High Performance Systems
High Performance Systems
Despite marginal differences in some of the terminology, it is important to emphasise the distinction between a High performance practices and high performance systems.
HP practices are in simple terms HR process such as appraisals, training, recruitment which are seen to improve organisational performance. A HP system, is when these practices are ‘bundled’ together, to provide additive or multiplicative gains in performance. However, there are even numerous implications to these very basic assumptions. Can a HR practice be studied in isolation? If so, can it be measured to test for performance improvements? Alternatively, when testing a system of high performance practices for performance links, can the study of processes which are intrinsically integrated into human behaviour, which is extremely subjective, prone to individual differences and has an infinite amount of extraneous variables, be realistically measured and find causal relationships? Many academics have attempted this with varying degrees of success, we will now explore some of these in more detail.
Osterman (1994) identified the link between effective teamwork and performance gains, through his emphasis on ‘self-directed work teams’ Moreover, Eaton and Voos (1992) claim that self-managing work teams and flexible job design have been found to have the greatest potential to enhance productivity at the workplace.
Alternatively Appelbaum et al (2000) argues that employee involvement in the decision making process, is a critical factor in high performance systems. They argue that greater autonomy improves employee commitment, trust and job satisfaction which all have positive effects on performance and productivity. In addition Arthur (1994) in his study of U.S Steelmills identified that the implementation of a ‘commitment’ bundle of practices resulted in greater organisational performance than the implementation of a ‘control’ bundle in all cases.
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