Postal Workers on the Picket Line – HR’s Role in Organizational Culture and Change
Introduction
In August 2025, Sri Lanka saw an indefinite strike by more than 17,000 postal workers who were demanding better remunerations, employment conditions, and restructuring transparency (World Socialist Web Site, 2025). The strike brought down national mail services and revealed years of cultural and communication differences between the management and workers in the government sector. As an HR professional, this incident poses some of the most basic questions regarding the employee voice, organizational culture, and change management in state-run organizations.
https://youtu.be/VgMVlwwxWRw?si=WwluB9PIhHWbR7PY
Discussion
The failure to relate the ideals of serving the people to the actual experience of workers became a feature of the strike. According to HRM scholars, employee engagement is based on a healthy organizational culture that is founded on trust, fairness and open communication (Schein and Schein, 2017). Nonetheless, in the Sri Lankan governmental organizations, the HR department tends to work in very strict bureaucratic frameworks that do not encourage employee feedback or creativity.
The constant restructuring of the postal industry, due to the reforms that have been supported by IMF, made the workers anxious and mistrustful. The fact that the HR did not convey the meaning and the mechanism of these changes led to rumors, misinformation, and emotional resistance. Kotter (2012) considers that vision, involvement of stakeholders and continuity of communication are essential success factors in change management, which were very weak in this instance.
Also, lack of contemporary HR practices like employee surveys, team briefing and participation in decision making weakened the credibility of the organization. Studies of the public service reforms in Sri Lanka reveal that in the case of dialogue and empathy facilitated by HR leaders, the organizational resistance decreases, and the productivity increases (Jayawardana and Opatha, 2023).
Conclusion
The postal strike of 2025 demonstrates that change initiatives may go awry with the help of cultural inertia and poor HR communication. In order to be effective in modernizing the Sri Lankan public sector, HR in this case should be a strategic change partner rather than a compliance administrator. It will be necessary to embed open communication, equitable negotiation and engagement of employees in the decision-making process to build back trust and resiliency in the various institutions in society.
References
Jayawardana, A.K.L. and Opatha, H.H.D.N.P. (2023) ‘Human Resource Management Practices and Employee Commitment in Sri Lanka’s Public Sector,’ Sri Lanka Journal of Human Resource Management, 13(1), pp. 55–68.
Kotter, J.P. (2012) Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
World Socialist Web Site (2025) Sri Lankan Postal Workers Launch Indefinite Strike. [Online] Available at: https://www.wsws.org/ [Accessed 29 Oct 2025].
Schein, E.H. and Schein, P.A. (2017) Organizational Culture and Leadership. 5th edn. Hoboken: Wiley.
STUDENT ID - EUK00310229
This blog highlights how HR’s role in building organisational culture and managing change is very important. It also resonates with the work in my state-owned bank where aligning culture, values and HR practices helps us stay effective and responsive.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kalani. I appreciate you sharing your experience! You are absolutely right—HR's role in shaping organizational culture and managing change is critically important for keeping our practices relevant and responsive.
DeleteThis is a very insightful discussion on the critical role HR plays in shaping organizational culture and managing change. The example of Sri Lanka’s postal industry clearly highlights how a lack of communication and stakeholder engagement can undermine even well-intentioned reforms. As you pointed out, HR’s role should go beyond administrative compliance it should actively foster trust, transparency, and participation.
ReplyDeleteDilmini, that's a very insightful take! I fully agree that HR must move beyond simple compliance to actively foster trust, transparency, and participation. Effective communication is key to successful change management.
DeleteThis blog is well-researched, coherent, and relevant, effectively demonstrating how HR practices influence organizational culture and change management in the public sector. Minor improvements in sentence flow, specific HR intervention suggestions, and readability will make it more impactful.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nilanka, I'm glad you found the piece well-researched. That's a great point about practicality—I will certainly work to make the suggested HR interventions even more actionable and impactful for practitioners.
DeleteReading about the postal workers’ strike reminds me how easily organizational culture can fracture when employee voice is ignored. In hospitality, we know that service excellence is built on trust, fairness, and open dialogue with our teams. When staff feel unheard, even the most well‑intentioned reforms can turn into sources of fear and resistance. The postal strike shows that HR cannot remain a compliance administrator—it must be a bridge between management and employees. Just as hotels thrive when associates are engaged in decisions that affect them, public institutions too need HR leaders who listen, empathize, and communicate change with clarity. This is not only about productivity—it’s about dignity, wellbeing, and the resilience of the people who keep services running every day.
ReplyDeleteRukshan, your reflection on the postal workers' strike struck a chord. The concept of HR as a bridge between management and employees is vital. We must always prioritize the dignity, well-being, and voices of the people who deliver services every day. Thank you for this essential perspective from the service industry.
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