Contemporary Human Resource Challenges - 06

I have been discussing some contemporary human resource challenges in my five blogs, and hereafter I am deeply concerned regarding High-Performance of work system. When it comes to an organization, I would say that   Organizations are in the business process of achieving sustained high performance. However they do this through the systems of work they adopt but these systems are managed and operated by people. Ultimately, therefore, high-performance working is about improving performance through people. This can be done through the development and implementation of high-performance work systems.

High-performance working can involve the two ‘ideal type’ approaches to HRM identified by Guest (2007);

1.     The ‘high-commitment’ model

2.     The ‘performance management model’

High-performance culture

The aim of a High –Performance work System (HPWS) is to achieve a high-performance culture,

Characteristics of a high-performance culture

Management specifically defines what it requires in the shape of performance improvements, sets goals for success and monitors performance to ensure that the goals are achieved. Alternative work practices are adopted such as job redesign, autonomous work teams, improvement groups, team briefing and flexible working.

Appelbaum et al (2000) stated that high-performance work systems facilitate employee involvement, skill enhancement and motivation. An HPWS is ‘generally associated with workshop practices that raise the levels of trust within workplaces and increase workers’ intrinsic reward from work, and thereby enhance organizational commitment’. meanwhile  high performance can also defined  as a way of organizing work so that front-line workers participate in decisions that have a real impact on their jobs and the wider organization.

Components of an HPWS

In fact there is no generally accepted definition of an HPWS and there is no standard list of the features or components of such a system. Appelbaum and Batt (1994) identified six models

Ø US lean production,

Ø US team production,

Ø German diversified quality production

Ø Italian flexible specialization,

Ø Japanese lean production

Ø Swedish socio-technical systems.

These systems vary in the degree of autonomy they give the workforce, the nature of the supporting human resource practices, and the extent to which the gains from the systems are shared.

Impact of high-performance work systems

A considerable number of studies have been done to demonstrate that the impact of high-performance work systems is positive.

US Department of Labor (1993)

In a survey of 700 organizations the US Department of Labor found that firms that used innovative human resource practices show a significantly higher level of shareholder and gross Return on capital.

King (1995)        

King cites a survey of Fortune 1000 companies in the United States revealing that 60 per cent of those using at least one practice, increasing the responsibility of employees in the business Process, reported that the result was an increase in productivity while 70 per cent reported an improvement in quality.

REFERENCES;

v Armstrong M.(2009),Human Resource management practice 11^th ed. UK;Kogan - Pg. 230

v Appelbaum, E, and Batt, R (1994) The New American Workplace, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY

v Appelbaum, E, Bailey, T, Berg, P and Kalleberg, A L (2000) Manufacturing Advantage: Why high performance work systems pay off, ILR Press, Ithaca, NY

v Guest, D (2007) HRM: Towards a new psychological contract, in (eds) P Boxall, J Purcell and P Wright, Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford