Describe how high-performance work systems (HPWSs) can create competitive advantage for an organization.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

HPWSs are made up of people and to create competitive advantage, they should focus on four criteria for the competencies of these employees: valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and organized.• A HPWS is valuable if it establishes ways to increase efficiency, decrease costs, improve processes, or provide unique value to the customer.• A HPWS is rare if knowledge, skills, and abilities of its employees are not equally available to other organizations, especially competitors.• A HPWS is difficult to imitate when it cannot be transported, duplicated, copied, or purchased by rival firms.• A HPWS is organized when employee talents can be combined and rapidly deployed in new assignments with maximum flexibility.In these ways, HPWSs achieve competitive advantage through people.