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Handmaid's tale or midwives of change? HR managers and organizational innovation
Author(s) -
Marks Abigail,
Findlay Patricia,
Hine James,
Thompson Paul,
McKinlay Alan
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
strategic change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.527
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1099-1697
pISSN - 1086-1718
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1697(199712)6:8<469::aid-jsc343>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - organizational change , organizational culture , business , position (finance) , culture change , change management (itsm) , subject (documents) , marketing , management , public relations , sociology , political science , economics , lean manufacturing , social science , finance , library science , computer science
This article draws on a research project, ‘The Manufacturing of Workplace Innovation’, funded under the ESRC Innovation Research Programme. The main focus is the developing roles of HR practitioners as they seek to fashion a strategic position in the change process It looks at two large spirits companies—United Distillers and Allied Distillers Ltd—and the characteristics of their respective change programmes Both change programmes created opportunities for HR to expand its influence. The extent to which these were taken reflected its capacity to grasp culture as both defining values and changing practices The creation of HR as prime movers in the change process creates a ‘culture burden’ in which they are subject to dual pressure to ’sell the message’ to employees, while delivering on unrealistic expectations of attitudinal change to corporate management. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.