o greater concentration on the financial requirement to balance
income and expenditure while continuing to develop and
improve service delivery.
A significant change in the regional organization and the roles of the
management team and regional controllers/managers is taking place;
this means that new skills will have to be used, which some existing
managers may not possess.
From a human resource planning viewpoint, decisions will have to be
made on the capabilities required in the future at managerial and other
levels, and these may involve establishing policies for recruiting new
managerial talent from outside the organization rather than relying on
promotion from within.
Difficult decisions may have to be made on retaining some existing
managers in their posts who have not been successful in applying for
new regional posts or who lack the required skills, and there may be a
requirement to reduce staff numbers in the future.
More positively, management development and career planning activi-
ties will need to be introduced, which reflect the changing culture and
structure of the organization and the different roles managers and
others will be expected to play.
The provision of the core HR services such as recruitment and training is not
an issue.
Steps to address the issues
Steps have already been taken to address these issues, for example:
major communication initiatives introduced by the Chief Executive;
a review of the pay system, which will no doubt bear in mind the unsat-
isfactory experience of the organization in applying performance
management/pay procedures a few years ago;
decisions on the shape of the regional organization;
an analysis and diagnosis has taken place on cultural issues, i.e. what
the