What is a high-performance work system? Explain the different elements of a high-performance work system. What is the role of HRM in such a system?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A high-performance work system is the right combination of people, technology, and organizational structure that makes full use of an organization's resources and opportunities in achieving its goals. Common elements of such a system include (1) organizational structure, (2) task design, (3) people, (4) reward systems, and (5) information systems. Human resource management plays an important role in establishing all of these.

(1) Organizational structure refers to the way the organization groups its people into divisions, departments, and reporting relationships. The organization's top management makes most decisions about structure, and these decisions affect how well employees coordinate their activities and respond to change. In a high-performance work system, organizational structure promotes cooperation, learning, and continuous improvement.

(2) Task design involves determining how the details of the organization's activities will be grouped into jobs or team responsibilities. In a high-performance work system, task design makes jobs efficient while encouraging high quality.

(3) HRM plays a significant role in providing people who are well suited and well prepared for their jobs. Human resource personnel help the organization recruit and select people with the needed qualifications. Training, development, and career management ensure that these people are able to perform their current and future jobs with the organization.

(4) Reward systems contribute to high performance by encouraging people to strive for objectives that support the organization's overall goals. These systems include the performance measures by which employees are judged, the methods of measuring performance, and the incentive pay and other rewards linked to success. HRM plays an important role in developing and administering reward systems.

(5) The final element is the organization's information systems. Managers make decisions about the types of information to gather and the sources of information. They also must decide who in the organization should have access to the information and how they will make the information available.

HR departments take advantage of this technology to give employees access to information about benefits, training opportunities, job openings, and more.