The knowledge society and high performance workplace systems: Enhancing worker voice

This paper focuses on an aspect of the ‘Future of Work’. The introduction of high performance workplace systems (hpws) is, in general terms, consistent with the broad thrust of the ‘knowledge society’ debate. The central thesis holds that the introduction of hpws has the potential to enhance ‘worker voice,’ especially in the context of a ‘third way’ political environment that fosters a more tripartite approach to industrial relations. The paper draws on several pieces of research, each of which has its own methodological approach. The discussion of the ‘knowledge society’ debate and the ‘third way’ political context draws on policy analyses undertaken by Law and Piercy. The body of the paper is based on a survey by Law of union members engaged in a hpws in a large NZ dairy factory. That research involved focus groups and a postal survey. Qualitative (write-in) responses were further analysed using a dynamic coding system developed by Law. The findings are consistent with the (US) work of Black and Lynch. With some qualifications, the introduction of hpws has enhanced worker participation. Active union involvement was a positive factor. For a proportion of union members, the introduction of hpws has had positive off-site effects

Lean, but is it mean? Union members’ views on a high performance workplace system

The growing literature on high performance workplace systems suggests that in a unionised environment such systems can be advantageous for workers. This paper reports on a study of New Zealand dairy workers’ views on the introduction of a hpws. It reports little evidence to support the more optimistic claims in the literature. But it also reports that union members still support hpws, primarily for reasons of job security. Thus notwithstanding many of the findings, the paper concludes that there are limited grounds for a degree of optimism about the potential of union involvement in hpws to enhance worker voice

High performance workplaces and skill development: Updating the map of the territory

The impact of High Performance Workplace Systems (HPWS) on workers and unions is a contentious area for debate in the fields of industrial relations and social science in general. Proponents of HPWS claim that one of the benefits for workers is that they enable workers to develop and raise their skill levels. This paper offers a preliminary evaluation of that claim by sketching an updated map of the territory. It concludes that the HPWS literature contains significant weaknesses concerning the definition of skill in explaining what skill development means for workers, individually and collectively

Partnership, high performance work systems and quality of working life

The paper measures the effects of workplace partnership and selected high performance work practices on four different dimensions of employee experience. Whilst the partnership-high performance work systems nexus seems to have little impact on employees' job satisfaction or sense of attachment, it does, however, have a negative impact on both workplace stress and employee evaluations of union performance. The analysis thus questions common assumptions about the inevitability of 'mutual gain' and the necessity of employer/unionpartnership. Introduction and researc

Peeling Back the Onion Competitive Advantage Through People: Test of a Causal Model

Proponents of the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm have identified human resource management (HRM) and human capital as organizational resources that can contribute to sustainable competitive success. A number of empirical studies have documented the relationship between systems of human resource policies and practices and firm performance. The mechanisms by which HRM leads to firm performance, however, remain largely unexplored. In this study, we explore the pathways leading from HRM to firm performance. Specifically, we use structural equation modeling to test a model positing a set of causal relationships between high performance work systems (HPWS), employee retention, workforce productivity and firm market value. Within a set of manufacturing firms, results indicate the primary impact of HPWS on productivity and market value is through its influence on employee retention

Is human resource management profitable for small firms?

The impact of high performance work systems on labour productivity and profit of small and medium sized enterprises. Previous versions of this paper have been presented at the 2005 conference of the Dutch HRM Network on HRM and performance (held on 4 and 5 November of that year) and the invited workshop 'Entrepreneurship from the employee's perspective' at the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena (Februari 2006). The paper presented at the Mack Planck Institute has been published as EIM Scales Paper N200520. The research presented in this paper focuses on the effectiveness of a high performance work system. This system is comprised of practices in the areas of extensiveness of staffing, performance based pay, pay level, job rotation, training and participation. In particular, this study focuses on the effects of such a system on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. Results of our study, among small and medium size enterprises in the Netherlands, show that firms with such a system have higher labour productivity, are more innovative and generate higher profits.� These results suggest that high performance work systems are not only relevant in large corporations, but may also benefit small firms.

Toward a Strategic Human Resource Management Model of High Reliability Organization Performance

In this article, we extend strategic human resource management (SHRM) thinking to theory and research on high reliability organizations (HROs) using a behavioral approach. After considering the viability of reliability as an organizational performance indicator, we identify a set of eight reliability-oriented employee behaviors (ROEBs) likely to foster organizational reliability and suggest that they are especially valuable to reliability seeking organizations that operate under “trying conditions”. We then develop a reliability-enhancing human resource strategy (REHRS) likely to facilitate the manifestation of these ROEBs. We conclude that the behavioral approach offers SHRM scholars an opportunity to explain how people contribute to specific organizational goals in specific contexts and, in turn, to identify human resource strategies that extend the general high performance human resource strategy (HPHRS) in new and important ways

Organizational Commitment: Do Workplace Practices Matter?

Using nationally-representative linked employer-employee data for Britain this paper considers whether employers are able to influence the organizational commitment (OC) of their employees through the practices they deploy. We examine the association between OC and two broad groups of HRM practices emphasised in two different strands of the literature, namely "High-Performance Workplace Practices" (HPWPs) and practices associated with "Perceived Organizational Support" (POS). We consider their associations with mean workplace-level OC and individual employees' OC. Although employers may be able to engender greater OC on the part of their employees, the practices that do so are not those emphasized in the HPWP literature, with the exception of consultation and the involvement of employees in decision-taking. POS practices fare a little better but, again, the findings are far from unequivocal. Furthermore, those practices that are 'effective' in engendering higher OC such as tolerance of absence, recruiting on 'values' and allowing employees to make decisions, tend to have a fairly low incidence in British workplaces. There is, however, one finding which chimes with the ideas underpinning the HPWP literature, namely that there are returns to the use of practices in combination. Analyses of both mean workplace-level OC and individual employee OC find an independent positive association between OC and the deployment of multiple practices in combination. This evidence is consistent with practices having synergies, as emphasised in some of the HPWP literature.high performance, organizational commitment, perceived organizational support

Impact of social capital on flexible work organisation models: comparative study of european countries

The present economic context is heavily marked by a global crisis without precedents. Facing this constraint, companies feel pressured to undertake even greater efforts in order to optimize available resources. Work organisation is one of the mechanisms that managers use to align human resources with that kind of constraints and, thus, develop a better response to the market. Organisational literature shows that flexible and decentralized work organisation models are better suited to this need. These models stress the importance of human resources in promoting a flexible organization capable of change and adapt to market contingencies. This perspective can be seen on the adoption of participation, decentralization of the decision process and information, cooperation among workers through the implementation of working teams. The characteristics of human resources, namely their social and technical skills, knowledge and their ability to learn new things, are frequently pointed out as a key factor for the success of these models. The main goal of this paper is to understand the role of human and social capital for the success of flexible organisation practices. In order to accomplish this goal, it is developed an analysis of European countries from 1990 to 2005, using data from World Values Survey (WVS) and European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS).Work Organisation; HPWS; Social Capital; Europe