Managing Change in Difficult Times

Managing in Changing and Difficult Times: the changing nature of the office and effects on HR practice and priorities
There is a change happening in offices all over the world that is creating the freedom and opportunity for business transformation promised by affordable mobile technology. The troubles facing economies, companies and organisations around the world are making everyone look harder than ever at how to reduce costs, and this is acting as an accelerator for the latest office evolution. The indicator that something has happened to offices is obvious to everyone who uses them (interestingly though, not always to business and organisation leaders); there is a chronic under-utilisation of office space. This is adding to the costs of organisations; and so managing office space more actively and intensively is certain either to make offices more cost effective, or to reduce costs in fact. The reasons for this are complex, and they vary between organisations. The conclusion however, is unshakeable – the office is going through a fundamental series of shifts where the need for interaction and mobility is more important for many organisations and their staff, than the need for permanent desks and stated office locations. The opportunity for change should not be missed as competitive advantage, and the very future of organisations, is at stake. The challenge is how best to implement new workplace technology, and this in turn demands new leadership management and supervisory skills, as well as a fundamentally different approach to structuring organisations and utilising facilities, technology, furniture and space. Offices in fact are fairly recent inventions, with the first office buildings only built in the early to mid 1800s. The structure, design and lay-out of modern offices owe their existence to a few key inventions only: paper, business machines, the telephone, filing cabinets and of course, the desk. Industrial and social revolutions provided the basic city structure, with rail and road infrastructures and an urban and suburban residential form that provided workers and the means of assembling them at the same time in the same place. Alongside this, management theories, based around military principles, mass industrial production, and the need for permanence of organisations, shaped and influenced standard methods of working; and these principles were then given shape and form by the design and construction industries. So the office was born; and until very recently, not very much has changed. However, present ways of thinking, as well as the high expense of owning, maintaining and developing premises, is increasingly becoming less relevant as globalisation, different organisation forms, and above all technology and IT gain in influence. This has led in turn to both new forms of working, and a much greater development of existing forms, as follows:
outsourcing, off-shoring and sub-contracting, of both primary and also secondary and administrative tasks and functions; flexible working, enabling people to work at times which suit them as well as their organisations; mobile technology, enabling people to be ‘at work’ wherever in the world they may be (including home); rental of office and workstation space by the hour/day/week – above all, on short-term contracts related to present (but not enduring) demands, as an alternative to owning the premises; hot-desking in organisational premises; home and remote working.
Some of this is clearly driven by organisational and operational demands, especially in companies and organisations that have a global or international presence; and for individuals who are required to deliver their expertise in different parts of the world. This in turn, has led to new patterns of work such as annualised hours and ‘job and finish’; and also to a lesser emphasis on process, and a greater emphasis on results and output. As organisations wake up to the advantages that technology does deliver, they and their staff need to be able to maximise and optimise the opportunities that become available. Future technologies are certain to increase the pace of this development, again with great implications for structures and patterns of work. Organisations forms of the future are therefore going to be driven by the opportunities that the information and technology brings about. The ability for organisations and their staff to thrive and be effective, and remain profitable, in workplaces of the future are going to be driven on the one hand by a much greater emphasis on the effectiveness of resource utilisation, and on the other by recognising and acknowledging the context in which individuals work. Organisation effectiveness and performance is therefore going to be dependent on:
personal, professional and occupational choices, in which individuals work where and how best it suits them; mobility and flexibility, alongside access to all information required, whenever and wherever it is required; satisfaction, achieved through a combination of responsibility and accountability for results, together with less emphasis on delivery processes; trust, achieved through the options of choice and organisation and professional cultures that measure performance by outputs.
In turn, organisations are going to look to the following key areas of gain. Clearly, the main aspect is business performance, and this is to be achieved through more satisfied and productive employees, speedier work processes, increased collaboration and knowledge-sharing that comes about as the result of aligning the business to the overall design and ‘structure’ of the workforce. So the environment has to be adequate and suitable for effective work, whatever its actual nature and content. Alongside this, the following are essential:
The ability to attract and retain the best staff; the ability to absorb change and accommodate growth in response to business and organisation development;
reductions in cost, especially when measured in terms of: cost per employee; cost per square metre/organisation; organisation sustainability in terms of lower cost, higher space and resource utilisation, higher productivity, flexible business processes; career and opportunity development, related to collective and individual ways of working rather than organisation ranking order; recognition that everybody’s place in the organisation is vital to sustainable and enduring effectiveness and profitability.
Clearly, not all of this is going to happen overnight. However, it is certain that the opportunities are there to be maximised; and for those organisations and their managers that do take advantage, the rewards in terms of cost effectiveness and organisational sustainability and development are clear for all to see.
Author: Richard Pettinger, University of Central Lancashire (CIPD)
Questions
Section A:
As discussed and described in the case above:
1.    What is the strategic HR role in ‘the organisation of the future’?
Section B:
As discussed and described in the case and your own knowledge:
2.    To what extent is HRM in these and similar circumstances, a part of overall managerial and supervisory professionalism; and to what extent does HR have a distinctive contribution to make?
3.    How would you follow a systematic process to recruit and select personnel?
4.    Suggest appropriate reward and remuneration packages for different work groups.
5.    Suggest different methods of maximising and monitoring performance.
6.    How would you emphasise the contribution of Human Resource Development to the recruitment, retention and performance management processes.
7.    How would you appreciate the importance of maintaining a positive Employee Relations climate?
8.    Show an awareness of HR’s role in managing diversity in such an organisation.

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