Key Challenge 4
Organisational Development

To develop the organisation's culture to encourage individuals committed to high performance in everything we do, who are enabled to support continuous improvement.


Key Outcome for Stakeholders
Those who work for the PPA are stakeholders in its development and future. They need to be able to contribute to the extent of their abilities. Equally, their contribution to improving the quality and effectiveness of our services is recognised as accuracy, economy and service delivery continue to improve.

Introduction
The roles and responsibilities of everyone working for the PPA are changing. The pace and complexity of that change will quicken over the period of this Strategy as new processes are developed and systems reengineered to ensure maximum efficiency and to meet the needs of our stakeholders. These will impact significantly on what is increasingly a multi-faceted range of services and will crucially affect employees.

Our HR Strategy, complemented by Workforce and Training Plans, will ensure that we are appropriately resourced and skilled to deliver high performance at all times. Equally, our approach will recognise the benefits for employees of achieving a balance between their work and other aspects of their lives, together with a working environment in which individuals are encouraged to flourish and feel confident that they will be treated with dignity and respect.

The challenge we face is to manage successfully through this period of change, ensuring that business objectives are met whilst equipping the workforce to operate effectively and flexibly, assimilating new skills for a new working environment.

Success in change management will be achieved provided we consider the needs of the workforce and react positively to those needs as business change moves forward. A partnership is required between the organisation and its employees and we will demonstrate our commitment by taking positive measures to improve the quality of working life and fostering a healthy work/life balance.

Key Principles
In progressing change, we will apply the
principles and objectives outlined in:

• HR in the NHS
• Improving Working Lives (IWL) and Investors in People (IIP)
• Agenda for Change
• The Positively Diverse Programme Our goal is to embed the principles behind these initiatives into the culture of our organisation.

Organisation Culture and Ethos
We will continue to develop an organisational culture that values high performance and empowers our people to contribute to the development of the organisation and to the improvement of its products and services.

We will do this within a clear framework of values, set out to the right.

Human Resources Strategy
Our Human Resources Strategy will confirm the direction and define the key issues for change. It will focus on the delivery of high performance from a workforce effectively managed through the application of sound, flexible people management strategies. This will mean the continuing development of people policies which are relevant to the business of the organisation and, equally, to the needs of those who work within it.

The Strategy will recognise that working towards equality of opportunity is a priority development area. The Positively Diverse Programme developed by the NHS and our own Race Equality Plan will be used to identify essential areas for action on diversity and will also serve as a method of evaluating progress towards our own objectives. We will continue to foster an environment in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect.

Organisational and Workforce Development
Personal development is encouraged at every level. Commitment to this ethic, which is reinforced by the principles of Agenda for Change, will ensure that we can all contribute to and benefit from organisational change and the reengineering of our business processes. The development of sound leadership and change management skills is also essential to our future success. Collectively these measures, coupled with a robust Workforce Plan and Development Strategy to underpin them will facilitate the delivery of high performance leading to the achievement of business objectives.

Our priorities in this area are:

• Ensuring that the organisation's workforce is appropriately skilled.
• Periodically reviewing management structures to ensure that they remain fit for purpose.
• Equipping the organisation to deliver high performance and quality.
• Respecting the rights and dignity of employees.

Partnership with Employees
We enjoy a good working relationship with Unison and membership is encouraged. Equally, we work to ensure communication channels are in place with those who choose not to belong to a Trades Union. Partnership agreements in specific areas such as Investors in People (IIP), Race Equality and Improving Working Lives (IWL), have been developed through which we are ensuring that the culture of our organisation champions best employment practice. In line with the DH's approach to Agenda for Change, we will seek to extend such working. Partnerships offer mutual benefits and, in particular, provide for issues to be addressed openly and inclusively, reflecting our Statement of Values and Behaviours.