What is High Performance Measurement? Should every organisation adopt this system? If not, what kind of organisations should adopt it if they wish to improve their performance? Explain how it should help them

Résumé du document

The evolution from the notion of Manpower Management to the concept of Strategic Human Resources Management has made it fashionable to say in organisations that people are the greatest asset. But it can be hypocrite to make such a hollow statement, given the lack of tool to measure accurately the value added to an organisation by its employees. Among the few existing tools, fordism was during the first half of the XX century the dominant form of Manpower Management to reach high productivity. In the decades after the World War II, critics arose against this dominant organisational paradigm, which led to High Performance Management being presented in the literature as a new ‘one best way' destined to replace Fordism. This has been supported by a growing body of evidence from the literature which apparently demonstrates a positive correlation between the use of high performance work practices and organisational performance.

Extraits

[...] In a second part, the paper will present the different types of organisations with a Strategic Human Resources stance. Finally, the paper will evaluate the extent to which High Performance Management can help improve organisational performance. Definition of a Concept From the analysis of the literature, it seems the concept of High Performance Measurement is often referred to but hardly explicitly explained. High Performance Measurement can be called either High Performance Work Organisation (HPWO) or High Performance Work System (HPWS). [...]

[...] London: Edward Elgar. Delery, J. and Shaw, J. (2001) 'The Strategic Management of People in Work Organizations: Review, Synthesis, and Extension'. In Ferris, G. (ed.) Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Vol Oxford: Elsevier Science. Ericksen, J., Dyer, L., (2005), “Toward a Strategic Human Resource Management Model of High Reliability Organisation Performance”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 907-28. Raghu, G., Karnoe, P. (2001) “Path Dependence and Creation.” In Path Dependence and Creation, edited by R. Garud and P. [...]

[...] (1999), ‘Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for General Managers', New York, NY: John Wiley. Basset, G. (1993) Evolution and Future of High Performance Management Systems', Quorum books. Batt, R. and Appelbaum, E. (1995) 'Worker Participation in Diverse Settings: Does the Form Affect the Outcome, and if so, who Benefits', British Journal of Industrial Relations, 33: 353-78. Becker, B. and Gerhart, B. (1996) 'The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance: Progress and Prospects', Academy of Management Journal, 39(4) Berg, P., Appelbaum, E., Bailey, T. [...]

[...] However, despite the arguments in favour of the use of High Performance Management, it seems from the literature that relatively few organisations have implemented high performance practices in the US and Britain. More specifically, Lawler et al. (1992) found that most of the Fortune 1000 firms were users' against few ‘high users' of employee involvement policies. One of the standard economic argument could be that if firms are free to choose ‘what works', they will do so, with regard to reluctance to change and path dependency. [...]

[...] Fluidity ensures the smoothness in operations and cooperation in case of chaos. Finally, organisations that adopt more diligent, fluid and facile processes are in effect learning organisations which foster a workforce curious to share a collective experience and knowledge through generativeness. Some industries or sectors are more inclined to apply the learning or lean model, if they draw on employees' capacity for continuous learning, problem-solving and total quality management. With this respect, Lorenz and Valeyre (2005, p437) stipulate that the high-technology or high-quality end of product markets are product market segments which require at a minimum capacity for continuous upgrading of quality for existing products. [...]