New Models of High Performance Work Systems - Equality Authority

More documents

Recommendations

Info

new models of high performancework systems14 >employee well-being. Commissioned jointlyby the National Centre for Partnership andPerformance and the Equality Authority,the report builds on previous research bythe NCPP 1 that examined the relationshipbetween management practices and businessperformance outcomes.The rationale for conducting this furtherresearch was to develop a more expansiveview of what HPWS entails in an Irishcontext. Specifically, the research focusesbeyond the traditional model of HPWSthat is dominated by human resourcemanagement concerns, to look atmanagement practices including workplacepartnership, diversity and equality systems,and flexible working systems. Such issueshave historically been regarded, at least insome quarters, as issues of compliance ratherthan as potential sources of competitiveadvantage.However, international and domesticresearch 2 continues to strengthen thebusiness case for partnership, diversity andequality. This report examines both thestand-alone and synergistic effects of thesemanagement issues in high performing Irishbasedmanufacturing and service companies.The report findings support the case foran expanded concept of High PerformanceWork Systems, which raises some importantconsiderations for policy makers, academicsand for people in leadership positions atenterprise level.1.2 Organisation of the ReportThe report is presented in five parts:p Part 1 describes the origins of the report,highlighting the rationale and researchobjectives, and examining some of whatis already known about high performancework systemsp Part 2 details the research design andmethodology, the response rate and theprofile of survey respondentsp Part 3 presents the descriptive resultsfrom the survey, illustrating the range andprevalence of management practices foundin the survey sample, and highlighting longitudinaltrends in management practicesbased on comparisons with a previoussurvey conducted in 2004p Part 4 looks at how HPWS is associatedwith high performance, and presents anumber of HPWS models that will be ofinterest both to practitioners of organisationalchange (including managers, tradeunion representatives and employeesgenerally) and to policy makersp Part 5 presents the conclusions of thereport, and considers the implicationsof this analysis for both the theoreticaltreatment of management systems andthe practical challenges for those at theenterprise level engaged in the search forgreater competitiveness1 Flood, P., Guthrie, J.P., Liu, W., and MacCurtain, S. (2005). High Performance Work Systems in Ireland – The Economic Case.National Centre for Partnership and Performance.2 Including research from the National Centre for Partnership and Performance and the Equality Authority.
the search for high performance1.3 Expanding the definition of HPWSA growing body of research suggests thatthe use of a set of HR practices, includingcomprehensive employee recruitmentand selection procedures, compensationand performance management systems,information sharing, and extensive employeeinvolvement and training, can improve theacquisition, development and retention ofa talented and motivated workforce 3 . TheseHR practices are usually referred to as highinvolvement 4 , high commitment 5 , or highperformance 6 work systems.Much of the analysis of HPWS originatesfrom the study of strategic human resourcemanagement (SHRM), where researchershave examined the impact of “bundles” ofHR practices on organisational outcomes.The idea that a system of HR practicesmay be more than the sum of the partsgives rise to debate as to the specific configurationof practices constituting a highperformance system. Some work suggests“universal” HPWS effects 7 , while other worksuggests that HPWS effects may depend onconditions such as competitive strategy orindustry 8 . One way or another, a system orset of management practices is considered tobe more difficult for competitors to imitatethan individual practices.The growing body of research on HPWSenables us to develop a more useful understandingof the nature of the relationshipbetween business performance andmanagement systems. Researchers haveexamined a range of configurations ofHPWS to better understand the relativeimportance and synergistic effect of differentmanagement and workplace practices.This approach establishes the contextfor the present report, which sets out todevelop new conceptual insights into whatconstitutes high performance work systemsby looking beyond the prevalent HRMcentredmodel. The current research seeks toexamine the business case for new models ofHPWS, using empirical evidence to explorehow a broad set of management practiceswhich includes strategic human resourcemanagement, workplace partnership,diversity and equality management, andflexible working might relate to highperforming organisations.< 153 E.g. Arthur, 1994; Batt, 2002; Becker and Gerhart, 1996; Datta et al., 2005; Guthrie, 2001; Huselid, 1995;Huselid and Becker, 1996; Jones and Wright, 1992; MacDuffie, 1995; United States Department of Labour, 1993.4 E.g. Guthrie, 2001.5 Arthur, 1994.6 Datta et al., 2005; Pfeffer, 1994, Huselid, 1995.7 E.g. Huselid, 1995.8 E.g. Datta et al., 2005.
Page 1: NewModelsofHigh PerformanceWork Sys
Page 4 and 5: First published January 2008 byThe
Page 6 and 7: Part 4Exploring New Models of High
Page 8 and 9: new models of high performancework
Page 10 and 11: Authors’ Acknowledgements >The au
Page 12 and 13: Executive SummaryThis report highli
Page 18 and 19: Part 2Research Approach16 >2.1 Meth
Page 46 and 47: strength of these correlations must
Page 52: EqualityResearchSeriesISBN 978-1-90

New Models of High Performance Work Systems - Equality Authority

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?