Creating High-Performance Work Systems: After Studying This Chapter, You Should Be Able To

chapter
16
Creating HighPerformance Work

Systems
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Identify the components that

make up a high-performance
work system.
Describe how the components fit

together and support strategy.
PART 6
objective
systems.
objective
ples of high-performance work
objective
objective
Discuss the underlying princi-
objective
objective
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After studying this chapter, you should be able to
Recommend processes for

implementing high-performance
work systems.
Discuss the outcomes for both

employees and the organization.
Explain how the principles of

high-performance work systems
apply to small and mediumsized organizations.
Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons
16-1
16-2
PART 6
o, youve finished reading 15 (or so) chapters on HRM. Congratulations

textbooks do not always make for the most gripping reading. And if you
read this one cover to cover, you were probably cramming for an exam.
But before you close this book, think about the following question: What
is more difficultdesigning effective HR practices or managing them all
together as one system?
In the past, HR textbooks simply ended after each individual aspect of
HRM was introduced and explained. But in todays competitive environment,
many organizations are discovering that its how the pieces are combined that
makes all the difference. After all, managers typically dont focus on staffing,
training, and compensation practices in isolation from one another. These HR
practices are combined into an overall system to enhance employee involvement and performance. So now that we have talked about the individual
pieces, we thought it might be useful to spend some time talking about how
they fit together into high-performance work systems.
high-performance work
system (HPWS)
A specific combination of
HR practices, work structures, and processes that
maximizes employee
knowledge, skill, commitment, and flexibility
A high-performance work system (HPWS) can be defined as a specific combination

of HR practices, work structures, and processes that maximizes employee knowledge,
skill, commitment, and flexibility. Although some noteworthy HR practices and
policies tend to be incorporated within most HPWSs, it would be a mistake for us to
focus too much, or too soon, on the pieces themselves. The key concept is the system.
High-performance work systems are composed of many interrelated parts that complement one another to reach the goals of an organization, large or small.
We will start by discussing the underlying principles that guide the development
of high-performance work systems and the potential benefits that can occur as a result.
Then we will outline the various components of the system, the work-flow design, HR
practices, management processes, and supporting technologies. (See Figure 16.1.) We
will also describe the ways in which organizations try to tie all the pieces of the system
together and link them with strategy. We end the chapter with a discussion of the
processes organizations use to implement high-performance work systems as well as
the outcomes that benefit both the employee and the organization as a whole.
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Fundamental Principles
In Chapter 1, we noted that organizations face a number of important competitive

challenges such as adapting to global business, embracing technology, managing
change, responding to customers, developing intellectual capital, and containing costs.
We also noted some very important employee concerns that must be addressed, such
as managing a diverse workforce, recognizing employee rights, adjusting to new work
attitudes, and balancing work and family demands. We now know that the best organizations go beyond simply balancing these sometimes competing demands; they create
work environments that blend these concerns to simultaneously get the most from
employees, contribute to their needs, and meet the short-term and long-term goals of
the organization.
The notion of high-performance work systems was originally developed by
David Nadler to capture an organizations architecture that integrates technical and
social aspects of work. Edward Lawler and his associates at the Center for Effective
Organization at the University of Southern California have worked with Fortune 1000
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Creating High-Performance Work Systems
Figure 16.1
16-3
Developing High-Performance Work Systems
Linkages
to
Strategy
SYSTEM DESIGN
Work flow
HRM practices
Support technology
Principles
of High
Involvement
The
Implementation
Process
OUTCOMES
Organizational
Employee
corporations to identify the primary principles that support high-performance work

systems. There are four simple but powerful principles, as shown in Figure 16.2:
Shared information
Knowledge development
Performancereward linkage
Egalitarianism1
In many ways, these principles have become the building blocks for managers who
want to create high-performance work systems. More important, they are also quickly
becoming the foundation for current theories of human resources management.
We will use them as a framework for the rest of the chapter.
The Principle of Shared Information

The principle of shared information is critical for the success of empowerment and
involvement initiatives in organizations. In the past, employees traditionally were
not givenand did not ask forinformation about the organization. People
were hired to perform narrowly defined jobs with clearly specified duties, and not
much else was asked of them. One of the underlying ideas of high-performance
work systems is that workers are intimately acquainted with the nature of their own
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Figure 16.2
Underlying Principles of High-Performance

Work Systems
PW
PW
Shared
Information
Knowledge
Development
PW
PW
Egalitarianism
16-4
Performance
Reward
Linkage
work and are therefore in the best position to recognize problems and devise solutions to them. Today organizations are relying on the expertise and initiative of
employees to react quickly to incipient problems and opportunities. Without
timely and accurate information about the business, employees can do little more
than simply carry out orders and perform their roles in a relatively perfunctory
way. They are unlikely to understand the overall direction of the business or
contribute to organizational success.
On the other hand, when employees are given timely information about business performance, plans, and strategies, they are more likely to make good
suggestions for improving the business and to cooperate in major organizational
changes. They are also likely to feel more committed to new courses of action if
they have input in decision making. The principle of shared information typifies a
shift in organizations away from the mentality of command and control toward one
more focused on employee commitment. It represents a fundamental shift in the
relationship between employer and employee. If executives do a good job of communicating with employees and create a culture of information sharing, employees
are perhaps more likely to be willing (and able) to work toward the goals for the
organization. They will know more, do more, and contribute more.2 At FedEx
Canada, at every single station across Canada, company officers and managing
directors meet with employees at 5:30 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. to review the business
data and answer questions.3
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The Principle of Knowledge Development

Knowledge development is the twin sister of information sharing. As Richard
Teerlink, former CEO of Harley-Davidson, noted, The only thing you get when you
empower dummies is bad decisions faster. Throughout this text, we have noted that
the number of jobs requiring little knowledge and skill is declining while the
number of jobs requiring greater knowledge and skill is growing rapidly. As organizations attempt to compete through people, they must invest in employee development. This includes both selecting the best and the brightest candidates available in
the labour market and providing all employees opportunities to continually hone
their talents.
High-performance work systems depend on the shift from touch labour to
knowledge work. Employees today need a broad range of technical, problemsolving, and interpersonal skills to work either individually or in teams on cuttingedge projects. Because of the speed of change, knowledge and skill requirements
must also change rapidly. In the contemporary work environment, employees must
learn continuously. Stopgap training programs may not be enough. Companies such
as DaimlerChrysler and Roche have found that employees in high-performance
work systems need to learn in real time, on the job, using innovative new
approaches to solve novel problems. Likewise, at Ocean Sprays Henderson, Nevada,
plant, making employees aware of the plants progress has been a major focus.
A real-time scoreboard on the Henderson plant floor provides workers with
streaming updates of the plants vital stats, including average cost per case, case
volumes filled, filling speeds, and injuries to date. When people are better informed,
they do better work. We operate in real time and we need real-time information to
be able to know what we have achieved and what we are working towards, says an
Ocean Spray manager. (See Case Study 1 at the end of the chapter for more on Ocean
Sprays HPWS initiative.)4
The Principle of PerformanceReward

Linkage
A time-tested adage of management is that the interests of employees and organizations naturally diverge. People may intentionally or unintentionally pursue outcomes
that are beneficial to them but not necessarily to the organization as a whole. A corollary of this idea, however, is that things tend to go more smoothly when there is some
way to align employee and organizational goals. When rewards are connected to
performance, employees naturally pursue outcomes that are mutually beneficial
to themselves and the organization. When this happens, some amazing things can
result. For example, supervisors dont have to constantly watch to make sure that
employees do the right thing. But in fact, employees may go out of their wayabove
and beyond the call of duty, so to speakto make certain that co-workers are getting
the help they need, systems and processes are functioning efficiently, and customers
are happy. At Clearwater Seafoods, a global Canadian company of 2200 employees
based in Bedford, Nova Scotia, nearly all employees participate in a bonus plan based
on the volume of food that is packaged.
Connecting rewards to organizational performance also ensures fairness and
tends to focus employees on the organization. Equally important, performance-based
rewards ensure that employees share in the gains that result from any performance
improvement. For instance, Lincoln Electric has long been recognized for its efforts in
linking employee pay and performance.
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The Principle of Egalitarianism
USING THE INTERNET
People want a sense that they are members, not just workers, in an organization. Status and power differences tend to separate people and magnify
whatever disparities exist between them. The us versus them battles that
have traditionally raged between managers, employees, and labour unions
are increasingly being replaced by more cooperative approaches to managing
work. More egalitarian work environments eliminate status and power difwww.nucor.com/aboutus.htm
ferences and, in the process, increase collaboration and teamwork. When this
happens, productivity can improve if people who once worked in isolation
from (or in opposition to) one another begin to work together.
Nucor Steel has an enviable reputation not only for establishing an egalitarian
work environment but also for the employee loyalty and productivity that stem from
that environment. Upper levels of management do not enjoy better insurance programs, vacation schedules, or holidays. In fact, certain benefits such as Nucors profitsharing plan, scholarship program, employee stock purchase plan, extraordinary
bonus plan, and service awards program are not available to Nucors officers at all.
Senior executives do not enjoy traditional perquisites such as company cars, corporate
jets, executive dining rooms, or executive parking places. On the other hand, every
Nucor employee is eligible for incentive pay and is listed alphabetically on the companys annual report.
Moving power downward in organizationsthat is, empowering employees
frequently requires structural changes. Managers often use employee surveys, suggestion
systems, quality circles, employee involvement groups, and/or unionmanagement
committees that work in parallel with existing organizational structures. In addition,
work flow can be redesigned to give employees more control and influence over decision
making. At Old Home Foods, one of the few independent, exclusively cultured dairy
product manufacturers in North America, all employees are involved in the decisionmaking process of the business. Its part of the Old Home Foods culture, says owner
Peter Arthur P. A. Hanson. To be a successful independent, you need to empower your
employees and let them know they are critical to success.5 Job enlargement, enrichment,
and self-managing work teams are typical methods for increasing the power of
employees to influence decisions, suggest changes, or act on their own. With decreasing
power distances, employees can become more involved in their work; their quality of
work life is simultaneously increased, and organizational performance is improved.
These four principlesshared information, knowledge development, performance
reward linkage, and egalitarianismare the basis for designing high-performance work
systems. They also cut across many of the topics and HR practices we have talked about
elsewhere in this textbook. These principles help us integrate practices and policies to
create an overall high-performance work system.
Nucor makes no secret of the
importance of its employees. Read
about its management philosophy
and incentive-based compensation
plans at Nucor at:
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Anatomy of High-Performance Work Systems
We said at the beginning of this chapter that high-performance work systems

combine various work structures, HR practices, and management processes to
maximize employee performance and well-being. And although we outlined the principles underlying such systems, their specific characteristics have not as yet been
described in detail.
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Although it may be premature to claim that there is a foolproof list of best

practices that can be implemented by every organization for every work situation,
some clear trends in work design, HR practices, leadership roles, and information
technologies tell us what high-performance work systems look like.6 Some of these are
summarized in Figure 16.3.
Work-Flow Design and Teamwork

High-performance work systems frequently begin with the way work is designed. Total
quality management (TQM) and reengineering have driven many organizations to
redesign their work flows. Instead of separating jobs into discrete units, most experts
now advise managers to focus on the key business processes that drive customer
valueand then create teams that are responsible for those processes. Federal Express,
for example, redesigned its delivery process to give truck drivers responsibility for
scheduling their own routes and for making necessary changes quickly. Because the
drivers have detailed knowledge of customers and routes, Federal Express managers
empowered them to inform existing customers of new products and services. In so
doing, drivers now fill a type of sales representative role for the company. In addition,
FedEx drivers also work together as a team to identify bottlenecks and solve problems
that slow delivery. To facilitate this, advanced communications equipment was
Figure 16.3
Anatomy of High-Performance Work Systems
Shared
Information
Work flow
Self-managed teams
Empowerment
Staffing
Selective recruiting
Team decision making
Training
Broad skills
Cross-training
Problem solving
Team training
Compensation
Incentives
Gainsharing
Profit sharing
Skill-based pay
Leadership
Few layers
Coaches/facilitators
Technologies
HRIS
Communications
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Knowledge
Development
Performance
Reward
Linkage
Egalitarianism
16-8
PART 6
installed in the delivery trucks to help teams of drivers balance routes among those
with larger or lighter loads.7
Similarly, when Colgate-Palmolive opened a plant in Cambridge, Ohio, managers
specifically designed teams around key work processes to produce products such
as Ajax, Fab, Dynamo, and Palmolive detergent. Instead of separating each stage of
production into discrete steps, teams work together in a seamless process to produce
liquid detergent, make polyurethane bottles, fill those bottles, label and package the
products, and deliver them to the loading dock.
By redesigning the work flow around key business processes, companies such as
Federal Express and Colgate-Palmolive have been able to establish a work environment
that facilitates teamwork, takes advantage of employee skills and knowledge, empowers
employees to make decisions, and provides them with more meaningful work.8
Complementary Human Resources Policies

and Practices
Work redesign, in and of itself, does not constitute a high-performance work system.
Neither does total quality management or reengineering. Other supporting elements
of HRM are necessary to achieve high performance. Several recent studies suggest that
both performance and satisfaction are much higher when organizations combine their
changes in work-flow design with HR practices that encourage skill development and
employee involvement.9
Staffing Practices
Many high-performance work systems begin with highly directive recruitment and
selection practices. Recruitment tends to be both broad and intensive in order to get
the best pool of candidates from which to choose. Then, by selecting skilled individuals with the ability to learn continuously and work cooperatively, organizations are
likely to make up for the time and expense they invested in selection. The good news
is that human resources information systems have made it easier for firms to compile
an inventory of their talent and search for employees with the specific skills they
need. Talented employees come up to speed more quickly and take less time to
develop. Too often organizations try to save money by doing a superficial job of hiring.
As a consequence, they run the risk of hiring the wrong people and spending more on
training and/or outplacement, severance, and recruitment of replacements. Especially
in organizations that try to stay lean, perhaps after a painful cycle of downsizing,
HPWS can be instrumental for effective performance.10
Training and Development

Like recruitment and selection, training focuses on ensuring that employees have the
skills needed to assume greater responsibility in a high-performance work environment. For example, Schindler Elevator Corporation, the worlds second-largest
manufacturer of elevators, provides a 60-hour prehire training program of instruction
and testing in such subjects as orientation/company history, safety, plant policies and
procedures, just-in-time (JIT) techniques, and basic shop math. The company also
has an apprenticeship program that focuses on key areas based on its specific business
needs. Apprentices are hired as machinists, tool and die makers, welders, electricians,
mechanics, and so forth. In addition, Schindler gives each of its employees at least five
days of classroom training every year. Similarly, team members at Saturn receive up to
several hundred hours of training in their first few months. Typically, training focuses
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on technical, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. Emphasis on teamwork,

involvement, and continuous improvement requires that employees develop a broader
understanding of work processes performed by others around them rather than rely
on just knowing their own jobs. To accomplish this, organizations increasingly use
cross-training, discussed earlier in the book. Recall that this involves training
employees in jobs in areas closely related to their own. For example, nurses in the perinatal unit of TriHealth System implemented cross-training to facilitate teamwork and
cooperation across units; even more, it helps nurses identify trouble spots that cut
across several jobs and allows them to suggest areas for improvement.
Beyond individual training, Eastman Chemical has established a training certification process that helps ensure that intact teams progress through a series of maturity
phases. The teams certify their abilities to function effectively by demonstrating
knowledge and skills in such areas as customer expectations, business conditions, and
safety. Because these skills must be continually updated, Eastman Chemical requires
that even certified teams periodically review their competencies.11
Compensation
Another important piece of a high-performance work system is the compensation
package. Because high-performance work systems ask many different things from
employees, it is difficult to isolate one single approach to pay that works for everyone.
As a consequence, many companies are experimenting with alternative compensation
plans. In order to link pay and performance, high-performance work systems often
include some type of employee incentives. For example, an average of 10 percent of
Saturn employees pay is linked to goals for quality and training. Other organizational
incentives such as gainsharing, profit-sharing, and employee stock ownership plans
focus employee efforts on outcomes that benefit both themselves and the organization
as a whole. The Scanlon Plan, the Rucker Plan, and Improshare, three systems discussed
in Chapter 10, have been used by companies such as TRW, Weyerhaeuser, and Xaloy to
elicit employee suggestions and reward them for contributions to productivity.
High-performance work systems may also incorporate skill-based pay plans. By
paying employees based on the number of different job skills they have, organizations
such as Shell Canada, Nortel Networks, and Honeywell hope to create both a broader
skill base among employees and a more flexible pool of people to rotate among
interrelated jobs. Both of these qualities are beneficial in a high-performance work
environment and may justify the added expense in compensation. Honeywell has even
experimented with what it calls intracapitala pool of money employees can spend
on capital improvements if the company meets profitability goals.12
Recall that in addition to linking pay and performance, high-performance work
systems are also based on the principle of egalitarianism. To reinforce this principle in
plants utilizing high-performance work systems, Monsanto, AES, and Honeywell
recently implemented an all-salaried workforce. The open pay plan, in which everyone
knows what everyone else makes, is yet another feature of compensation systems used
to create a more egalitarian environment that encourages employee involvement and
commitment.13
Management Processes and Leadership

Leadership issues arise at several levels with high-performance work systems. At the
executive level there needs to be clear support for a high-performance work
environment, for the changes in culture that may accompany this environment, and for
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the modification of business processes necessary to support the change. These concerns
will be addressed in more detail shortly in our discussion of implementation issues.
Organizations such as American Express and Reebok International found that the
success of any high-performance work system depends on first changing the roles
of managers and team leaders. With fewer layers of management and a focus
on team-based organization, the role of managers and supervisors is substantially different in an environment of high-performance work systems. Managers and supervisors are seen more as coaches, facilitators, and integrators of team efforts.14 Rather
than autocratically imposing their demands on employees and closely watching to
make certain that the workers comply, managers in high-performance work systems
share responsibility for decision making with employees. Typically, the term manager
is replaced by the term team leader. And in a growing number of cases, leadership is
shared among team members. Kodak, for example, rotates team leaders at various
stages in team development. Alternatively, different individuals can assume functional
leadership roles when their particular expertise is needed most.
Supportive Information Technologies

Communication and information technologies are yet one more piece that has to be
added to the framework of high-performance work systems. Technologies of various
kinds create an infrastructure for communicating and sharing information vital to
business performance. Federal Express, for example, is known for its use of information technology to route packages. Its tracking system helps employees monitor each
package, communicate with customers, and identify and solve problems quickly. Sally
Industries uses information technology to assign employees to various project teams.
The company specializes in animatronics, the combination of wires and latex that
is used to make humanoid creatures such as are found in Disneys Hall of Presidents.
Artisans employed by Sally Corporation work on several project teams at once. A computerized system developed by the company helps budget and track the employee time
spent on different projects.
But information technologies need not always be so high-tech. The richest communication occurs face to face. The important point is that high-performance work
systems cannot succeed without timely and accurate communications. (Recall the
principle of shared information.) Typically the information needs to be about business
plans and goals, unit and corporate operating results, incipient problems and opportunities, and competitive threats.15
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Fitting It All Together
Each of these practices highlights the individual pieces of a high-performance work

system. And while we have emphasized throughout this text that certain HR practices
are better than others, recall that in high-performance work systems the pieces are particularly valuable in terms of how they help the entire system function as a whole. As
discussed in Chapter 2, careful planning helps ensure that the pieces fit together and
are linked with the overall strategic goals of the organization. This philosophy is
reflected in the mission statement of Saturn Motors, a model organization for HPWS.
Saturns mission is to Market vehicles developed and manufactured in the United
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States that are world leaders . . . through the integration of people, technology,
and business systems. Figure 16.4 summarizes the internal and external linkages
needed to fit high-performance work systems together.
Ensuring Internal Fit

internal fit
The situation in which all
the internal elements
of the work system complement and reinforce
one another
Recall from Chapter 2 that internal fit occurs when all the internal elements of the
work system complement and reinforce one another. For example, a first-rate selection
system may be of no use if it is not working in conjunction with training and development activities. If a new compensation program elicits and reinforces behaviours
that are directly opposed to the goals laid out in performance planning, the two components would be working at cross purposes.
This is the true nature of systems. Changes in one component affect all the other
components. Because the pieces are interdependent, a new compensation system may
have no effect on performance if it is implemented on its own. Horizontal fit means
testing to make certain that all of the HR practices, work designs, management
processes, and technologies complement one another. The synergy achieved through
overlapping work and human resources practices is at the heart of what makes a highperformance system effective.
Figure 16.4
Achieving Strategic Fit
C
V
ny
pa
om lues
a
Comp
e
Challe titi
ng
ve s
e
HIGH-PERFORMANCE
WORK SYSTEMS
Strategy
Em
ployee
Conc ns
er
EXTERNAL FIT
Work-flow
Design
HR
Practices
INTERNAL FIT
Technologies
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Establishing External Fit

external fit
The situation in which the
work system supports the
organizations goals and
strategies
To achieve external fit, high-performance work systems must support the organizations goals and strategies. This begins with an analysis and discussion of competitive
challenges, organizational values, and the concerns of employees and results in a
statement of the strategies being pursued by the organization.16
Xerox, for example, uses a planning process known as Managing for Results,
which begins with a statement of corporate values and priorities. These values and
priorities are the foundation for establishing three-to-five-year goals for the organization. Each business unit establishes annual objectives based on these goals, and the
process cascades down through every level of management. Ultimately, each employee
within Xerox has a clear line of sight to the values and goals of the organization so
he or she can see how individual effort makes a difference.17
Efforts such as this to achieve vertical fit help focus the design of high-performance
work systems on strategic priorities. Objectives such as cost containment, quality
enhancement, customer service, and speed to market directly influence what is expected
of employees and the skills they need to be successful. Terms such as involvement, flexibility, efficiency, problem solving, and teamwork are not just buzzwords. They are translated
directly from the strategic requirements of todays organizations. High-performance work
systems are designed to link employee initiatives to those strategies.
Assessing Strategic Alignment:

The HR Scorecard
In Chapter 2 we introduced the balanced scorecard as a tool that helps managers evaluate the link between strategic goals and operational activities. Professors Brian
Becker, Mark Huselid, and Dave Ulrich have adapted that model to create an HR
Scorecard that helps managers assess the strategic alignment of their work systems.18
The HR Scorecard can be used to diagnose internal fit and external fit in a relatively straightforward way: First, managers diagnose internal fit by assessing whether
particular HR practices reinforce one another or work at cross purposes (see
Highlights in HRM 16.1A). Second, managers assess whether the HR practices significantly enable key workforce deliverables such as employment stability and teamwork
(see Highlights in HRM 16.1B). Third, the degree of external fit is evaluated by
assessing the degree to which the workforce deliverables are connected with key
strategic performance drivers (see Highlights in HRM 16.1C). These three assessments
are extremely useful not just for deriving measures of internal and external fit of highperformance work systems, but for engaging a broader set of managers and employees
in the discussion of how to best implement the system.
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Implementing the System
So far we have talked about the principles, practices, and goals of high-performance
work systems. Unfortunately, these design issues compose probably less than half of
the challenges that must be met in ensuring system success. Much of what looks good
on paper gets messy during implementation. The American Society for Training and
Development (ASTD) asked managers and consultants to identify the critical factors
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Highlights in HRM 16.1A

Diagnosing Internal Fit
In the following chart, please estimate the degree to which the various HR management
subsystems work together harmoniously or fit together. Think of the degree of fit and
internal consistency as a continuum from 100 to +100, and assign a value in that range to
each relationship. Examples of the extremes and midpoints on that continuum are as
follows:
100:
0:
+100:
DNK:
The two subsystems work at cross purposes.

The two subsystems have little or no effect on one another.
Each subsystem is mutually reinforcing and internally consistent.
Dont know or have no opinion.
Recruitment
HR
and
Planning
Selection
HR planning
Recruiting and
selection
Training and
development
Performance
management
and appraisal
Compensation
and benefits
Work organization
(e.g., teams)
Communication
systems
HR performance
measurement
Training
and
Development
Performance
Management
and
Appraisal
Compensation
Work
and
Organization
Benefits (e.g., Teams)
Communication
Systems
HR
Performance
Measurement
Cost
Value
Creation
30
20
10
20
30
+30
40
+30
10
30
+20
20
50
+40
Source: Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, and Dave Ulrich, The HR Scorecard (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001).
that can make or break a high-performance work system. The respondents identified
the following actions as necessary for success (see Figure 16.5):
Make a compelling case for change linked to the companys business strategy.
Ensure that change is owned by senior and line managers.
Allocate sufficient resources and support for the change effort.
Ensure early and broad communication.
Ensure that teams are implemented in a systemic context.
Establish methods for measuring the results of change.
Ensure continuity of leadership and champions of the initiative.19
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Highlights in HRM 16.1B

Testing Alignment of the HR System with HR Deliverables
Please indicate the degree to which the following elements of the HR system facilitate the HR
deliverables shown, on a scale of 100 to +100. Examples of the extremes and midpoints on
that continuum are as follows:
100:
0:
+100:
DNK:
This dimension is counterproductive for enabling this deliverable.

This dimension has little or no effect on this deliverable.
This dimension significantly enables this deliverable.
Dont know or have no opinion.
HR
Planning
Recruitment
and
Selection
Employment stability
Team-based behaviours
Strategy-focused
behaviours
High-talent staffing
level
50
Training
and
Development
Management
and
Appraisal
Compensation
and
Benefits
Work
Organization
(e.g., Teams)
Communication
Systems
50
20
30
20
40
+40
50
Many of these recommendations are applicable to almost any change initiative,

but they are especially important for broad-based change efforts that characterize
high-performance work systems. Some of the most critical issues are discussed next.
Building a Business Case for Change

Change can be threatening because it asks people to abandon the old ways of doing
things and accept new approaches that, to them at least, are untested. To get initial
commitment to high-performance work systems, managers have to build a case that
the changes are needed for the success of the organization. In a recent study on the
implementation of high-performance work systems, it was found that a member of
Figure 16.5
Implementing High-Performance Work Systems
Build a
case for
change
Communicate
Involve
union
Navigate
transition
Evaluation
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Highlights in HRM 16.1C

Testing Alignment of HR Deliverables
Please indicate the degree to which each HR deliverable in the chart below would currently
enable each strategic driver, on a scale of 100 to +100. Empty cells indicate this is not a key
deliverable for a particular driver. Examples of the extremes and midpoints on that continuum
are as follows:
100: This deliverable is counterproductive for enabling this driver.
0: This deliverable has little or no effect on this driver.
+100: This deliverable significantly enables this driver.
DNK: Dont know or have no opinion.
HR Deliverable
Employment
Stability
among Senior
R&D Staff
Team-Based
Behaviours
StrategyFocused
Performance
1. Shorten product
development times
80
30
+30
2. Enhance customer focus

and responsiveness
20
3. Enhance productivity
4. Develop and successfully
manage joint ventures
20
10
10
High-Talent
Staffing
Level
50
40
50
top management typically played the role of sponsor/champion and spent a substantial portion of his or her time in that role communicating with employees about the
reasons and approaches to change. Major transformation should not be left to middle
managers. Rather, the CEO and the senior management team need to establish
the context for change and communicate the vision more broadly to the entire organization. For example, executives at Harley-Davidson tried to institute employee
involvement groups without first demonstrating their own personal commitment to
the program. Not surprisingly, employees were apathetic and in some cases referred
to the proposed changes as just another fine program put in place by the personnel
department. Harley-Davidson executives learned the hard way that commitment
from the top is essential in order to establish mutual trust between employees and
managers. Similarly, the CEO of a business-consulting company was adamant that his
24 vice-presidents understand a new initiative and give a short speech at an introductory session. On the day of the programs launch, however, the CEO himself did
not show up. The message to the vice-presidents was clear: The CEO didnt think the
change was important enough to become an active participant. Not surprisingly,
the change was never implemented.20
One of the best ways to communicate business needs is to show employees where
the business is todayits current performance and capabilities. Then show them
where the organization needs to be in the future. The gap between today and the future
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represents a starting point for discussion. When executives at TRW wanted to make a
case for change to high-performance work systems, they used employee attitude
surveys and data on turnover costs. The data provided enough ammunition to get
conversation going about needed changes and sparked some suggestions about how
they could be implemented.
Highlights in HRM 16.2 shows what happened when BMW bought British Land
Rover and began making changes without first talking through the business concerns.
Ironically, in this case, BMW unwittingly dismantled an effective high-performance
work system. Now that Ford owns the company, will things work differently?
Establishing a Communications Plan

The ASTD council on high-performance work systems noted that providing an inadequate communication system is the most frequent mistake companies make during
implementation. While we have emphasized the importance of executive commitment, top-down communication is not enough. Two-way communication not only
can result in better decisions, it may help to diminish the fears and concerns of
employees.
For example, Solectron Corporation, winner of the Baldrige National Quality
Award, tried to implement high-performance work systems to capitalize on the knowledge and experience of its employees. A pilot program showed immediate gains in productivity of almost 20 percent after the switch to self-managed teams and team-based
compensation. Although Solectrons rapid growth of more than 50 percent per year
made it unlikely that middle managers would be laid off, many of them resisted the
change to a high-performance work system. They resented the loss of status and control that accompanied the use of empowered teams.
If Solectron managers had participated in discussions about operational and
financial aspects of the business, they might not have felt so threatened by the change.
Open exchange and communication at an early stage pay off later as the system
unfolds. Ongoing dialogue at all levels helps reaffirm commitment, answer questions
that come up, and identify areas for improvement throughout implementation.
Recall that one of the principles of high-performance work systems is sharing information. This principle is instrumental to success both during implementation and
once the system is in place.
Involving the Union

We mentioned in Chapter 14 that autocratic styles of management and confrontational approaches to labour negotiations are being challenged by more enlightened
approaches that promote cooperation and collaboration. Given the sometimes
radical changes involved in implementing high-performance work systems, it makes
good sense to involve union members early and to keep them as close partners in the
design and implementation process. Figure 16.6 shows how to build a bridge
toward a cooperative relationship with unions in implementing high-performance
work systems.21
Cultivating Mutual Gains

In order to establish an alliance, managers and labour representatives should try to
create winwin situations, in which all parties gain from the implementation of
high-performance work systems. In such cases, organizations such as Shell and
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Highlights in HRM 16.2

Land Rover, BMW, and Ford Crash Head-On
Some years ago, the British Land Rover Company, a leading manufacturer of four-wheel-drive
vehicles, found itself saddled with a notorious reputation for poor quality and productivity. Then
it underwent a fundamental transformation. The company instituted extensive training
(including giving every employee a personal training fund to be used on any subject),
implemented more team-based production methods, reduced the number of separate job
classifications, developed more cooperative relations with organized labour, and began a total
quality program.
As a result of these changes, productivity soared by 25 percent, quality action teams netted
savings worth millions of dollars, and the quality of products climbed. Operating in a very competitive environment, Land Rover produced and sold one-third more vehicles. On the basis of
these changes, the company was certified as an Investors in PeopleU.K. designee. This
national standard recognizes organizations that place the involvement and development of
people at the heart of their business strategy.
So far, so good. Then BMW bought the company. In spite of massive evidence documenting the effectiveness of the new management methods and changed culture, BMW began
to dictate changes within a manner of months. Unfortunately, the changes undid the cultural
transformation.
Land Rover never fully recovered under the new management. After losing more than
$6 billion, BMW sold off the company. Land Rover was later purchased by Ford Motor
Company. Ford bought Land Rover and put it under one roof with Volvo, Jaguar, and Aston
Martin to create the Premier Auto Group. Ford has continued to manufacture the Land Rover
in England while improving its quality, but this hasnt been enough to turn Land Rover around.
In 2003, Land Rover finished near the bottom of the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, 36th out
of 37 brands, and the division has been showing losses.
Land Rovers 8000-strong workforce in Solihull, England, has been put on notice by group
chairman Mark Fields that it needs to alter its culture and working practices to match those
embraced by Ford. In the Ford production system, teams of workers are supposed to take
charge of and improve quality in their areas. Fields wants the Solihull plant to operate like a
nearby Jaguar plant in Halewood, England, which formerly built Ford Escorts. The Halewood
plant had been notorious for militancy, work stoppages, absenteeism, and quality problems.
Halewood later became Fords top factory after a decision was made to transform into a Jaguar
factory, and a sweeping series of cultural, productivity and working practice changes were put
into place.
Weve taken a very positive set of first steps but theres a lot of pavement in front of us,
said Fields about Land Rover.
Sources: Jeffrey Pfeffer, When It Comes to Best PracticesWhy Do Smart Organizations Occasionally Do Dumb
Things? Reprinted from Organizational Dynamics, Summer 1996 with permission from Elsevier; Cordelia Brabbs, Rovers
White Knight, Marketing (May 18, 2000): 28; Georg Auer, Burela to Instill Quality Culture at Land Rover, Automotive
News 75, no. 5902 (November 6, 2000): 32x32z; Ronald W. Pant, Land Rover History Lesson, Truck Trend 8, no. 3
(MayJune 2005): 12; Bradford Wernle, Solihull Must Do a Halewood to Survive; Jaguar Plant Is the Example Land Rover
Factory Must Follow, Automotive News Europe 9, no. 19 (September 20, 2004): 39.
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PART 6
Figure 16.6
Building Cooperation with Unions
Values
MANAGERS
Interests
Goals
Cultivate mutual gains

Establish formal commitment
Foster support of constituents
Adhere to procedures
UNION
Source: The Conference Board of Canada
Weyerhaeuser have found that interest-based (integrative) negotiation rather than

positional bargaining leads to better relationships and outcomes with union representatives. Trust is a fragile component of an alliance and is reflected in the degree to
which parties are comfortable sharing information and decision making. Manitoba
Telecom Services has involved union members in decisions about work practices, and
because of this, company managers have been able to build mutual trust and respect
with the union. This relationship has matured to a point at which union and company managers now design, select, and implement new technologies together. By
working hard to develop trust up front, in either a union or a nonunion setting, it is
more likely that each party will understand how high-performance work systems will
benefit everyone; the organization will be more competitive, employees will have a
higher quality of work life, and unions will have a stronger role in representing
employees.22
Establishing Formal Commitment
USING THE INTERNET
Read recent winners of the

Baldrige Award at:
www.quality.nist.gov
Most labourmanagement alliances are made legitimate through some tangible

symbol of commitment. This might include a policy document that spells out union
involvement, letters of understanding, clauses in a collective bargaining agreement, or
the establishment of joint forums with explicit mandates. MacMillan
Bloedel, a Canadian wood products company now owned by Weyerhaeuser,
formed a joint operations committee of senior management and labour representatives to routinely discuss a wide range of operational issues related to
high-performance work systems. These types of formal commitments, with
investments of tangible resources, serve two purposes: (1) They are an outward sign of management commitment, and (2) they institutionalize the
relationship so that it keeps going even if key project champions leave.23
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Fostering Support of Other Key Constituents

In addition to union leadership, it is critical to have the support of other key constituents. Leaders must ensure that understanding and support are solid at all levels,
not just among those in the executive suite. To achieve this commitment, some
organizations have decentralized the labour relations function, giving responsibility to
local line managers and human resources generalists, to make certain that they are
accountable and are committed to nurturing a high-performance work environment.
Nortel Networks, for example, formally transferred accountability for labour relations
to its plant managers through its collective bargaining agreement with the union. Line
managers became members of the Employee Relations Council, which is responsible
for local bargaining as well as for grievance hearings that would formerly have been
mediated by HR. Apart from the commitment that these changes create, perhaps the
most important reason for giving line managers responsibility for employee relations
is that it helps them establish a direct working relationship with the union.
Adhering to Procedures
Once processes, agreements, and ground rules are established, they are vital to the
integrity of the relationship. As Ruth Wright, manager of the Council for Senior
Human Resource Executives, puts it, Procedure is the rug on which alliances stand.
Pull it out by making a unilateral management determination or otherwise changing
the rules of the game, and the initiative will falter. Procedure keeps the parties focused,
and it is an effective means of ensuring that democracy and fairness prevail.24
In most cases, a home-grown process works better than one that is adopted from
elsewhere. Each organization has unique circumstances, and parties are more likely to
commit to procedures they create and own.
Navigating the Transition to

High-Performance Work Systems
Building commitment to high-performance work systems is an ongoing activity.
Perhaps, in fact, it is never fully completed. And as in any change activity, performance
frequently falters as implementation gets under way. One reason is that pieces of the
system are changed incrementally rather than as a total program. Xerox Corporation
found that when it implemented teams without also changing the compensation
system to support teamwork, it got caught in a bad transition. The teams actually
showed poorer performance than did employees working in settings that supported
individual contributions. Company executives concluded that they needed to change
the entire system at once, because piecemeal changes were actually detrimental.
The other mistake organizations often make is to focus on either top-down
change driven by executives or bottom-up change cultivated by the employees. In
reality, firms such as Champion International, now a part of International Paper, and
ASDA, a low-cost British retailer, are among the many companies that have found that
the best results occur when managers and employees work together. The top-down
approach communicates manager support and clarity, while the bottom-up approach
ensures employee acceptance and commitment.25
Building a Transition Structure

Implementation of high-performance work systems proceeds in different ways for
different organizations. In organizational start-ups, managers have the advantage of
being able to put everything in place at once. However, when organizations have to be
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retrofitted, the process may occur a bit more clumsily. When Honeywell switched
to high-performance work systems, employees attended training programs and participated in the redesign of their jobs while the plant was shut down to be re-equipped
with new technology. When the new plant was reopened, self-managing teams were put
in place and a new pay system was implemented for the high-performance workforce.26
Not every organization has the luxury of suspending operations while changes are
put in place. Nevertheless, establishing an implementation structure keeps everyone
on track and prevents the system from bogging down. The structure provides a
timetable and process for mapping key business processes, redesigning work, and
training employees.
Incorporating the HR Function as

a Valuable Partner
One of the mistakes that organizations can make in implementing high-performance
work systems is allocating too few resources to the effort. This means money, of course,
but it also means time and expertise. Although line managers typically own the responsibility for implementation, HR managers can be invaluable partners in leading the charge
for and managing change. Because change is difficult, HR managers need to understand
what employees in transition are going through and help them handle it. When the old
ways of doing things are abandoned, many experienced employees begin to feel like
beginners again on the job. This can be stressful and sometimes polarize employees. As
a coping mechanism, many are likely to fall back on older routines. Texas Instruments created its High Performance Organization Development unit to facilitate the transition to a
high-performance work system. Other organizations such as Merck, Ford, and Deutsche
Bank have also developed special HR units to manage organizational change. Unilever
created a transition team of senior line and HR managers to oversee the implementation
of high-performance teams and develop an implementation road map.27
Evaluating the Success of the System

process audit
Determining whether the
high-performance work
system has been implemented as designed
Once high-performance work systems are in place, they need to be monitored and evaluated over time. Several aspects of the review process should be addressed. First, there
should be a process audit to determine whether the system has been implemented as it
was designed and whether the principles of high-performance work systems are being
reinforced. Questions such as the following might be included in the audit:
Are employees actually working together, or is the term team just a label?
Are employees getting the information they need to make empowered decisions?
Are training programs developing the knowledge and skills employees need?
Are employees being rewarded for good performance and useful suggestions?
Are employees treated fairly so that power differences are minimal?
Second, the evaluation process should focus on the goals of high-performance
work systems. To determine whether the program is succeeding, managers should look
at such issues as the following:
Are desired behaviours being exhibited on the job?
Are quality, productivity, flexibility, and customer service objectives being met?
Are quality-of-life goals being achieved for employees?
Is the organization more competitive than in the past?
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Finally, high-performance work systems should be periodically evaluated in terms

of new organizational priorities and initiatives. Because high-performance work systems are built on key business processes that deliver value to customers, as these
processes and customer relationships change so too should the work system. The
advantage of high-performance work systems is that they are flexible and, therefore,
more easily adapted. When change occurs, it should be guided by a clear understanding of the business needs and exhibit a close vertical fit to strategy.
objective
Outcomes of High-Performance Work Systems
Organizations achieve a wide variety of outcomes from high-performance work systems

and effective human resources management. We have categorized these outcomes in
terms of either employee concerns such as quality-of-work-life issues and job security or
competitive challenges such as performance, productivity, and profitability. Throughout
the text we have emphasized that the best organizations find ways to achieve a balance
between these two sets of outcomes and pursue activities that improve both.
Employee Outcomes and Quality

of Work Life
There are a myriad of potential benefits to employees from high-performance work systems. In high-performing workplaces, employees have the latitude to decide how to
achieve their goals. In a learning environment, people can take risks, generate new ideas,
and make mistakes, which in turn lead to new products, services, and markets. Because
employees are more involved in their work, they are likely to be more satisfied and find
that their needs for growth are more fully met. Because they are more informed and
empowered, they are likely to feel that they have a fuller role to play in the organization
and that their opinions and expertise are valued more. This of course underlies greater
commitment. With higher skills and greater potential for contribution, they are likely
to have more job security as well as be more marketable to other organizations.
Additionally, as we discussed in Chapter 1, individuals with degrees are a growing
segment of the workforce. If employees with advanced education are to achieve their
potential, they must be allowed to utilize their skills and abilities in ways that contribute to organizational success while fulfilling personal job growth and work satisfaction needs. High-performance work systems serve to mesh organizational
objectives with employee contributions. Conversely, when employees are underutilized, organizations operate at less than full performance, while employees develop
poor work attitudes and habits.28
Organizational Outcomes and Competitive

Advantage
Several organizational outcomes also result from using high-performance work
systems. These include higher productivity, lower costs, better responsiveness to customers, greater flexibility, and higher profitability. Highlights in HRM 16.3 provides
a sample of the success stories that American companies have shared about their use
of high-performance work systems.29
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PART 6
Highlights in HRM 16.3

The Impact of High-Performance Work Systems
Ames Rubber Corporation, a New Jersey-based manufacturer of rubber products and office
machine components, experienced a 48-percent increase in productivity and five straight
years of revenue growth.
Sales at Connor Manufacturing Services, a San Francisco firm, grew by 21 percent, while
new orders rose 34 percent and the companys profit on operations increased 21 percent to
a record level.
Over a seven-year period, Granite Rock, a construction material and mining company in
Watsonville, California, experienced an 88-percent increase in market share, its standard for
on-time delivery grew from 68 to 95 percent, and revenue per employee was 30 percent
above the national average.
At One Valley Bank of Clarksburg, West Virginia, employee turnover dropped by 48 percent,
productivity increased by 24 percent, return on equity grew 72 percent, and profits jumped
by 109 percent in three years.
The Tennessee Eastman Division of the Eastman Chemical Company experienced an
increase in productivity of nearly 70 percent, and 75 percent of its customers ranked it as the
top chemical company in customer satisfaction.
A study by John Paul MacDuffie of 62 automobile plants showed that those implementing
high-performance work systems had 47 percent better quality and 43 percent better productivity.
A study by Jeff Arthur of 30 steel minimills showed a 34-percent increase in productivity,
63 percent less scrap, and 57 percent less turnover.
A study by Mark Huselid of 962 firms in multiple industries showed that high-performance
work systems resulted in an annual increase in profits of more than $3,800 per employee.
Source: Martha A. Gephart and Mark E. Van Buren, The Power of High Performance Work Systems, Training &
Development 50, no. 10 (October 1996): 2136.
Recall that in Chapter 2 we said that organizations can create a sustainable competitive advantage through people if they focus on four criteria. They must develop
competencies in their employees that have the following qualities:
Valuable: High-performance work systems increase value by establishing ways to
increase efficiency, decrease costs, improve processes, and provide something
unique to customers.
Rare: High-performance work systems help organizations develop and harness
skills, knowledge, and abilities that are not equally available to all organizations.
Difficult to imitate: High-performance work systems are designed around team
processes and capabilities that cannot be transported, duplicated, or copied by
rival firms.
Organized: High-performance work systems combine the talents of employees
and rapidly deploy them in new assignments with maximum flexibility.30
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These criteria clearly show how high-performance work systems in particular, and
human resources management in general, are instrumental in achieving competitive
advantage through people.
However, for all their potential, implementing high-performance work systems is
not an easy task. The systems are complex and require a good deal of close partnering
among executives, line managers, HR professionals, union representatives, and
employees. Ironically, this very complexity leads to competitive advantage. Because
high-performance work systems are difficult to implement, successful organizations
are difficult to copy. The ability to integrate business and employee concerns is indeed
rare, and doing it in a way that adds value to customers is especially noteworthy.
Organizations such as Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and Southwest Airlines have been able to
do it, and as a result they enjoy a competitive advantage.
objective
High-Performance Work Systems and the Small

and Medium-Sized Employer
We conclude our discussion of high-performance work systems by noting their applicability to small and medium-sized organizations. While many of the examples used to
illustrate the popularity of HPWSs come from large, well-known companies, the
philosophies, principles, and techniques that underlie HPWSs are equally appropriate
to the management of enterprises of all sizes. It would be wrong to think that the four
principles of HPWSs identified by Lawler (sharing information with employees, linking
pay to performance, training and developing employees, and fostering an egalitarian
work culture) are somehow unique to Fortune 1000 organizations. Nor would it be correct to surmise that the anatomy of HPWSs is applicable only to large corporations.
Progressive organizations of all sizes have successfully implemented team-based work
systems, implemented staffing practices that select high-quality employees, developed
training programs that continually update employee skills, and utilized compensation
practices that support specific organizational goals. The key is that they have done these
things in a coordinated, integrative manner. These smaller organizations have simply
achieved a system approach to organizational design that combines HR practices, work
structures, and processes that effectively utilize employee competencies.
Readers of this text will find the principles of HPWSs of great assistance as they
manage human resources, regardless of organizational size.
High-performance work systems are specific

combinations of HR practices, work structures, and processes that maximize employee
knowledge, skill, commitment, and flexibility. They are based on contemporary principles of
high-involvement organizations. These principles
include shared information, knowledge development,
performancereward linkages, and egalitarianism.
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objective
objective
SUMMAR Y
High-performance work systems are composed of several interrelated components.

Typically, the system begins with designing
empowered work teams to carry out key
business processes. Team members are selected and
trained in technical, problem-solving, and interpersonal
skills. To align the interests of employees with those of
the organization, reward systems are connected to
performance and often have group and organizational

incentives. Skill-based pay is regularly used to increase
flexibility and salaried pay plans are used to enhance an
egalitarian environment. Leadership tends to be shared
among team members, and information technology is
used to ensure that employees have the information they
need to make timely and productive decisions.
objective
The pieces of the system are important only

in terms of how they help the entire system
function. When all the pieces support and
complement one another, high-performance
work systems achieve internal fit. When the system is
aligned with the competitive priorities of the organization as a whole, it achieves external fit as well.
objective
Implementing high-performance work systems represents a multidimensional change

initiative. High-performance work systems are
much more likely to go smoothly if a business
case is first made. Top-management support is critical,
and so too is the support of union representatives and
other important constituents. HR representatives are
often helpful in establishing a transition structure to help

the implementation progress through its various stages.
Once the system is in place, it should be evaluated in
terms of its processes, outcomes, and ongoing fit with
strategic objectives of the organization.
When implemented effectively, highperformance work systems benefit both the

employees and the organization. Employees
have more involvement in the organization,
experience growth and satisfaction, and
become more valuable as contributors. The organization
also benefits from high productivity, quality, flexibility,
and customer satisfaction. These features together can
provide an organization with a sustainable competitive
advantage.
objective
PART 6
The principles of HPWS apply in small and

medium-sized organizational work settings
as well as in large organizations. Progressive
organizations of all sizes have successfully
implemented high-performance work systems.
objective
16-24
KEY TERMS
external fit, 16-12
high-performance work system
(HPWS), 16-2
internal fit, 16-11

process audit, 16-20
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Do you think the four principles of high involvement provide an adequate context for designing
high-performance work systems? What other
concerns or guidelines for developing highperformance work systems would you suggest?
2. In many cases, organizations use teams as a part of
their high-performance work systems. Could such
systems be useful in organizations that do not use
teams? What special concerns might you have to
address?
3. Although both internal and external fit are important concerns with high-performance work systems,
which do you consider more critical and why?
4. This chapter places considerable emphasis on

the processes involved in implementing highperformance work systems. What are the most
critical steps to successful implementation?
5. How do you think employee-related outcomes
and organizational outcomes are related to one
another? Is it possible to achieve one set of outcomes without the other? Why or why not?
6. What concerns must a smaller employer address in
trying to implement high-performance work systems? What advantages would a smaller organization have in using such systems?
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INTERNET EXERCISE
The principle of employee involvement is critical to the
success of HPWS. As a purchaser of this text, you have
online access to Canadian HR Reporter. Go to the
article on Employee Engagement, in Vol 18, Issue 15,
September 12, 2005, and starting on page 7, read about

the five companies described in this article. Compare
and contrast the ways in which these organizations
involve and empower their employees.
HRM Experience
Assessing the Strategic Fit of High-Performance Work
Systems
High-performance work systems (HPWSs) are potentially powerful tools for managing
employee commitment, involvement, and excellence. However, ensuring that all of the HR
practices support one anotherand the principles underlying the HPWSis not always easy.
At times, certain HR practices may support the HPWS while others actually may work against
the principles. But if all the HR practices are not aligned, the system may be doomed. It takes
only one misaligned practice to crash the whole system. Recall that the HPWS principles
include the following:
Shared information
Knowledge development
Performancereward linkage
Egalitarianism
Assignment
The figure on the following page lists the main HR practices used at Egan Clothiers, Ltd.
Working in teams of four to six, assess the extent to which you believe each HR practice
supports (or works against) each of the HPWS principles.
1. For each cell in the matrix, insert a number indicating the extent to which you believe
the HR practice supports the principle or is counterproductive. The scale runs
from 5 (strongly counterproductive) to 5 (very supportive). Zero indicates neither support
nor detriment.
2. When you are done filling in each cell, add the numbers across each row to determine how
supportive each HR practice is of all of the principles. Which HR practice is most supportive of the HPWS principles? Which HR practice is of most concern?
3. Add each column to see how the overall set of HR practices supports each principle.
Which principle is most strongly supported? Which principle is the biggest concern?
4. Add the rows and/or columns to see how well the HPWS is supported overall. What
changes would you recommend to improve the system?
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PART 6
EGAN CLOTHIERS, LTD.

HPWS PRINCIPLES
Shared
Information
STRUCTURE
Egalitarianism
Knowledge
Performance
Development Reward Linkage
Cross-functional team
Department rotation
Row
Row
1
2
Row
Row
3
4
Row
Row
5
6
Row
Row
Row
7
8
9
HR PRACTICES
STAFFING
Select for experience
Promote from within
TRAINING
Retail selling skills
Customer service
REWARDS
Results appraisal
Forced distribution
Individual incentives
TECHNOLOGY
HR Info System
Post performance
SCORING KEY
Row 10
Row 11
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
Column 4
TOTAL
5 = strongly supports the

principle
0 = neutral
BIZFLIX EXERCISES
Apollo 13: Houston, We Have a Problem

This chapter discussed some principles that underlie highperformance work systems. Watch for these principles in
action while viewing this scene from the film Apollo 13.
This superb film dramatically shows a NASA mission to the moon that had an in-space disaster. Innovative
problem solving and decision making amid massive
ambiguity saved the crew. Apollo 13 shows many examples of problem solving and decision making throughout
the film. The zero-gravity simulator, a KC-135 fourengine jet aircraft (NASAs Vomit Comet), helped
create the films realistic weightless scenes. These scenes
required 600 parabolic loops over ten days of filming.
The chosen scene is an edited version of the
Houston, We Have a Problem . . . sequence that appears
a third of the way into the film. It starts as Jim Lovell
(Tom Hanks) says, Houston, we have a problem. This
scene ends after Lovell tells Mission Control that they are
venting something into space. The film continues with
frenzied activity in Mission Control. Flight Director

Gene Krantz (Ed Harris) asks people to work the
problem and stop guessing about it.
What to Watch for and Ask Yourself
Which principles of high-performance work systems

appear in this scene? Note some examples from the
scene of the principles you identify. You also can refer
to Figure 16.2 while viewing the scene.
The chapter earlier noted that training and development
is a human resource practice that is important for highperformance work systems. What type of training do you
believe the astronauts receive? Does it appear effective for
them to carry out their mission? Why or why not?
Jim Lovell is the commander of the Apollo 13 mission.
During this scene, does he show the management and
leadership characteristics discussed earlier in the
chapter?
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CHAPTER 16
case study
HPWS Transforms
Nevada Plant into
One in a Million
16-27
In the world of beverage plants, this milestone at Ocean Sprays Henderson,

Nevada, plant is virtually unheard of1 million operating hours without a lost-time
accident. This is an accomplishment that very few in our industry ever achieve,
says Mike Stamatakos, vice-president of operations for Ocean Spray. A plants safety
record is a reflection of how well it is run. This milestone is an indication that
Henderson does mostif not everythingwell.
The fact that Ocean Spray Henderson is one of the safest beverage plants around
is no accident. The plants impressive operations milestone is the result of a twoand-a-half-year effort to improve safety awareness, uptime, and overall operations.
When the plant was built in 1994 to serve Ocean Spray customers west of the
Rockies, Ocean Spray had a vision to create a high-performance work system. The
goal was to have an educated and involved workforce that would raise the bar in
terms of plant performance and operations.
As part of that effort, in 2001 Henderson managers began a dedicated environmental health and safety (EHS) program. An early step in the process was bringing in
an occupational therapist to perform a job safety analysis on the plant. The EHS program ranges from formal computer-based trainingrequired of every employeeto
fun promotions designed to get employees engaged with the safety message. The
Ocean Spray Henderson plant staff is divided into four teams and each is measured
on just how well it performs. A bulletin board posts each teams days without a recordable accident. A real-time scoreboard on the plant floor provides workers a streaming
update of the plants vital performance statistics. The idea is that an informed worker
is a stronger team member. The plant operates on a just-in-time delivery and shipment schedule that helps keep things running on time and within budget.
Reaching the 1-million-hour milestone was a 25-year journey.Its not just a case of
the people in the front office talking the talk. It is the people on the floor and everyone
in the facility walking the walk, says Jim Colmey, a safety specialist at the plant.
QUESTIONS
1. What are the key aspects of Ocean Sprays high-performance work system?
2. Do you think the system achieves both internal and external fit?
3. What other HR practices might the company consider implementing?
Source: Condensed from Andrea Foote, One in a Million: Ocean Spray Henderson Has Parlayed Hard
Work and Dedication into a Remarkable Operations Milestone, Beverage World 122, no. 8 (August 15,
2003): 2229.
case study
HPWS at Xerox
Corporation
NEL
One of the largest companies in the United States to implement high-performance

work systems is the Xerox Corporation. The company employs 58 100 people worldwide. Its revenues in 2004 were $15.7 billion. As a result of a total quality management
mandate that improving quality is every employees job, Xerox introduced its
16-28
PART 6
version of empowered teams, what it called family groups. These family groups
became the cornerstone for high-performance work systems throughout the companys service organization around the globe. Xerox service managers realized that
they could improve productivity if responsibility for decision making moved closer to
the point of customer contact. As empowered work groups evolved, the company
began to realize that the groups could not function effectively unless other aspects of
the company changed as well. Employees complained that they were evaluated and
rewarded as individuals despite being organized as teams. Team members were not
receiving the kind of information they needed to make decisions. This led Xerox
to consider the entire system in which teams operated. And thus high-performance
systems were born.
Perhaps the best example of a transition to HPWS is the Ohio Customer Business
Unit (CBU), based in Columbus, Ohio. High-performance work systems were not
introduced overnight, but through an incremental process that has taken nearly ten
years. The first few steps were timid ones, consisting primarily of training in team
dynamics and facilitation skills. Next, Xerox realized the importance of analyzing and
reengineering work processes. All of the primary processes such as reliability, parts
planning, and team facilitation were analyzed and documented. In each work group,
process owners were identified and each team member took on a different role.
As process owners, team members had decision-making responsibility and
accountability for such day-to-day decisions as work scheduling and for larger decisions such as hiring and performance reviews. The new responsibilities created some
problems. Work-group members were expected to make decisions, but they often
lacked relevant information.
In response, Xerox created a management information system to track and summarize key business indicators. Most of the business information is updated monthly.
Some information, such as expense reports, is updated weekly. The system also
provides teams with indicators of customer satisfaction levels several times a month.
At each team meeting, members share information about the companys business plan
and its financial performance.
The communication system wasnt the only thing that had to be modified to
support high-performance work systems. Teams had to be tied together by common
objectives and incentives. They had to be compensated in a way that fostered
collaboration between team members and motivated them to work toward team
goals. As a result, Xerox moved to a pay-for-performance compensation system called
Workgroup Excellence, which rewards the performance of a team as a whole. Then,
within each team, rewards are distributed on the basis of such factors as experience.
Some managers struggled with the new work systems. To increase their understanding, some were sent to Xeroxs service operation in Phoenix, Arizona, which had
also been experimenting with empowered teams. There they learned that the key to
managerial support for work groups was to have managers structured into the work
groups themselves. Only after experiencing team dynamics and acquiring the skills to
work in teams were the managers able to address the needs of the teams they oversaw.
The Ohio CBU became the top service organization within Xerox, with customer
satisfaction levels around 94 percent on service calls. It also has the lowest maintenance expenses per vehicle of any service unit within Xerox. Evidence of success for
other high-performance work systems at Xerox is easy to find. Service organizations
reported increases in all their target areas. Customer satisfaction increased by as much
as ten points, with each point representing millions of dollars of business. Employee
satisfaction improved 15 percent. Increases of 10 to 15 percent in response time and
reliability occurred as well.
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CHAPTER 16
16-29
QUESTIONS
1. If you were a manager at Xerox, what concerns would you have with the way the
company initially implemented high-performance work systems?

2. What role did information technology play in supporting high-performance
work systems?
3. Why do you suppose some Xerox managers resisted the new systems?
Source: Martha A. Gephart and Mark E. Van Buren, The Power of High Performance Work Systems,
Training & Development 50, no. 10 (October 1996): 2136; Julie Demers, Service Drives a New Xerox
Program, CMA Management 76 no. 3 (May 2002): 3639.
case study
Iamss Pet
Project
Iams Pet Food Company holds quarterly communication meetings with its employees
at all of its 11 major facilities worldwide and has been doing so since 1985even after
being acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2000. Several members of the leadership
team, including the owner and the president, have attended every one of these meetings. This method of communication helped pump the companys growth. In 1985,
Iams had about $50 million in sales, with a couple of hundred employees in three
major locations. At the end of 2004, its sales were over $1.6 billion, and the company
had thousands of employees worldwide.
In 1985, Iamss HR Department performed its first employee attitude survey. The
overall scores on the 21-question survey were very good. But one statement on the
survey had a very low score, which caught the attention of the ownership and the leadership team. The statement was: We do not get enough information about how well
our work group and company are doing. Employees were telling management that
they felt left out of the picture as the company was growing. Something was not right
when it came to communication.
This was a wake-up call to the ownership and leadership team because the company philosophy was built around Culture, Customers, Products, and People (CCPP).
Because top management truly believed in this philosophy, they felt it was critical to
improve the overall communication process in the company. Management decided
they needed to report information to the employees as if they were shareholders, even
though Iams was a privately held company.
The leadership team also knew that if they did not take action to improve communication, a third party might be needed to represent Iams employees in communications with Iams management. This could put even more distance between
management and employees and further complicate the open communication process
management envisioned. The process they finally settled on was to hold informationsharing Quarterly Meetings as if their employees were indeed shareholders.
HOW IT WORKS
How does this Quarterly Meetings communication process work? Iams employee
quarterly meetings are held four times a year at the home office, R&D, the plants, and
key international locations. Senior managers travel to each location and share business results, as well as other pertinent information (future plans, products, strategies,
NEL
16-30
PART 6
and so on). The leadership at each of the companys locations also shares local results.
This is done in a group setting with all employees attending the meeting.
The importance of real two-way communication became clear when this process
became a platform for all types of improvements. First, this forum allows all
employees to become active shareholders as they receive up-to-date key company
results. This is important, because each employee is on a bonus incentive plan tied
into sales, profit, and ROI.
The forum also allows for open dialogue between the employee audience and
senior management after the presentations are completed. The meetings allow a great
amount of information to be passed along in a timely manner and add to team speed.
Even though quarterly all-employee meetings would seem to take away from team
speed and production, they really have enhanced both.
BUILDING TRUST
Another important aspect of the quarterly meetings is the trust that develops between
employees and management. The meetings are characterized by total openness,
acceptance of criticism, demand for feedback, a nonthreatening atmosphere, and
honest responses to open-ended questions, without prefabricated answers. This type
of atmosphere creates a learning process for all participants in the meetings.
The Trust Factor is a personal growth issue for everyone. For instance, a unique
feature at every meeting is the president or a senior vice-president speaking directly to
new employees in front of all employees about the companys vision, values, and
strategies as a welcome to the company. This sets the tone for the whole meeting and
encourages employee trust and participation. The secret of success is in an honest,
plainly worded presentation of facts, placing all the cards on the table. Sharing
important company information and organizational performance results with the
entire company community shows a genuine concern from leadership.
Finally, holding these meetings on a regular basis is critical to building trust. As a
result, all team members now hold themselves publicly accountable for what they say
they are going to do. When this happens, trust comes alive. More and more positive
performances start to happen within the organization.
Through this process, expectations of high performance for every member of the
organization (including the leaders) are communicated. It is a two-way street: The
leadership looks for feedback and ideas from every level of the company and
employees are kept well-informed, focused on company goals, and motivated to
follow through. Confidence and trust are continually established between the leadership and the members because they truly understand one another and have the
opportunity to talk to each other.
Through this process the leadership of the company keeps everyone focused on
the vision, mission, strategies, and goals of the organization. Because this is done
every quarter, major changes, missed directions, and communication issues can
quickly be corrected and action taken to get back on course.
ADMINISTRATION
Holding company-wide meetings is always a challenge. Deciding where to hold them
and the best time of the week to hold them is tricky. The Iams Company uses local
high school auditoriums and community centres as well as its own meeting rooms
at remote locations. The best days of the week for Iams are Thursday, Friday, or
Monday; the meetings are spread out over a three-week period to reach the various
NEL
CHAPTER 16
16-31
locations. Human Resources orchestrates the agenda, the mechanics, and the
delivery.
At the end of the program, all local and home office leadership stands in front of
the audience to answer questions. If a member of the leadership team does not know
an answer, he or she is charged with finding the answer, getting back to the individual
questioner, and posting it for everyone to see. This shows that the leadership can be
trusted to follow through and respond to employeesthat they care about and
respect their employees.
THE RESULTS
So what does this communication process do for the company? First, it provides direction to the entire company team. It provides the answers to what is being done, where
the company is going, and how it will get there.
Second, it provides definition. It helps everyone understand why certain actions
are being taken, certain products made, certain methods used. It helps establish the
importance of everyones job in the overall scheme of things. It sets the definitions for
quality and productivity. It responds to individual and group concerns about company social and administrative programs. Most important, it explains why we are
doing the things we do.
Third, it is about drive. It provides for the spirit of togetherness. It makes the
vision, values, and strategies of the company come alive to everyone. It keeps the team
focused and moving forward toward the common goal.
Finally, this forum is an opportunity for senior management to develop their
leadership skills. Having location, division, or department heads stand before those
they lead and provide current performance updates and answer questions develops
their leadership abilities. Answering why and how, clarifying issues that might be
starting to fester, handling questions without threatening the individualthese are
some of the critical elements company leadership must master. Iamss management
gets plenty of opportunities to demonstrate courage, passion, integrity, and
empathy.
THE COST
This type of program requires a great deal of effort and cost: shutting down part or all
of an office or plant operation for three to four hours once a quarter, the time and
travel of presenters, and IT and audiovisual support. Is this type of human resource
strategic effort worth the cost and effort involved? Each company or organization will
have to make that determination, depending on its size and number of locations. For
Iams, the benefits are real and this forum supports the concepts of performance management and management performance.
HR CATALYST
HR leadership can be the strategic catalyst to move this type of organizational communication forward. Creativity needs to come forward no matter what the size of
the organization to make this two-way communication process become a reality.
Communication technology (such as videoconferencing) is readily available to
support the effort. But never forget the power of face-to-face contact and the importance of top managements willingness to be there to answer the organizations
questions. Current business events continue to point toward the need for establishing trust.
NEL
16-32
PART 6
QUESTIONS
1. What aspects (principles, practices, and so on) of high-performance work
systems are represented at Iams?

2. If you were a consultant to this company, what recommendations would you
make to enhance the system?

3. Does anything concern you about what Iams is doing? Why or why not?
Source: John Meyer, Strategic Communication Enhances Organizational Performance. Reprinted with permission from Human Resource Planning 25, no. 2 (2002): 79. Copyright 2002 by The Human Resource
Planning Society, 317 Madison Avenue, Suite 1509, New York, NY 10017, Phone: (212) 4906387, Fax: (212)
6826851. See also The Fast 50: Peak Performers, Fast Company (March 2005): 52.
NOTES AND REFERENCES

1.
2.
3.
4.
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This section is based on several studies related to best practices

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Craig Eric Schneier, and David O. Ulrich, High Performance
Work Systems: Exciting Discovery or Passing Fad? Human
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Mark A. Youndt, Scott A. Snell, James W. Dean, Jr., and David
P. Lepak, Human Resource Management, Manufacturing
Strategy, and Firm Performance, Academy of Management
Journal 39, no. 4 (August 1996): 83666; John F. Tomer,
Understanding High-Performance Work Systems: The Joint
Contribution of Economics and Human Resource
Management, The Journal of Socio-Economics 30, no. 1 (January
2001): 63.
Jeffrey Kling, High Performance Work Systems and Firm
Performance, Monthly Labor Review, May 1995, 2936. See also
Chad Kaydo, Top of the Charts: FedEx, Sales and Marketing
Management 150, no. 7 (July 1998): 46, 48; Michael Trachtman,
Roving Internet Appliances, Web Techniques 6, no. 10
(October 2001): 5557; Richard Shulman, Just Say the Word,
Supermarket Business 56, no. 6 (June 15, 2001): 1920;
Customer Service Excellence: Continuously Delighting Your
Customers, PR Newswire (February 24, 2005).
For more information about designing teams around critical
work processes, see Mark Chen, Applying the High
Performance Work Team to EPC, AACE International
Transactions (2002): PM61PM67; Valerie Sessa, Supporting
Work Team Effectiveness: Best Management Practices for
NEL
CHAPTER 16
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
NEL
Fostering High Performance, Personnel Psychology 53, no. 2

(Summer 2000): 45760.
See Lawler, Mohrman, and Ledford, Creating High Performance
Organizations; Eileen Appelbaum, Thomas Bailey, Peter Berg,
and Narne Kalleberg, Manufacturing Advantage: Why HighPerformance Work Systems Pay Off (Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 2000); Gil Preuss and Brenda Lautsch, The
Effect of Formal versus Informal Job Security on Employee
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(Summer 2002): 51739; Wendy S. Becker, Manufacturing
Advantage: Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off,
Personnel Psychology 56, no. 2 (Summer 2003): 54953; Nike
Factories to Get Help from MITs Sloan School,
InformationWeek (April 13, 2005).
Laurie J. Bassi and Mark E. Van Buren, Sustaining High
Performance in Bad Times, Training & Development 51, no. 6
(June 1997): 3242; Katie Thomas, Short-Term Downsizing,
Long-Term Performance, Incentive 171, no. 4 (April 1997): 14;
Nik Theodore and Rachel Weber, Changing Work
Organization in Small Manufacturers: Challenges for Economic
Development, Economic Development Quarterly 15, no. 4
(November 2001): 36779.
Cristina Gibson and Mary Zellmer-Bruhn, Metaphors
and Meaning: An Intercultural Analysis of the Concept
of Teamwork, Administrative Science Quarterly 46,
no. 2 (June 2001): 274303; Diane Bailey, Modeling Work
Group Effectiveness in High-Technology Manufacturing
Environments, IIE Transactions 32, no. 4 (April 2000): 36168;
Mark E. Van Buren and Jon M. Werner, High Performance
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1523; Schindler Elevator Announces Center for Service
Excellence; Holland, OH Facility to Serve as National Support
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Focus on Excellence in Human Capital Management May Be
More Likely to Outperform the Market, According to Taleo
Customer Study, PR Newswire (March 30, 2005).
Rosemary Batt and Lisa Moynihan, The Viability of Alternative
Call Centre Production Models, Human Resource Management
Journal 12, no. 4 (2002): 14. For more information on the potential application of intracapital, see Gifford Pinchot, Free
Intraprise, Executive Excellence 18, no. 1 (January 2001): 10.
David Paper, James Rodger, and Parag Pendharker, A BPR Case
Study at Honeywell, Business Process Management Journal 7,
no. 2 (2001): 8593. See also Robert McNabb and Keith
Whitfield, Job Evaluation and High Performance Work
Practices: Compatible or Conflictual? Journal of Management
Studies 38, no. 2 (March 2001): 293312; Leslie A. Weatherly,
Performance Management: Getting It Right from the Start,
HRMagazine 49, no. 3 (March 2004): S1S11.
Warren Bennis, The Future Has No Shelf Life, Executive
Excellence 17, no. 8 (August 2000): 56; Peggy Holman, Culture
Change, Executive Excellence 17, no. 7 (July 2000): 16; Clinton
Longenecker, Building High Performance Management
Teams, Industrial Management 43, no. 6 (November/December
2001): 2126; Wendy S. Becker, Manufacturing Advantage:
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
16-33
Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off, Personnel

Psychology 56, no. 2 (Summer 2003): 549.
Keith Newton, The High Performance Workplace: HR-Based
Management Innovations in Canada, International Journal of
Technology Management 16, no. 13 (1998): 17792; Georg Von
Krogh, Kazuo Ichijo, and Ikujiro Nonaka, Enabling Knowledge
Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and
Release the Power of Innovation (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000); Lawler, Mohrman, and Benson, Organizing for
High Performance.
Patrick M. Wright and Scott A. Snell, Toward a Unifying
Framework for Exploring Fit and Flexibility in Strategic Human
Resource Management, Academy of Management Review 23, no. 4
(October 1998): 75672; Clair Brown and Michael Reich, MicroMacro Linkages in High-Performance Employment Systems,
Organization Studies 18, no. 5 (1997): 76581; S. A. Snell,
M. Shadur, and P. M. Wright, Human Resources Strategy: The
Era of Our Ways, in M. A. Hitt, R. E. Freeman, and J. S. Harrison
(eds.), Handbook of Strategic Management (London: Blackwell,
2002), 62749.
Van Buren and Werner, High Performance Work Systems,
1523; Gilbert Probst, Steffen Raub, and Kai Romhardt,
Managing KnowledgeBuilding Blocks for Success (New York:
Wiley, 2000). For a similar example of vertical fit within
European firms, see Sue Hutchinson, John Purcell, and Nick
Kinnie, Evolving High Commitment Management and the
Experience of the RAC Call Center, Human Resource
Management Journal 10, no. 1 (2000): 6378.
Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, and Dave Ulrich, The HR Scorecard:
Linking People, Strategy, and Performance (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard Business School Press, 2001).
Varma, Beatty, Schneier, and Ulrich, High Performance Work
Systems, 2637; Gephart and Van Buren, Power of High
Performance Work Systems, Training & Development 50, no. 10
(October 1996): 2136; Foote, One in a Million: Ocean Spray
Henderson, 2229.
Varma, Beatty, Schneier, and Ulrich, High Performance Work
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Performance Work Systems; Making Change Workfor
Real, HRFocus 80, no. 1 (January 2003): S1.
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Clarke and Haiven, Workplace Change, 16891; Wright,
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Wright, Forging Sustainable Alliances, 2024; Hannele Rubin,
How CEOs Get Results, Chief Executive (February 2001): 8.
Wright, Forging Sustainable Alliances, 2024.
Gephart and Van Buren, Power of High Performance Work
Systems; Michael Beer, How to Develop an Organization
16-34
26.
27.
28.
PART 6
Capable of Sustained High Performance: Embrace the Drive for

Results-Capability Development Paradox, Organizational
Dynamics 29, no. 4 (Spring 2001): 23347.
Neal and Tromley, From Incremental Change to Retrofit, The
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Nicolay A. M. Worren, Keith Ruddle, and Karl Moore, From
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Making Changes the Right Way, Workforce, Supplement (March
1999): 1213; Gephart and Van Buren, Power of High
Performance Work Systems; Irena St. John-Brooks, CEOs See
HR as Helping to Lead Organizational Efforts: USA, Benefits &
Compensation International 32, no. 1 (July/August 2002): 7374;
Human Resources Role Transformed at Deutsche Bank, Human
Resource Management International Digest 10, no. 5 (2002): 1214;
Michael Svoboda and Silke Schroder, Transforming Human
Resources in the New Economy: Developing the Next Generation
of Global HR Managers at Deutsche Bank AG, Human Resource
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TransitionNot Just Change, HR Briefing (November 15, 2002):
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Berg, The Effects of High Performance Work Practices; Peter
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29.
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and Lean Production, Industrial & Labor Relations Review 51,

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John Purcell, Best Practice and Best Fit: Chimera or Cul-de-Sac?
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Firm, Journal of Management 27, no. 6 (2001): 70121.
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chapter

Creating HighPerformance Work

Identify the components that

Describe how the components fit

ples of high-performance work

Discuss the underlying princi-

After studying this chapter, you should be able to

Recommend processes for

Discuss the outcomes for both

Explain how the principles of

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons

o, youve finished reading 15 (or so) chapters on HRM. Congratulations

A high-performance work system (HPWS) can be defined as a specific combination

In Chapter 1, we noted that organizations face a number of important competitive

Creating High-Performance Work Systems

Developing High-Performance Work Systems

corporations to identify the primary principles that support high-performance work

The Principle of Shared Information

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons

Underlying Principles of High-Performance

Creating High-Performance Work Systems

The Principle of Knowledge Development

The Principle of PerformanceReward

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons

The Principle of Egalitarianism

USING THE INTERNET

Anatomy of High-Performance Work Systems

We said at the beginning of this chapter that high-performance work systems

Creating High-Performance Work Systems

Although it may be premature to claim that there is a foolproof list of best

Work-Flow Design and Teamwork

Anatomy of High-Performance Work Systems

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons

Complementary Human Resources Policies

Training and Development

Creating High-Performance Work Systems

on technical, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. Emphasis on teamwork,

Management Processes and Leadership

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons

Supportive Information Technologies

Fitting It All Together

Each of these practices highlights the individual pieces of a high-performance work

Creating High-Performance Work Systems

Ensuring Internal Fit

Achieving Strategic Fit

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons

Establishing External Fit

Assessing Strategic Alignment:

Implementing the System

Creating High-Performance Work Systems

Highlights in HRM 16.1A

The two subsystems work at cross purposes.

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons

Highlights in HRM 16.1B

This dimension is counterproductive for enabling this deliverable.

Many of these recommendations are applicable to almost any change initiative,

Building a Business Case for Change

Implementing High-Performance Work Systems

Creating High-Performance Work Systems

Highlights in HRM 16.1C

2. Enhance customer focus

Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons