations by 25%. Although there’s a chance that reengineering could affect IDS’ position in the financial services market, Davis says the company is willing to take a dip in earnings for a year or two if it ensures IDS’ long-term profitability.

Personnel Journal, December 1993, Vol. 72, No.12 p. 48D.

Experts say that there are a few basic steps that HR professionals can take to make a downsizing work. These steps include:

1. Communicate:
   There’s no such thing as too much communication during a downsizing. “The work force almost has an insatiable appetite for news and information,” says Mitchell Marks, director of Delta Consulting Group in New York City. Employers who fail to keep major constituents informed of their plans risk alienating groups critical to the future of the organizations, writes Helen Axel, author of The Conference Board’s HR Executive Review: Downsizing, a 1993 report that thoroughly examined the issue.
2. Educate:
   A work force has to learn that restructuring a company isn’t a single event, says Bob Marshall, president of The Marshall Group, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based consulting firm. “There’s never going to be an all-clear. Today, it’s an ongoing process that involves virtually everyone.”
3. Collect data:
   No matter how a company goes about downsizing, HR can mitigate problems and assist top management by collecting data to show that there may or may not be a consensus. “Fractured visions lead to battles over resources,” says Marks. “You wind up with managers protecting their own fiefdoms and losing sight of the ‘bigger picture.’ “
4. Provide visible and accessible leadership:
   Nobody is more suited to lead a downsizing effort and communicate the message than the CEO and top executives. Short of that, top HR personnel should make themselves available to answer questions and take some of the heat. During a downsizing, there’s an almost unquenchable thirst for knowledge, as well as feelings of anger, fear and uncertainty. “If you don’t provide a feeling of leadership, productivity and morale are going to become abysmal,” says Bill Ryan, vice president of human resources for Liberty Corner, New Jersey-based Sea-Land Service.
5. Ensure equity and fairness:
   The equal application of rules is mandatory in an era of litigation, says Joe Meissner, president of Power Marketing, a San Francisco-based outplacement firm. Moreover, perceptions do count. If executives are emerging from a downsizing unscathed while line workers are being laid off, it’s going to have a damaging affect on morale and productivity.
6. Maintain a managed approach:
   “Own up to the fact there will be a significant impact on the workplace,” says Marks. Human resources needs someone who is responsible for keeping an eye on things, whether it’s conducting a survey to gauge employee response or making sure management is doing things according to the criteria it has set down. “Perceptions are just as important as reality. What the work force is thinking is as real as what’s actually happening,” says Marks

Personnel Journal, November 1993, Vol. 72, No.11 p. 68.

Video conferencing and satellite classrooms are nothing new. For the last decade, many of the U.S.’s largest companies have used these capabilities to keep employees informed on corporate events and to teach them new skills. However, satellite learning now is going interactive, and the capabilities are downright staggering.

A few years ago, when General Motors of Canada wanted to create an incentive program to help its salespeople become more knowledgeable, it turned to NTN Communications, a Carlsbad, California-based company that specializes in interactive education and entertainment. NTN, working with 950 dealerships throughout Canada, created an interactive game show that could quiz 6,000 employees simultaneously on everything from a vehicle’s horsepower to what types of brakes it has. Before anyone went home, the company was able to announce full results and the names of those employees who had qualified for the finals. The winning team ultimately claimed a $50,000 first prize.

The teams assembled at dozens of sites throughout Canada, all equipped with large monitors and TV screens, and watched a host fire off questions. Using a keypad, participants made their selections, and all the data were stored in a computer at each location. When the 90-minute program ended, final results were sent via modem to the company’s headquarters in Carlsbad. There, another computer tallied the results. Almost instantly, the host was able to announce the winners over the satellite network.

According to Jerry Petrie, senior vice president of marketing for NTN, there are several advantages to such training. It’s entertaining and fun. There also are incentives to learn. In polls that NTN has conducted, more than 98% of all participants prefer the interactive game shows to conventional learning. To be sure, the shows, which are complete with logos, graphics, text and video segments, can do virtually all the same things as traditional television. Other companies that have used the technology include Goodyear and Porsche.

Game shows aren’t the only way in which companies are using this emerging medium. NTN also has devised interactive learning that allows audience members to vote on the outcome that they want to take. By filming different segments ahead of time, the audience and the host can cover the territory that they find most interesting spontaneously. At IBM, its Skill Dynamics subsidiary now is offering highly sophisticated corporate classrooms that allow all the flexibility and spontaneity of a traditional classroom over a satellite-based network.

Each IBM site (there are now 44 nationwide) uses a 25-inch monitor. Each desk is equipped with a student-response unit that allows interconnection with other classrooms and the instructor. The student-response unit has a voice-activated microphone, question and question-cancel buttons, and keypads that allow students to answer questions from the instructor. Dozens of corporations are using this service, including AT&T, DuPont, Ford, General Electric, Mobil Oil, Sears and Wal-Mart. It also will be used for training volunteers and staff at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

“A lot of training is beginning to take place with satellite instruction,” says Raymond G. Fox, president of the Society for Applied Learning Technology, located in Warrenton, Virginia. “It’s a significant medium that allows companies to create an extended network and save a lot of money. The technology we see now is just the beginning.”

Personnel Journal, September 1993, Vol. 72, No.9, p. 86.