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HR as a Change Agent for Agility: A Case Study at an International Non-Profit Organization

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Personalmanagement

Part of the book series: Forschung und Praxis an der FHWien der WKW ((FPGHW))

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Abstract

Drawing from a qualitative single case study at an international non-profit organization, this chapter investigates the opportunity for HR as a change agent to support the development of an organization’s agile capability for transformational change. The results suggest that managing knowledge is pivotal to managing change and that the HR function must perform a meaningful analysis of human capital data to yield knowledge about the effectiveness of its services and the feasibility of the organization’s strategy if it is to be seen as a true change-maker. The development of a true partnership with line functions in the organization and a greater emphasis on strategic planning, organization design, and talent development in HR-related tasks are equally important. Finally, the HR function must develop greater expertise in a variety of HR approaches and embrace the role of harmonizing enterprise-wide communication and (internally) sharing knowledge for capacity building while upholding the organizational culture.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interview questions included: How could knowledge management be introduced in this organization? What would be the impact of this change? What motivates you to work here? How does the organization deal with change? Examples were requested, and questions referred to the written documents.

  2. 2.

    Grounded theory refers to a research methodology that aims to construct theory through data, while many models of research are based on questions or hypotheses embedded in an existing theoretical framework and seek to collect data for verification.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Workplace Atelier, Vienna, Austria

    Neha Chatwani

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  1. Neha Chatwani
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Correspondence to Neha Chatwani .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut fĂĽr Personal und Organisation, FHWien der WKW, Wien, Austria

    Barbara Covarrubias Venegas

  2. Institut fĂĽr Personal und Organisation, FHWien der WKW, Wien, Austria

    Katharina Thill

  3. Institut fĂĽr Personal und Organisation, FHWien der WKW, Wien, Austria

    Julia Domnanovich

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Chatwani, N. (2018). HR as a Change Agent for Agility: A Case Study at an International Non-Profit Organization. In: Covarrubias Venegas, B., Thill, K., Domnanovich, J. (eds) Personalmanagement. Forschung und Praxis an der FHWien der WKW. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-15170-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-15170-6_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-15169-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-15170-6

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