High Commitment Work Systems Research Articles

Unlock the Full Potential of Absorptive Capacity: The Role of High Commitment Work Systems

While human resource practices have been seen as a source of competitive advantage, little is known about the interrelationship between human resource practices and organizational capabilities. In ...

High Performance Work Systems, Person-Organization Fit and Organizational Outcomes

Previous studies on human resource management have emphasized the relationship between high performance work systems (HPWSs) and organizational performance in strategic human resource management. The extant literature on the intermediate linkage between HPWSs and performance has yield only limited insights into the influence of the use of HPWSs on performance at the organizational level. Also, little attention has been paid to conceptual constructs such as person-organization (P-O) fit as a mediator between the HPWSs and organizational outcomes. Thus, this paper attempts to explore how the linkage of the HPWSs to P-O fit as a mediating variable leads to organizational outcomes. From the literature review, it is proposed that the congruence of workers with their organization positively affects organizational outcomes when it is linked to specific systems. The paper suggests that an organization can improve P-O fit not through control-oriented systems but through high commitment work systems. It concludes with a presentation of three principal propositions associated with HPWSs, P-O fit and organizational outcomes.

Perceived High Commitment Work System, the Transactive Memory System, and New Product Performance

The transactive memory system refers to the processes by which work team members cooperate with teammates in accomplishing team assignments. Previous studies have found that transactive memory systems can improve team performance. However, scholars know less about what managers can do to nurture a transactive memory system in a work team. Based on the behavioral theory of human resource management, we propose that by implementing a set of integrated human resource practices -called the high commitment work system - with team members, managers can elicit the perception of a transactive memory system among team members to enhance team performance. With survey data collected from 336 new product development engineers in 73 new product development teams, we find transactive memory system mediates the positive relationship between team-aggregated perception of human resource management practices and new product performance.

A contextual, flexibility‐based model of the HR‐firm performance relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a more refined and comprehensive explanation of the HR‐firm performance relationship. Based on the recent conceptual and empirical research that is grounded in attribution theory, the model posits that flexibility regarding firm's HR system is a key mediator in the focal relationship, and that environmental dynamism determines the extent to which flexibility may be required. Specifically, the model specifies that a firm's high commitment work system will have a direct influence on the flexibility of the HR system, as well as climate perceptions about commitment and performance. HR flexibility and climate will in turn influence employees' evaluative attributions regarding the effectiveness of the firm's HR system, which will in turn affect employee commitment and performance and ultimately, firm‐level performance outcomes. And finally, the model specifies that environmental dynamism will have a direct influence on HR flexibility and the resulting employee‐ and firm‐level outcomes. This explanation is designed to have broad utility in light of the adaptive requirements for firms that operate in rapidly changing and highly competitive conditions.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper.FindingsThe proposed model provides a more comprehensive explanation of the mechanisms by which a firm's high commitment work practices may influence firm performance, and as such, offers both a diagnostic and prescriptive basis for improving and enhancing the firm's competitive position.Originality/valueThe analysis and discussion presented in this paper demonstrates the need for a broader perspective on the internal and external contingencies that influence the HR‐firm performance relationship. The proposed model addresses this need and offers a more detailed, flexibility‐based explanation of how HCWS affect individual and organizational performance outcomes. It is hoped that this expanded framework offers new insights that will help scholars and practitioners to consider the ways in which HR practices can be leveraged to promote committed, high‐performing employees that help organizations achieve sustained levels of superior performance.

Putting Strategic Human Resource Management in Context: A Contextualized Model of High Commitment Work Systems and Its Implications in China

This study contributes to strategic human resource management (HRM) research by offering a contextualized model of HRM effectiveness. Building on HR attribution theory, we propose that the high commitment work system will be more effective in a context when: (i) employees are conditioned to trust employers and (ii) regulatory institutions are less restrictive, giving management more autonomy in human resource decisions. In such contexts, we argue that employees are more inclined to view the high commitment work system as an expression of the employer's genuine concern for employees. Hence, employees are more likely to reciprocate with high commitment. We find our contextualized HRM effectiveness model particularly useful in understanding HRM – firm performance relations in China where business environments are currently under transformation on both trust and regulations.

High Commitment Work Systems in Chinese Organizations: A Preliminary Measure

The concept of a high commitment work system (HCWS) has mostly been used in the West to study the relationship between a firm's work systems and organizational performance. In this paper, we introduce a preliminary measure of HCWS in China based on the definition of Baron and Kreps (1999). In study 1, we tested the measure by surveying 442 employees in China's information technology (IT) industry. In study 2, we re-tested the same measure from the perspective of human resource (HR) executives in 126 foreign-invested companies. The analyses not only provided some evidence for the construct validity of this preliminary measure of a high commitment work system, but also produced some interesting results that can only be understood with regards to the history and institutional backgrounds of Chinese organizations.

The ‘Talk’ versus the ‘Walk’: High Performance Work Systems, Labour Market Flexibility and Lessons from Asian Workers

High commitment or high performance work systems (HPWS) are a managerial approach aimed at facilitating high performance companies by transforming employees from merely being workers into partners with employers in realizing company goals. To achieve this HPWS use human resource practices that draw on employee commitment, involvement and empowerment. The pursuit of HPWS with employees in export-oriented industries (EOI) in newly industrializing economies (NIEs) of Malaysia and Sri Lanka is explored here. The discussion confirms a number of difficulties in realizing the aims of an HPWS approach because employers simultaneously pursue labour market flexibility (LMF) practices. As a result, this hybrid labour management model fractures workers' commitment thus leading to a mismatch between the ‘talk’ and ‘walk’ of HPWS in these environments with significant implications for employers.

Work/Family Programs and the Employment Relationship

This research was supported by the Spencer Foundation. I am grateful to Rose Batt for superb research assistance and to Lotte Bailyn, Steve Barley, Peter Cappelli, David Knoke, and Maureen Scully for comments. Using data from a representative sample of American private-sector establishments, this paper explains variation across firms in the implementation of work/family programs by examining how these are related to the employment strategy of organizations. The central hypothesis is that firms seeking to implement so-called high-performance or high-commitment work systems, incorporating employee involvement and quality programs, are more likely to adopt work/family programs as part of an effort to build up the level of workforce commitment to the enterprise. This hypothesis is tested, controlling for two other broad hypothesized effects: (1) that adoption of work/family programs is linked to the demand for them arising either from workforce problems such as absenteeism and turnover or from pressure from the labor force; and (2) that adoption is linked to whether employers already have in place elements of well-developed internal labor markets such as job ladders and human resource departments. Results show considerable support for the link between work/family programs and the use of high-commitment work systems.'

The Role of Unions in Sociotechnical Systems

AbstractIn 1980 Dr F. Emery published a paper discussing the design of socio-technical systems for ‘greenfield sites’. In his paper Emery argued that a new and different paradigm of work, which is based on ‘co-operative, symmetrically dependent relations’, is more easily introduced into ‘greenfield sites’ and that ‘most matters can be negotiated beforehand with trade union officials’ (1980:19&21).In this paper the author explores the use of socio-technical design in a greenfield plant, and its application in an old, or brownfield plant of the same company. The socio-technical approach is embodied in the new production model being introduced, which is called a high commitment work system Of specific interest is the role of unions in the sites. Two questions are addressed in this respect. Are unions involved in the design and implementation of the socio-technical system? What are the implications for the future of the unions in these two sites?

The Gap in Total Quality

Using the routine work conversations from Fairhurst, an analysis of the jargon and themes of the total quality (TQ) and high commitment work systems (HCWS) visions was conducted. The juxtaposition of the linguistic references of both visions revealed a gap in TQ. In this commentary, we explore the implications of this gap and how it may be related to organizational change.

Organizational Change and Development: New Arenas for Inquiry and Action

The purpose of this review is to identify and explore new arenas of inquiry and action in the organizational change and development field. Recent developments are examined in seven categories: (a) refinement of change theories, (b) developments in research methodologies, (c) a new emphasis on strategic issues including strategic leadership and organizational transformation, (d) the role of OD in multinational firms, (e) development of the organizational culture construct, (f) the development and use of high performance-high commitment work systems, and (g) the use of OD approaches in social movements. Based on developments in these areas, the argument is advanced that the field is currently characterized by a renewed focus on changing whole systems and a wide breadth of progress cutting across theory, method, and practice.