Page 127 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

case study II 107
high degree of managerial density

high degree of division of labor

simultaneous lack of qualitative challenge and quantitative overload

social conflicts.

As a result, a number of employees in the unit were very dissatisfied with their work
situation and demanded changes. They hoped to see the development of expanded human
resources as well as enhancement of the content of their tasks and roles.
The change process
With this as a mandate, the change process comprised the following milestones in the period
from 1996 to 1998:
workshop for the purposes of reflection upon and sensitization to the problems leading

to a formulation of the target areas for change
analysis and evaluation of the unit with a multi-level-approach under consideration of

people, technology, and organization
preciseformulationofgoals,definitionofactionapproachesanddefinitionoforganization

of the project
development of a service portfolio defining future services and quality standards of the

unit; derivation of required personnel to support such services
development of an effective concept for organization and management of the unit

step-by-step implementation of the innovations and measures.

The project set goals for improvements at the level of employee, department, and the
institute as a whole.
Prior to the restructuring, the department had been divided into a total of four personnel
areas, each having a human resource manager, a secretary, and an assistant secretary. There
were also various specialized functions. The new concept of organization and management
set up units for the administration of personnel, the counseling of personnel, and a newly
created unit for personnel and organizational development. This resulted in a conclusive
separation of administration from actual personnel and organizational work (see Figure 5.7).
The management structure established co-management at the uppermost level.
Personnel administration is organized as a self-regulating team. The team speaker, se-
lected by the team, takes on internal coordination functions and represents the team exter-
nally. Weekly team meetings serve work-related agreements and planning.
Cooperation between personnel administration and personnel counseling is achieved in
a matrix-oriented form with designated contact persons. The functions of area secretary
and assistant secretary have been eliminated. Employees in personnel administration have
been upgraded to personnel specialists. This process of increasing qualifications occurred
to a large extent mutually and “on the job”. The new organizational concept also contains
a career concept that allows for career paths to personnel specialist, personnel manager
assistant, personnel manager, personnel developer, and organization developer.
Implementation of the new orientation and the new organization and management concept
comprised, among others, the following steps:
recruitment and introduction of new employees

level-appropriate qualification measures, for example in the areas of Human Resource

Management,IT,communicationskills,andclient-centeredandservice-orientedbehavior
design of and move to new office spaces

new design of the personnel department’s outreach using flyers and intranet.

Evaluation of the change process
About a year after implementing the new work organization, the personnel administration
and personnel counseling units were evaluated. This first evaluation was also carried out