As the Corporate Division Head of People and Organization Development (HR), I lead the HR function across all business units. Since becoming a publicly listed company, we’ve been undergoing a major transformation—not just to meet regulations, but also to become more attractive to investors. My role is to align our HR strategy with the company’s new direction by shaping both short- and long-term plans. I focus on driving transformation in five key areas: strategy, structure, systems, people, and culture.
I also work closely with the Board to ensure our HR initiatives support their expectations and help us build a high-performing, purpose-driven organization. My responsibilities extend beyond traditional HR functions; I play a strategic role in ensuring that HR initiatives are aligned with the company’s broader goals. This alignment is crucial as we continue to adapt to new challenges in a rapidly evolving market.
As I navigate this transformation, I’m constantly working to ensure that HR not only supports but also drives change. My leadership aims to build an agile organization that can meet both short-term goals and long-term strategic objectives, contributing to the overall success of the business.
Managing Diverse Business Units with Unified HR Strategies
Managing multiple business units with distinct operational needs has been one of the most interesting challenges in my role. I oversee four business units with three different business models and diverse operational areas. One example of a policy that didn’t work as planned was when we tried to standardize the work group structure across all units. The intention was to simplify operations and integrate our HRIS system. However, this policy didn’t fit well for every unit—some had intricate operational setups that required multiple work groups, while others were more streamlined and didn’t need that level of segmentation.
This experience taught me that even well-intentioned harmonization efforts can backfire if not carefully contextualized. I realized that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. Thoughtful planning, deep cross-functional discussions, and understanding the specific business dynamics are critical. I redesigned the policy into a flexible framework, allowing each business unit to adapt it while staying aligned with the corporate vision. This preserved cohesion and improved operational acceptance.
Don’t rely on top leadership as the main drivers of transformation—focus on frontline leaders.
By allowing each business unit to customize the policy, we were able to maintain alignment with the overall corporate strategy while catering to the unique needs of each unit. This experience reinforced the importance of adaptability and communication in policy design.
Empowering Frontline Workers in Organizational Design
I’ve always believed that factory-floor talent is often underrepresented in organizational design discussions. It’s true that many companies tend to involve only senior-level employees in strategic conversations, leaving out the voices of those on the factory floor. At our company, we’re committed to ensuring that input from our factory-floor employees is not only heard but meaningfully considered.
To achieve this, we have several structured programs aimed at engaging our frontline workers in organizational development. One of our key initiatives is the Employee Communication Forum, established at each business unit. This forum consists of representatives from the factory floor who meet regularly— on a monthly basis—with HR and business unit leaders to discuss company performance, upcoming strategies, policies, SOPs, and other planned initiatives. More importantly, it also serves as a channel for employees to voice their concerns, suggestions, or feedback related to any aspect of the organization.
The forum is led by one of the worker representatives and supported by a feedback collection mechanism to gather insights from broader team members. In addition to the forum, we also run several other initiatives: Quality Control Circles for continuous improvement ideas, a Suggestion System for operational or organizational input, and our Bad News Program, where employees are encouraged to report potential risks, safety hazards, or process issues during morning meetings. These daily inputs often lead to concrete improvements and build a culture of openness and collaboration.
By embedding these mechanisms into our organizational practices, I ensure that our factory-floor talent is not only involved in execution but also plays an active role in shaping the way we operate. These programs have significantly helped us align bottom-up insights with top-down strategies, ensuring more grounded and effective organizational designs.
Transformational Leadership at the Frontline
One piece of advice I would give that goes against what most HR textbooks say is: “Don’t rely on top leadership as the main drivers of transformation—focus on frontline leaders.” In many HR theories, transformation is expected to be led by senior leaders, with the idea that they act as role models to cascade change throughout the organization. But in manufacturing, this often doesn’t work in practice. Senior leaders don’t interact with the factory floor on a daily basis, and their influence is limited by distance.
From my experience, real transformation happens only when frontline leaders—such as area leaders and supervisors—are the ones who embody and drive change. These are the people workers listen to, follow, and interact with every day. If they are not aligned, empowered, or capable, no amount of top-level vision will make a meaningful difference on the ground.
It’s very similar to what happens in government: no matter how brilliant a president or minister may be, true change won’t happen if the leaders who directly engage with the people are ineffective. That’s why, in our transformation efforts, we invest heavily in building the leadership capacity of our frontline managers. We treat them not just as operational coordinators, but as key culture carriers and change agents—because that’s where lasting impact begins.
