Change strategies. Enthusiasts have seen a transformational power in HRM (...) and transformation, or change, is an inevitable consequence of many human resource strategies. Bertsch and Williams identified two main types of change:

* Turnaround change - financially driven, often to ensure corporate survival by cutting unprofitable products and services. It involves the redesign of organizational structures, disposal of non-core activities and large-scale redundancies. This kind of change is painful but straightforward since existing hierarchical control systems can administer the process.

Behavioural transformations - changing behaviour patterns throughout the company. Hierarchical control is inadequate because different power centres are likely to conflict and differences between business units make behavioural consistency a difficult objective to achieve.

Page 173 of Human Resource Management in a Business Context outlines three models for effecting these changes.

See also "Leaning Into The Future: Changing The Way People Change Organizations" by George Binney and Colin Williams (Book review at the Strategy & Business site) 

Leading Change - USA - UK

Restructuring. Restructuring (under a variety of labels) is the most common form of major organizational change. According to Kanter, restructuring should not be a defensive cost-cutting process but rather a proactive attempt to achieve innovative products and services: 'focus without fat'. The goal should be synergy.(...)

Unfortunately, employees are a secondary consideration of change in free market organizations. Participative management tends to be squeezed out in favour of project management or corporate politics. Developing on Wilmott's question 'will the turkeys vote for Christmas?', it is evident that they are generally kept in the dark until it is too late. Little account is taken of the people who will be disrupted by the process and those who have to maintain quality and value during a period of major upheaval. Often the principal role of people managers is to sort out the resulting mess and smooth ruffled feathers.

  Creating Temporary Organizations for Lasting Change by Edith Howle, Gary L. Neilson and David J. Ortiz (Strategy & Business site)