HR Change Management Plan for Government Organizations

Introduction

The Department of Veterans Affairs has laid out a strategic plan stating that it will "strive to meet the needs of the Nation's Veterans and their families today and tomorrow by: becoming an even more Veteran-focused service to the men and women who have served our Nation; and cultivating a dedicated VA workforce of highly skilled employees who understand, believe in, and take pride in our vitally important mission" (Kurtz, 2004). In order to accomplish this, the VA will have to gain knowledge of the new movement in the business world encompassed in the phrase "change management." Although change management sounds like a single event, it is in actuality an ongoing and perpetual process.

Change management is defined as a process in which a planned approach is developed for making necessary changes in an organization. Change management can be either proactive or reactive. The new environment of today's business world has reached both private and public sector organizations. The globalization of the business world has changed processes within organizations. Technologies of today, as well as the diversities experienced throughout the entire work environment — in communications, meetings, conferencing, and similar activities — are accomplished through a collaborative business web.

Executive Summary

Achieving productivity is certain to occur through an interactive process of negotiation, respect, and an environment structured toward retaining employees by treating them as capital of the company — and indeed they are. Teamwork yields both efficiency and expediency in the workplace. Organizational analysis of many government sector organizations has been conducted, and civil service reform is the most prominent topic of cultural discussion at this point in history. Poor management is the widely whispered concern in relation to government organizations. It has been said that "the system, the rules, the regulations and the laws in which federal government manages their people needs to be changed to deal with the human capital crises and in boosting government performance" (Friel, 2002).

The work of Friel (2002) examines whether issues such as compensation, regulation, or management function cause individuals to remain with or leave an organization. Also considered is whether the failure to retain employees may be attributed to a weak link in the organization's management processes. According to the case study material, managers are critical in the retention or loss of employees. The Veterans Administration Regional Office in Los Angeles was once among the poorest performers among VA offices in the United States, but manager Steve Liff employed a successful approach evidenced by a 30% improvement since he came on board (Friel, 2002).

Friel's work, It's Not Just the System, It's You, identifies five tools necessary in the change management process:

Organizational Analysis

Organizational development practitioners are individuals who assist organizations in managing change in the work environment. Their forms of assistance vary and include assessing needed change, designing specific changes, and coaching those who will lead team members through the transitional phase into a new organizational structure. Change management necessarily includes solid and strategic planning to position employees for prime productivity within the organization. Preparing a human capital plan requires the creation, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of that plan.

The business of human relations was once primarily an industrial enterprise; it is now a knowledge-based enterprise. A report analyzing the current state of federal human resources finds that the HR function is changing — downsizing and reorganizing — with a "strong focus on results which is forcing agencies to validate their business processes, reassess the role of the HR function and evaluate the adequacy of the work performed by the HR employees" (Klitgaard & Light, 2004). Key findings of that report include:

Workforce planning consists of three phases (Klitgaard & Light, 2004):

"Workforce planning [i.e., human capital management, HR management, etc.] provides the roadmap for agencies to resolve people management issues in conjunction with the mission of the organization" (Klitgaard & Light, 2004). The current planning environment for the workforce is described as "quite fragmented," with employee needs not known or integrated across the lifecycle of their employment (Klitgaard & Light, 2004).

Challenges in developing and managing knowledge retention strategies include: