Bringing Practitioner-Focused Research to People Management Practitioners
May 2016
In This Issue…
Does HR Really Want to Professionalize?
The Importance of Communication for Effective Change Management: A Case Study About the 'Made in Cogeco' Change Model
Flashback Feature:
Labour Management Relations in Canada: A Survey of Union Officials
Does HR Really Want to Professionalize?
Claude Balthazard Vice-President Regulatory Affairs and Registrar Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), 2016
That is a really good question—but there are layers to that question. For some years, the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) asked the following question on its annual member survey: ‘Do you agree that the professionalization of HR is, or should be, an important issue for the profession?’ The results appear to show an overwhelming support for the professionalization of HR. But then again, professionalization is not defined in the survey; we really don’t know what respondents have in mind when they think of professionalization. In previous Queen’s IRC articles (Balthazard, 2014a, 2014b, 2015a, 2015b) we have seen that professionalization is a quid-pro-quo—that is, the profession has to give to get. The get is easy—enhanced status, respect, and remuneration. The give, however, is discussed much less often. Did the survey respondents carefully consider the gives and the gets of professionalization and decide that the net benefit of professionalization was positive before answering the question? Probably not. But this is something that needs to be worked through. If the support for professionalization is simply a reflection of the idea that it would be nice to have more status, respect, and remuneration as HR professionals, then the support may be shallow. If professionalization is sold solely based on its benefits, then there is the danger of feeding into this shallow support. Deep support for professionalization requires that the gives be considered as much as the gets.
The Importance of Communication for Effective Change Management: A Case Study About the ‘Made in Cogeco’ Change Model
Erin O’Flynn, Director, Human Resources, Ontario Division, Cogeco Cable Canada, 2015
Working in the telecommunications industry, people assume that we are ahead of the curve in terms of change initiatives and communication practises. But similar to other companies, we are challenged to come up with our own change management processes within our organization. Our industry is changing rapidly, and that means we need to change too. In this article, I will share how Cogeco developed a new change model quite quickly to respond rapidly and succinctly to the transformational trends in our industry.
Cogeco Cable Canada is a telecommunications company that operates in Ontario and Quebec, and provides residential and commercial customers with phone, internet and cable services. In fiscal year 2015, we created a “Made in Cogeco” solution in response to the need to enhance service, stay competitive and cut costs. There were 3 key factors that helped us toward this goal. The first decision was to hire a Director, Communications and Change Management based in Montreal. Shortly thereafter, we hired a Senior Advisor, Change Management located in our Burlington office. Lastly, the Organizational Development staff was provided with enhanced skill development to become specialized change agents. The result was that the HR department, utilizing this specialized change team was able to create the “Made in Cogeco” change management model.
Flashback Feature: Labour Management Relations in Canada: A Survey of Union Officials
Terry Wagar, 1999
Although several recent articles have underscored the importance of human resource management (HRM), employee involvement (EI), and labour-management cooperation (LMC), there has been very little research addressing these topics from the perspective of organized labour. In my meetings with union officials and employees, questions that frequently arise include: What are other unions doing? To what extent are other unions adopting LMC? Can unions cooperate with employers yet still meet employee and union goals? What are the risks/rewards of moving toward greater cooperation with management?
This study is aimed at providing some practical information about labour-management relations across the country.
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