Ronald Bolender
rbolen@mvnu.edu
www.bolender.com
An electronic version of this file is available in
the Presentation section of Dr. Ron’s
Portfolio located at www.bolender.com.
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Training and Development in Built to
Change Organizations
HR Views-n-News
Tuesday April 24, 2007
Presented by
Dr. Ronald Bolender
Compiled by:
Ronald Keith Bolender, Ed.D. (1996)
Nova Southeastern University
www.bolender.com
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
Organizations are built to
perform, not to change.
But in today’s highly
competitive business
environment,
organizations must be
ready to change and
change frequently.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
The major reason why organizations are not
getting better at executing change is that
existing theory and practice in organization
design explicitly encourage organizations to
seek alignment, stability, and equilibrium.
Little mention is made of creating
changeable organizations.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, pp. 2-3)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Organizations are encouraged to institutionalize best
practices, freeze them into place, focus on
execution, stick to their knitting, increase
predictability, and get processes under control.
These ideas establish stability as the key to
performance.
As a result, organizations are built to support
enduring values, stable strategies, and bureaucratic
structures, not to change.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 3)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

The bottom line is that organizational change
is difficult because management systems are
designed, and people are rewarded, for
stability.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 13)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

The traditional approach to change
management assumes resistance and
reinforces stability. It identifies three phases:
–
–
–
Unfreezing
Moving
Refreezing
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 14)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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The central thesis of B2C is to challenge the
“stability equals effectiveness” assumption
and propose a model of organization in
which change is expected and normal.
According to the B2C logic, organizations
are always changing, in sometimes fast and
sometimes slow ways.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 20)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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The B2C model explicitly addresses ongoing
environmental changes and argues that they should
be the key determinants of strategy, organization
design, and effectiveness.
Strategizing, creating value, and designing are the
primary contributors to organizational effectiveness.
At the center of this model is identity. It consists of an
organization’s relatively stable set of core values,
behaviors, and beliefs.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 27)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

The B2C model shows the key elements that
influence organizational effectiveness in
motion. Strategizing, creating value, and
designing are each viewed as dynamic
processes changing in response to or in
anticipation of environmental change.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 28)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Environmental Scenarios
B2C organizations look at both the current
environment and the potential environments that
might emerge in the future. Anticipating what the
environment will be like is critical to effective change,
but knowing what it will be is not possible.
However, broad trends and demands can be used to
generate a range of scenarios that capture some of
the most likely future environments an organization
will face.
The concept of proximity is important in this process.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, pp. 28-29)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
Various Sources to Keep Up with Trends
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Identity
Identity derives from the organization’s culture—
what employees think they should do and what
actions they are rewarded.
Identity contributes to effectiveness by specifying the
organization’s dominant approach to doing business.
Organizations, like people, rarely change their
identities.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 33)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Strategizing
Strategizing is the process an organization
uses to decide which product, services, and
markets to focus on and how to compete. It
results in a strategic intent that guides
choices about how an organization creates
value and designs itself.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 35)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Research shows that an organization’s
current performance depends on the extent
to which the intended strategy is proximate
with the demands of the environment.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 35)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

What it comes to strategizing, B2C
organizations need to be different from
traditional firms in important ways. In
traditional firms, strategic reviews are at best
an annual phenomenon, and the
conversation is dominated by tones of “Is
there any reason to change?”
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 37)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

B2C firms are nervous. They agree with
Andy Grove that “only the paranoid survive.”
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 37)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

There is an explicit trade-off of some shortterm efficiency for greater future
effectiveness, a trade-off that makes
increasing sense in a rapidly changing world.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 37)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Creating Value
The specification of strategic intent is important, but
it is only part of the strategy story—implementation is
the other part. No matter how brilliant a strategy
is, its ultimate impact is determined by how well
it is implemented. Many more strategies fail
because of poor implementation than because they
are conceptually flawed.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 37)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Competencies
–

Core competencies are combinations of
technology and production skills that underlie the
product lines and services of an organization.
Capabilities
–
Capabilities are the clearly identifiable and
measurable value-adding activities that describe
what the organization can do.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 38)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Competitive Advantage
–
–
A competency or capability is valuable to the degree that it
produces revenue, reduces cost, or contributes to the real
or perceived benefit of a product or service.
Competencies and capabilities can be a source of
competitive advantage when they are valuable, rare, difficult
or costly to imitate, and leveraged.

A competency or capability that is valuable but not rare is a
commodity.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, pp. 40-41)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Designing
Designing is a dynamic process of modifying and
constantly adjusting an organization’s structure,
systems, people, and rewards so that they provide
the called-for performance.
Dynamic alignment exists when all of the pieces in
the designing and creating value process are
evolving in the same direction and in support of the
strategic intent.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, pp. 44-45)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Collecting Information
What information should B2C organizations
collect?
–
–
–
Performance: How are we doing?
Competencies and capabilities: How strong are
we?
Environment: What is going on and what does it
mean?
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 119)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Sharing Information
Transparency is key to he effectiveness of a
B2C organization’s information process.
–
Keeping measures secret not only makes it
difficult for individuals to correct their behavior but
also takes away a potential motivator of change.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 121)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Acquiring the Right Talent
Human capital is so critical to the
performance of B2C organizations that its
management deserves as much or more
attention as the management of financial and
physical assets.
(Lawler & Worley, 2006, p. 153)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Adopting an Employment Strategy
Commitment to Development
–
–
The commitment to development approach hires
individuals who are skilled but who, above all else,
are willing and able to change and develop along
with the business.
B2C organizations need to be sure that they offer
commitment to develop contracts only to individuals
who are good at developing new skills.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, pp. 154, 164)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Travel Light
–
The essence of the travel light approach is to
acquire and discard talent as needed.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 156)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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From a motivational perspective…the ideal recruit for
a B2C organization is an individual who values the
kinds of rewards that the organization uses to
motivate performance and change.
Stated another way, an organization needs to recruit
individuals who value the type of rewards that it is
able and committed to using to motivate
performance and change.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 163)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Developing an Employer Brand
To attract the right individuals, organizations
need an employer brand that fits their identity
and strategic intent. In many respects,
attracting the right employees is no different
than attracting the right customers.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 165)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Nordstrom’s has a clear
brand for its
salespeople, with the
result that they are
called “Nordies”
because of the distinct
relationship they have
with the department
store.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 165)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Managing Human Capital
Developing Person Descriptions
In a person description, the focus is on what
a person can do rather than on how well he
or she actually performs on a day to day
basis.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, pp. 190, 192)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

As a general rule, there are three sets of skill and
knowledge on which each person description should
focus.
–
–
–
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The set of technical skills that are needed to do the role they
are assigned.
Knowledge pertaining to the business model of the
organization—that is, its financial measures and business
strategy and how these relate to the work that employees do.
Specific knowledge and skills involving organizing, leading,
and managing.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 190)
HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Hallmark has spent considerable time and effort developing
person descriptions. It has composed success profiles, which it
uses to identify each individual’s knowledge and skills, focusing
on the specific skills needed for that person’s position. The
company uses a competency assessment worksheet to
establish development objectives, which are ultimately used for
performance appraisals as well.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 191)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Designing Reward Systems
The challenge for B2C organizations, and it
is a tough and important one, is to develop
an approach to rewards that improves
organizational effectiveness and facilitates
change.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 236)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
Motivation and Rewards
Performance = Motivation x Ability
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 237)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Expectancy Theory
The most widely accepted explanation of why people
are motivated to work, perform, learn, and change is
rooted in what psychologists call expectancy theory.
Expectancy theory argues that people are mostly
rational decision makers who think about their
actions, and act in ways that satisfy their needs and
help them reach their goals.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, pp. 237-238)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Rewards and Performance
The purpose of an organization’s reward system
should be to motivate people to behave in ways that
support its strategic intent and performance
requirements.
Expectancy theory tells us that people are motivated by
the promise of future rewards; therefore, a critical need
in developing a motivating reward system is to
establish a clear connection between the reception of a
reward and the behavior required to obtain it.
This is often referred to as a line of sight.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, pp. 239-240)
HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Organizations get the behaviors they reward.
Organizations that wish to perform well and change
effectively need to create reward systems that
emphasize both performance and change.
Sounds simple, but it is not easy to do. It is also not
what most organizations do. All too often they reward
stability more than change, seniority more than
performance, and job size more than skill
development.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 256)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Creating a B2C Organization
How do you create a B2C organization?
Or…How can you change a traditional
organization into a B2C organization?
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 285)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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The Process
Create a change-friendly identity.
Purpose proximity.
Build an orchestration capability.
Establish strategic adjustment as a normal
condition.
Create a virtuous spiral.
(Lawler & Wiley, 2006, p. 287)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Human Resource Development
In recent years the scope of human resource
development (HRD) has broadened from
simply providing training programs to
facilitating learning throughout the
organization in a wide variety of ways.
(Fisher, Schoenfeldt & Shaw, 2006, p. 375)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

There is increasing recognition that
employees can and should learn
continuously, and that they can learn from
–
–
–
–
On-the-job experience
Each other
Short, readily available online tutorial modules
Formally structured learning opportunities
…and now there is…
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

M-learning
The mobile revolution is finally here.
Wherever one looks, the evidence
of mobile penetration and adoption
is irrefutable: cell phones, PDAs
(personal digital assistants), MP3
players, portable game devices,
handhelds, tablets, and laptops
abound. No demographic is
immune from this phenomenon.
From toddlers to seniors, people
are increasingly connected and are
digitally communicating with each
other in ways that would have been
impossible to imagine only a few
years ago.
(“Mobile Learning,” 2005)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)

Strategy and HRD
Training facilitates the implementation of
strategy by providing employees with the
capacity to perform their jobs in the manner
dictated by the strategy.
(Fisher, Schoenfeldt & Shaw, 2006, p. 375)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Training is seen as pivotal in implementing
organizational-wide-culture-change efforts,
such as developing commitment to customer
service or making a transition to self-directed
work teams.
Pace-setting HRD departments have moved
from simply providing training on demand to
proactively solving organizational problems.
(Fisher, Schoenfeldt & Shaw, 2006, p. 377)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Fixing Weaknesses or Building Strengths?
A traditional approach to training and development
and to self-development, is to discover what an
individual is bad at and work to improve these
weaknesses.
The implicit assumption is that everything is fixable,
anyone can be trained to do anything relatively well,
and the best payoff of training dollars is to fix
weaknesses.
(Fisher, Schoenfeldt & Shaw, 2006, p. 383)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Recently, a very different approach has
emerged. The human strengths view
suggests that we are all different and
possess our own pattern of talents.
Training and development activities aimed at
turning talents into strengths will pay off
rapidly in major gains because individuals
areas are so good at learning and growing in
their areas of natural talents.
HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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Organizations can maximize performance by
assigning and developing individuals in areas
related to their strengths and allowing them
to manage around or outsource to others
those activities that are not their natural forte.
This question relates to the B2C issue in that
hiring, training, and developing employees
need to focus around the core values of the
organization.
HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
Questions Regarding Implementing Training and
Development
 What are the training and development implications
of the organization’s strategy?
 Where in the organization is training and
development needed?
 How are various units performing compared to
expectations and goals?
(Fisher, Schoenfeldt & Shaw, 2006, p. 381)
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
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In which units is training and development most
likely to succeed?
Which units should be trained and developed first?
Can the organization afford this training and
development?
Which training and development programs should
have priority?
Will this training and development be accepted and
reinforced by others in the organization, such as the
trainee’s superiors and subordinates?
HR Views-n-News KCCC
Built to Change (B2C)
 Is
this training and
development consistent with
the organization’s culture?
This is an important question for
B2C organizations.
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HR Views-n-News KCCC
References
Fisher, C. D., Schoenfeldt, L. F., & Shaw, J. B. (2006).
Human resource management (6th ed.). New York:
Houghton Mifflin Company.
Lawler, E. E., & Worley, C. G. (2006). Built to change:
How to achieve sustained organizational
effectiveness. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mobile learning. (2005, May 13). elearnspace. Retrieved
April 13, 2007, from
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/archives/002043.html
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HR Views-n-News KCCC