Analysis & Recommendation on HR

Restructuring for OCBC Bank

WESTMINSTER INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE, SUBANG
Name

Alexis Choo Xin Nie

Student ID

0131GKIGKI0415

Lecturer

Dr Mervyn Sookun

Tutor

Dr Tom Tan

Group

33

Contents
List of Tables .......................................................................................................................................... 3
List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................... 5
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 6
OCBC HRM Model ................................................................................................................................ 7
Recruitment & Selection ......................................................................................................................... 9
Understanding Market Demands ........................................................................................................ 9
Stricter Regulations ......................................................................................................................... 9
Fast-growing technologies .............................................................................................................. 9
Better Appetite for Innovative Products ....................................................................................... 10
OCBC Recruitment & Selection Process .............................................................................................. 11
Recruitment Methods ........................................................................................................................ 11
Internal Job Postings (IJP) ............................................................................................................ 11
Job Portals ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Outsourcing ................................................................................................................................... 12
Selection Process .............................................................................................................................. 12
Phone Interview ............................................................................................................................ 12
F2F Interview ................................................................................................................................ 12
Recommendation on Recruitment & Selection Process.................................................................... 12
Endorse more video conferencing tools for interview .................................................................. 12
Computer Exercises ...................................................................................................................... 13
Improvement on hiring policy....................................................................................................... 13
Recruitment over employee recommendation .............................................................................. 13
OCBC HR Development....................................................................................................................... 14
OCBC HRD Methods ....................................................................................................................... 14
Career Development ..................................................................................................................... 14
Training ......................................................................................................................................... 15
e-Classroom .................................................................................................................................. 15
Performance Management ................................................................................................................ 16
Motivation for OCBC employees ......................................................................................................... 17
Classical theories of Motivation ....................................................................................................... 17
Hybrid Motivation Model ................................................................................................................. 19
Managing Changes in Organization ...................................................................................................... 22
1

Factors that Contributes to Changes in Organizations ...................................................................... 22

Strategic Change ........................................................................................................................... 22
Technological Shifts ..................................................................................................................... 22
Process Change ............................................................................................................................. 22
Geographical Shift ........................................................................................................................ 23
Change Management Model ............................................................................................................. 23
Lewins 3 Step Change Model ...................................................................................................... 23
References ............................................................................................................................................. 25

List of Tables
Table 1 OCBC HRM Model Description ............................................................................................... 7

List of Figures
Figure 1 The Aon Hewitt Employee Engagement Model ....................................................................... 8
Figure 2 OCBC Young Bankers Programme ........................................................................................ 15
Figure 3 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ................................................................................................. 17
Figure 4 Herzberg's Two-Factor Theories ............................................................................................ 18
Figure 5 Hybrid Model of Motivation .................................................................................................. 19

Abbreviations
B2B

Basic to Banking

BAU

Business As Usual

BO

Back Office

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

F2F

Face-to-face

FO

Front Office

HOD

Head of Departments

HR

Human Resource

HRM

Human Resource Management

IBBM

Institute Bank-Bank Malaysia

IT

Information Technology

KPI

Key Performance Index

L&D

Learning & Development

MBO

Management by Objectives

OCBC

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation

PDPA

Personal Data Protection Act

PKMC

Pasaran Kewangan MalaysiaCertificate

PWC

PricewaterhouseCoopers

R&S

Recruitment & Selection

SDLC

System Development Life Cycle

SHRM

Strategic Human Resource Management

TCE

Total Customer Experience

Introduction
HR is one of many crucial departments in an organization and its role is to build working
professionals via R&S, HRD, motivation campaigns and change managements (Human
Resource Excellence, n.d.). Dobre adds on that HRM influences organizations performances
and helps affiliate individual and organizations goals, aligning both to achieve higher
altitude (Dobre, 2012). Furthermore, employees are the source of organization growth
(Leicestershire, 2012), through strategic HRM, employees help achieve OCBCs goals and
objectives. The success is proven as OCBC was awarded the Worlds 3rd Strongest Bank in
2015; achieved via Aon Hewitts HR Model adoption.

OCBC Bank is established in 1932 by merging 3 local banks in Singapore during the Great
Depression. Recent years, OCBC has been acquiring other financial institutes; expanding its
business. As of 2014, OCBC has over 630 branches spread across 18 countries, mainly Asia;
having more than 29000 employees. In terms of its structure, OCBC undergone a
reorganization in 2002 and has since been running on Matrix Structure. The Matrix structure
streamlined management into four categories which is customers, products, supports and
geography in terms of operation regions to enhance customer focus, innovation of products
and entity reporting streamline.

Despite so, banking institutes have increasing challenges in selecting, recruiting and retaining
talents due to internal and external pressures which are stricter regulations, fast-growing
technologies, increasing affluent consumers and better appetite for innovative products; as
concluded by PWC in conjunction with IBBM. (Latif, 2015). Thus, successful HR strategies
are needed to address to the market trends.

OCBC HRM Model

OCBC adopts Aon Hewitts Employee Engagement Model which is shown in Figure 1. The
model was derived with underlying traditional HRM in combination with SHRM. Traditional
HRM marks a rigid environment where job descriptions are tightly defined with top
managers making decisions only (Nayab, 2011) whilst SHRM is HR strategies focusing on
meeting employee needs, engaging and motivating employees to achieve long-term
organization goals (CIPD, 2015). Table 1 shows the description of traditional and SHRM
combination of OCBC HRM Model.

Description

OCBC HRM Model

Traditional/SHRM

Responsible

for

HR Traditional

Description
HR departments are the planner and
executor for HR programmes in OCBC

Programmes
Role of HR

SHRM

Proactive and transformational

HR Project Time Frame

SHRM

Depending on HR project scope

Control

SHRM

Functional managers has control over

procedures and policies as regard to
their field of work

Job Design

Traditional

Focus on performance management

Accountability

SHRM

HR Department is a profit centre as it

helps develop employees

Recruitment & Selection

SHRM

Both HR Managers and respective

department
recruitment

lead
and

decides

on

the

selection

of

employees.
Table 1 OCBC HRM Model Description

The ability to promote high level of employee motivation would increase productivity which
leads to organization success (Engage For Success, 2015). Therefore, engaging employees
becomes the primary objectives of OCBC HR.

Figure 1 The Aon Hewitt Employee Engagement Model

OCBC has achieved success using this model as their employees have high level of
engagement within high performance range, obtaining above Global Financial Norm
engagement score which was surveyed by Aon Hewitt (OCBC Annual Report, 2013) and
utmost, being able to meet the market requirements.

Recruitment & Selection

Understanding Market Demands
Banking is one of the fast growing industries and as PWC have identified 4 major factors of
market requirements, OCBCs recruitment and selection procedures should adhere and
address to the needs.
Stricter Regulations

Bank regulation changes impacts heavily on bank operations in terms of customer

engagement, product development and daily operations. According to PWC, 62% investment
banks

agreed

that

stricter

regulations

affect

overall

risk

management

(PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014). For example, PDPA 2010 which has gazetted in 2013
brought changes to banking operations where customers personal information that are
obtained for process use are fully complied to this act (Chi, 2013). In order to respond to the
change, OCBC would have to register with commissioners over the use of customer
information, notify customers about the adherence of PDPA, educate employees to obey to
PDPA act.

Fast-growing technologies

Digital platform has growing importance even in banking industry. Banks have commonly
introduced their internet banking system to ease the daily banking transactions to be done
online. Recent years, mobile banking applications are also on the go as a result of increasing
need for technology and innovative banking experience. Fundtech survey shown evidence of
45% bankers agreed that mobile banking is critical in engaging and serving customers
(Fundtech, 2012) while PwC concludes that bank CEOs agreed on technology growth would
be the major transformational towards banking industry as shown in Figure 2
(PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2013).

Figure 2 Technology Advances as major banking transformation in next 5 years

This would no doubt mean that banking industries would invest heavily in IT and thus need
more IT professionals to develop and maintain the systems within the bank. Other than that,
employees from frontline to BO have to be tech-savvy and flexible in terms of learning new
system implementations. Therefore, talents of all departments must have basic knowledge of
computing the least.
Better Appetite for Innovative Products

As there are increasing affluent customers with expectation in unique or innovative banking
experience, banks pushes new innovative products frequently to capture consumers interest.
According to PWCs survey, 67% of correspondents agreed to the need of products
integration to be done in multiple channels (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014). This is to ensure
that the integration enhances TCE which is quite an important value for the present society.
Talents have to understand the risks associated with the integration of these channels which
usually are technology advancement like cybersecurity, social media and data analytics.
Furthermore, talents have to have critical skills to cross-selling different products, proficient
and able to analyse and provide financial solution to customers.

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OCBC Recruitment & Selection Process

HRMs core activity is the Recruitment and Selection Process. This process is crucial as it
moulds the most important asset of the organization People. Kumari described recruitment
as a process of discovering potential candidates to fill in organization vacancies. It also
involves attracting potential candidates to file a job application. Selection on the other hand is
the process of choosing the best fit for the vacancy by matching the job requirement with
candidates experience and skillsets (Kumari, 2012).

Recruitment Methods
OCBC uses several recruitment methods to attract potential candidates. The methods are
listed as below.

Internal Job Postings (IJP)

IJP is an internal HR programme whereby it allows OCBC employees to pursue different job
opportunities within OCBC group, be it locally or overseas. HR Department will update the
IJP Portal on every Friday through email. Candidates who have fulfilled the basic
requirement of working for 16 months with the bank may apply for the job rotation. This
career mobility is able to retain employees and candidates who filled the vacancy may easily
adapt to the change of job scope as compared to external hiring. In terms of selection,
candidates with the required skill sets would be given top priority.

Job Portals

Job-searching portals are good platforms to advertise vacancies. OCBC HR posts on

JobStreets, Monster.com, LinkedIn and many other websites in search of potential candidates
for vacancies. Job Portals advantage is that candidates from everywhere in the world may
view and get connected with OCBC HR. This extends the candidate search to around the
globe and through selection process may HR find the best candidate. This method requires
minimal cost yet able to reach to public.

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Outsourcing

Outsourcing has becoming a favourite option to many organizations as they search for talents.
Outsourcing which is done strategically produces results more than just cost-cutting (Heric &
Singh, 2010). OCBC recognizes the opportunity in outsourcing especially for IT departments.
Outsourced contract staffs are usually hired via recruiting agents whereby recruiters perform
the recruiting role. Once potential talents are identified, selection process will be done by
OCBC HR and team managers.

Selection Process
Interview is a must before selecting for the right candidate. There are several ways an
interview may be conducted.
Phone Interview

Phone interviews are usually made available for candidates offshores. This would only
qualify for the preliminary round of interview and if candidates have passed the phone
interview, HR will request candidates to have a F2F interview. This is because interviewers
may observe interviewees overall appearance, intonation, body language as according to
Rodgers 7 Point Plan, physical appearance are important as well.
F2F Interview

During F2F interview, other than posing work-related questions, candidates may be asked of
personal interest so determine their characteristics. Besides that, for candidates that requires
special skillsets like IT department, candidates may be given some simple tests to determine
their understanding and experience in that field. Usually, F2F interview is done with OCBC
HR managers along with hiring department managers.

Recommendation on Recruitment & Selection Process

The Recruitment & Selection process may be improved with some of the points below.
Endorse more video conferencing tools for interview

There may be positions that would attract more overseas candidates. With the advancement
of technologies, video conferencing tools like Skype should be endorsed for interview. It
would be time saving as there will not be a need for phone interview followed by F2F
interview. Besides this, calling another person via Skype ID is free of charge; it is much cost
12

saving as compared to phone interview. According to a survey, more than 56% of HR uses
good quality video conferencing tools for interview (WorkingMums, 2013). Businesses
Computer Exercises

Candidates that are required to possess computing skills should be tested on their skills via
technical exercises. This is because vocal interviews are unable to assess on their skill level.
With computer exercises, hiring managers may have a better grasp on candidates skillsets
which then eases the selection process.
Improvement on hiring policy

Currently there are restrictions where employees whom have left the bank would not be rehired within 2 years period. This policy should be abolished as talents who are fit for the
vacancy should be given another chance of contribution.
Recruitment over employee recommendation

Another method of recruiting for talents should be considered is through existing employees
recommendation. This is because existing employees have adapted to the culture and working
and environment. They would make a better recommendation on talents as compared to
recruitment agents as employees know the talents well off individually. To encourage
employee recommendation, a program should be set up to reward the employee over its aid in
introducing suitable talent for the company, provided the new talent has joined and
successfully passed probation period. This sends out messages as employees of the bank are
also responsible and capable of recruiting suitable talents for OCBC.

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OCBC HR Development
Once potential candidates are selected to join the company, a series of HR programmes are
planned to developing the talent, building its skillsets, experiences, knowledges and soft
skills. There is a need to develop the organizations employees because human resources can
be a competitive advantage other than just completing job responsibilities (MSG, 2015). In
OCBC, HRD is part of its Engagement Model whereby different methods of HRD is used to
engage the employees, enhance their skills in order to deliver performance which then
reaches strategic goals of the company. OCBC recognizes the importance of HRD thus
requiring employees to attend at least 5 training days annually.

OCBC HRD Methods

Career Development

There are many ongoing career development programmes for employees. One of the most
successful programs is the Career Best Program. This is a 3 year program for new hires
where employees will attend training sessions which helps them to identify their personal
SWOT, understanding their individual missions and goals in career path, realizing their
talents in order to become a key contributor to organizations strategic success. The 3 year
career program involves job rotations whereby employees may transfer to another department
to pick up new skills and understand further on the operation flows. In addition, there are also
travelling opportunities where new hires may visit different operation sites under
accompaniment by seniors.

There is another program for new hire which is OCBC Young Bankers Programme. This
programme aims at providing introductory of banking industry and understanding of banking
operations to new bankers. It is a 12 month programme where young bankers have the
opportunities to go through trainings in classes, work in OCBC branches and job rotations to
find the best fit position. Furthermore, young bankers will be evaluated at the end of the
programme to evaluate on their learning while HR seeks for improvement in future
programmes through their assignment outcomes.

14

Figure 2 OCBC Young Bankers Programme

Training

Trainings are conducted in several methods like classroom style, practical computer-based
trainings and e-classroom. B2B program has been very successful with the training done at
Philea Resort, Melaka by collaboration of both internal and external trainers. This programme
joins employees from different departments together for 7 days where they learn about
OCBCs strategic goals, 7 Purpose & Values of OCBC, teamwork and banking operations of
different departments.

Besides this, bankers who have first joined the bank are given practical computer trainings as
talents are required to use systems which will help them in their BAU. Trainings as such are
conducted in the Learning Centre of OCBC where an instructor will brief on the system
usages. Besides this, when there are new systems being introduced to the bank, relevant
department users are trained to use and provide their feedback on the systems for
enhancements or bug fixes which will then help improve productivity and efficiencies of
departments.
e-Classroom

With the aid of technology advancement, many training are conducted using e-classroom
whereby employees may attend the courses through the Learning & Development Centres
website. For example, the education of employees on the new enforcement of banking
regulations like PDPA as mentioned previously in introduction, it was educated to employees
via e-classroom whereby all the bank staffs are to attend the e-classroom course and pass an

15

assessment to assure that knowledge was gained and understood. This method is cost-saving
and efficient as employees may attend the course at their convenience at anytime, anywhere.

Performance Management
As HRD develops employees in many aspects, performance management may be used to
measure if employees career growth, evaluating if its overall performance aligns and
contributes to the organizations goals (CIPD, 2015). OCBC recognizes the importance of
performance management and it is part of OCBCs HR Model focus.
At the planning stage of Performance Management, every employee is required to fill up
individuals KPI as it will be used to review and evaluate at the end of the year. In this phase,
employees will fill in their job descriptions, extra milestone, training objectives and skillsets
to be learnt and career development objectives. It will be reviewed by both manager and
employees, assuring the objectives are achievable and realistic.
The process is then followed by managers monitoring employees performance throughout
the year. Assessments on their performance are done in accordance to the KPI set previously
and discussions will be held to understand employees feedback. Discussions as this would
enable management to understand what are the strengths and issues faced by employees.
Lastly, managers and top managements come together to discuss on employees overall
performance and decide on employees reward which is year-end bonus based on employee
rankings. Top ranked employees would be rewarded with substantial reward. To further
encourage employees, OCBC performance management rewards employees on monthly basis
as well. Employees who have been performing outstandingly are rewarded by managers as a
form of appreciation by the company whereas employees who have been underperforming,
managers would discuss to further understand on their issues and make arrangements or assist
employees in succeeding, contributing to achieve organizations strategic goals.
Despite so, OCBCs performance management can be improved effectively by training
managers to understand the appraisal skills. This is because annual performance appraisals
limitation is as it does not bring out lasting and effective behavioural changes (SkillPath,
2015).

16

Motivation for OCBC employees

Employees have to be motivated in order to perform better in achieving organization goals
(Lovering, 2015). This was further supported by Dinibutun stating that motivated employees
are more productive and would be loyal to the organization (Dinibutun, 2012). There are
many approaches to motivate employees. However, organizations have to find the most
suitable model to achieve the target effectively.

Classical theories of Motivation

There are several classical theories of Motivations like Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, TwoFactor Theory by Herzberg, Alderfers ERG Theory and McClellands Theory of Needs.
Basically, these theories are in common for addressing the needs of employees.
Abraham Maslow first introduced Hierarchy of Needs in 1943 where it states that employees
are being engaged to accomplish individuals basic needs before proceeding to another level
of needs (Cherry, n.d). Employees would strive for basic needs like shelter and food, and then
proceeds to achieve the needs for safety, love or social. These are considered as the lowerlevel needs while esteem and self-actualization is considered as high-level needs. However,
Esteem and Self-actualization was being criticised as not every individual has the needs for
achieving these (Denning, 2012). Furthermore, Maslows test cases for this two level is also
weak as only successful and famous individuals were studied to derive the top two levels
(Cherry, n.d)

Figure 3 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

On the other hand, Herzberg derived Two-Factor Theory which states that there are intrinsic
and extrinsic motivators where intrinsic motivators presence; motivator, induce motivation
while extrinsic motivators absence; hygiene, reduces motivation (Boundless, n.d). The

17

extrinsic motivators are similar to Maslows lower needs which include basic needs, job
securities and social or sense of belongings to the company. Intrinsic motivators which is
more close to emotional and intangible is similar to Maslows high-level needs where it
includes challenging works, recognitions and individual growth potential.

Figure 4 Herzberg's Two-Factor Theories

18

Hybrid Motivation Model

In OCBC, engaging employees is its main approach and a combination of classical theories along with process theories may achieve the
motivation goals. This is because classical motivation theories are rational and analytical where emotions are ignored (Njoroge & Yazdanifard,
2014). Therefore, process theories should be combined into the motivation model to obtain a balance between analytics and emotional
management towards employees. In addition, reinforcement theory would assist in performance appraisal of employees performances,
especially positive reinforcement to prolong and increase employees motivation.
The figure below shows the proposed hybrid motivation model which would be suitable for OCBC. This model is derived using Maslows
Hierarchy of Needs, Goal-setting theory, Positive Reinforcement and Equity Theory.

Individual
Ability
Work
Effort

Equity of Rewards

Goal
Accomplishment

Reward on
accomplished
goal

Satisfied with
Rewards
Inequity of Rewards

Organizational
MBO

Figure 5 Hybrid Model of Motivation

19

Based on the Hybrid Model, OCBC may fulfil the basic lower-needs of Maslows Hierarchy
to employees then additionally the higher needs. This may be done by providing
physiological needs which are basic salary and job security to employees, followed by
security needs whereby the bank is a security-tight place with fair work and banking policies.
OCBC may motivate employees by cultivating the sense of belonging in their employees
through teamwork activities and providing an environment of acceptance towards all. As
such, an environment of effective interpersonal relations should be endorsed. In addition,
operational matters should be communicated to all employees throughout the organization
structure. No employees should be left out or being treated like an outsider. As employees
reaches Esteem and Self-Actualization needs, OCBC has been recognizing and cultivating
talents through successful programs like Fresh Talent Program. This may further be improved
by adding in more programs which challenges employees at workplace, recognizing
employees as SME in particular job. Furthermore, employees may have better self-esteem
when top leaders recognize their efforts, provide comfortable yet idea-stimulating working
environments.
Motivated employees perform better (Dysvik, 2010) and when employees put in effort to
perform their job, organization should also set a clear path or goals for employees to achieve.
Goal-setting Theory would be a good model for OCBC to adapt. There are 5 goals setting
principles defined in this theory Clarity, Challenge, Commitment, Feedback and Task
complexity (MindTools, 2015). As previously, the employees are motivated with esteem and
self-actualization; employees would gladly take up the job challenges and be committed to it.
Throughout the goal-achieving process, team leaders should set specific goals, communicate
with employees to ensure there is no ambiguity. As employees proceed with goal achieving,
feedbacks amongst team leaders and employees should happen in order to keep up the
momentum and motivation of employees. Employers should also view the process via MBO
method. Through MBO, whole organization or specifically, leaders and employees would
have a common goal and understanding, achieving goals together.
As employees have achieved the goals, Reinforcement Theory would take place. Positive
Reinforcement focuses on rewards rather than punishment. As employees have completed
their tasks, employees yearn for rewards or recognitions. It is a kind of need which will
further motivate them to perform better. Furthermore, positive reinforcement helps to build
positive relationships between leaders and employees (Learn Alberta, n.d). Thus,
management should reward on the performance via effective performance appraisal.
20

Equity Theory would be adapted in place. Equity Theory states that individuals would be
motivated as they find fairness in rewards. If the rewards were unjust in an individuals
opinion, the individual would seek adjustments to their work effort which is the input, in
order to perform better, or in otherwise, demotivated if the environment remains unfair
(Boundless, 2015).
After employees received the rewards, the employee would evaluate on the rewards and if it
is satisfied, employees would be motivated to accept more challenging jobs in order to
receive better rewards at the end. OCBC should provide feedback when rewarding employees,
motivating employees to work harder and are open to discussion on the appraisal.

21

Managing Changes in Organization

In order to succeed and survive in competitive environment like banking industry, change is
crucial and have to be managed well (Gelan, 2011). Line Managers can become the owner of
changes but HR is the architect, facilitator and designer of organization changes (Ezendu,
2010). There are plenty of reasons to change the organizations in terms of operations and
managements as mentioned by Ezendu. The factors are discussed as below.

Factors that Contributes to Changes in Organizations

Strategic Change

Banking industry has been competitive in terms of strategy and product selling. Every bank
would want to be the market leader by introducing new products or better benefits for
customers. Thus, banks will follow suit with its competitors strategy or introduce a
differentiated strategy and products to gain market shares (Joseph, 2015). In order to do this,
changes are to be made. For example, Bank A introduced FD that returns 4.00% annually,
competitors would either follow suit or offer similar benefits to customers.
Technological Shifts

Technology advancement has brought changes to many industries including banking as well.
Previous section has mentioned the need to introduce innovative products and processes.
These would mean that banks have to move from manual and human process into automated
or system-aided processes. For example, trade processing where trade details checking were
done manually by employees. There is still risk of human error which then leads to systems
being introduced to take over the eye-ball checking process by employees. Thus, improving
processes by technological changes may benefit businesses which in turn improve working
capital (Joseph, 2015).
Process Change

Banks are precautious with all operations. It was too precautious till excessive processes
delayed the efficiency of processes. Changes on working processes are often reviewed in
order to eliminate excessive processes. This would result in process improvement and save
more cost, improving workforce efficiency. For example, implementing Six Sigma would
help in improving services and reducing operation costs (Harris, 2013).

22

Geographical Shift

Businesses that want to grow may have to change their operating strategies or even its name.
For example, Wing Hang Bank was acquired by OCBC in Year 2013. The acquisition was a
limelight and OCBC renamed Wing Hang as OCBC Wing Hang Bank. This is a strategic
move where OCBC is announcing its expansion of region towards China markets,
emphasizing its presence and awareness amongst competitors and the public.

Change Management Model

There are many approaches to managing changes and Lewins 3 Step Model would be
discussed to restructure organizations human capital management.
Lewins 3 Step Change Model

Kurt Lewin developed this change Model which consists of 3 steps. First step would be the
process of changing employees behaviour in order to unfreeze the status quo. This is
followed by implementation of changes in the organization. After changes are done, it is the
freezing process where new behaviour should maintain (Levasseur, 2001).

For this discussion, the sample case study would be to implement e-classroom as a new
training platform. HR acts as the main driver and change manager assure success of the
project.
Unfreeze

This is the phase where HR and respective teams prepare for the change. Plans on the
changes are drafted which includes scope, time and costs. From HR perspectives, the capital
management for training software are calculated and Recruitment & Selection process for
software and training professionals have to be researched in order to get the right person for
the right job.

As part of the unfreeze phase, it is important for HR to disseminate the major changes to
relevant parties via communication platform such as email and HR General Circular,
employees should be well-informed of the upcoming changes. HR has to convince the
employees that the current training strategies of OCBC are ineffective and a new platform
should be used to provide training for employees. This phase may expect resistance of
changes by employees. HR has the responsibility to provide clarification and assurance to
23

employees, convincing them that the changes are beneficial and must be implemented for the
good cause of all (Rykrsmith, 2013).
Change

When e-classrooms are launched, employees should be notified to attend courses using it.
The implementation of e-classroom may begin gradually where consumer banking employees
gets to be the first to use the software, followed by other departments. During this phase,
leadership and reassurance by HR is necessary in order for the change to be successful
(Rykrsmith, 2013). Any doubts and feedback by employees should be attended and reverted
constructively.
Refreeze

As changes have been implemented and employees are gradually accepting the new change,
the change should be freeze in terms of its scope. Besides this, employees should be
reinforced of the changes benefits via programs like rewarding employees who have
completed the training and assessment with highest score. Furthermore, it is vital for the HR
to maintain the stability of e-classroom software as this would instil confidence of employees
towards this change (MindTools, n.d).

24

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