High-involvement Work Practices Research Articles

Engaging employees through high involvement work practices

Engaging employees through high involvement work practices

Exploratory study of high involvement work practices: Identification of the dimensions and proposal of questionnaire to measure the degree of use in the company

At the moment, the debate about what human resources practices include as High Involvement Work Practices would have to be considered still open. In this communication we try to make a revision of the theoretical framework. This allows us to identify a set of practices mainly accepted as high involvement. We also validate a questionnaire proposal that measures the degree of use of these practices. The result of the theoretical revision has allowed us to find a set of 27 practices related to the participation, communication, training, compensation and management of the knowledge. The exploratory analysis of the data presents an alternative grouping of items in 7 scales instead of the traditional 5 ones.

High involvement work practices and firm performance

During the past two decades the chain of three links organizational strategy – human resources practices – organizational performance has been deeply analysed. However, the mediator role of organizational structure in the first link of this chain remains relatively uninvestigated. In this article we analyse a model of relationships among organizational strategy, organizational structure, human resources practices, and organizational performance. Through a structural equation methodology applied to a sample of 183 Spanish companies, we will try to confirm that organizations with differentiation strategies are more likely to implement high involvement work practices. As a novelty we will introduce organizational structure as a mediator of this relationship. For that we will use the construct control mechanisms (centralization, formalization and socialization). Further, we will analyse the effect on firm performance of these proposed relationships among differentiation strategy, control mechanisms and high involvement work practices.

Adverse Workplace Conditions, High-Involvement Work Practices and Labor Turnover: Evidence from Danish Linked Employer-Employee Data

Adverse Workplace Conditions, High-Involvement Work Practices and Labor Turnover: Evidence from Danish Linked Employer-Employee Data

High-Involvement Work Design and Job Satisfaction

Using data from the 1999–2002 Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey, the authors investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and high-involvement work practices such as quality circles, feedback, suggestion programs, and task teams. They consider the direction of causality, identifying both reasons that work practices might affect job satisfaction, and reasons that satisfaction might affect participation in high-involvement practices. They find that satisfaction was positively associated with high-involvement practices, a result that held across different specifications of the empirical model and different subsets of data. Conversely, worker outcomes that might signal dissatisfaction, like work-related stress or grievance filing, appear to have been unrelated to high-involvement jobs. However, the data suggest the presence of self-selection: satisfied workers were more likely to increase participation in high-involvement practices, but participation did not predict future increases in satisfaction.

Prácticas de alto rendimiento: un contexto estratégico estructura

During the last two decades the relationship between organizational strategy and human resources practices has been deeply analyzed. However, the mediator role of organizational structure in this relationship remains relatively uninvestigated. In this article we analyze a model of relationships among organizational strategy, organizational structure and human resources practices. Through a structural equation methodology applied to a sample of 183 Spanish companies, we will try to confirm that organizations with differentiation strategies are more likely to implement high involvement work practices. As a novelty we will introduce organizational structure as a mediator of this relationship. For that we will use the construct control mechanisms (centralization, formalization, and socialization).

The adoption of high involvement work practices in Canadian nursing homes

The objective of the research is to assess the degree of adoption of high-involvement nursing work practices in long-term care organizations. It seeks to determine the organizational and workplace factors that are associated with the uptake/adoption of ten selected human resource high-involvement employee work practices. A survey questionnaire was sent to 300 long-term care organizations (nursing homes) in western Canada. Results from 125 nursing home establishments (43 percent response rate) are reported herein. Of the ten high-involvement nursing work practices examined, employee suggestion and recognition systems are the most widely adopted by homes in the sample, while shared governance and incentive/merit-base pay are used by a small minority of establishments. The uptake of high-involvement nursing work practices is not adopted in a haphazard fashion. Their uptake is variously associated with a number of establishment and workplace factors, including the presence of a supportive and enabling workplace culture. The objective of this research is to examine the extent and degree of adoption of high involvement work practices in a sample of long-term care establishments operating in the four provinces of western Canada.

Socio-technical perspective on manufacturing system synergies

A micro-level perspective using socio-technical theory is used to examine synergies in advanced manufacturing systems (AMS) and their impact on manufacturing performance. It is proposed that the system-level interactions predicated by socio-technical theory extend to the subsystem-level. AMS are classified into three constituent subsystems – technological, manufacturing methods and high-involvement work practices – and hypothesize various ‘microsystems’ formed by combinations of the components of these subsystems. Each ‘microsystem’ is hypothesized to have an impact on particular dimensions of performance. The hypothesis is tested by employing regression analysis. The findings isolate synergistic influences among the components of AMSs on performance. The implications of these findings are discussed in the light of theory and practice.

High-Involvement Management and Workforce Reduction: Competitive Advantage or Disadvantage?

Although interest in the workplace trends of downsizing and high-involvement work practices continues to grow, research examining the intersection between them has been limited. In this study, we examine (1) how layoffs moderate the relationship between high-involvement work practices and productivity, and (2) how continued investments in these work practices throughout layoff periods maintain workforce productivity. Findings indicate a negative relationship between high-involvement work practices and productivity in workplaces with higher layoff rates. However, workplaces that continue investments in high-involvement work practices are able to avoid productivity losses, as compared to workplaces that discontinue such investments.

Nurse and resident satisfaction in magnet long-term care organizations: do high involvement approaches matter?

This study examines the association of high involvement nursing work practices with employer-of-choice (magnet) status in a sample of Canadian nursing homes. In response to a severe shortage of registered nursing personnel, it is imperative for health care organizations to more effectively recruit and retain nursing personnel. Some long-term care organizations are developing employee-centred cultures that allow them to effectively enhance nurse and resident satisfaction. At the same time, many nursing homes have adopted progressive nursing workplace practices (high involvement work practices) that emphasize greater employee empowerment, participation and commitment. A mail survey was sent to the director of nursing in 300 nursing homes in western Canada. In total, 125 useable questionnaires were returned and constituted the data set for this study. Separate ordinary least squares regressions are performed with magnet strength, nurse satisfaction and resident satisfaction used as dependent variables. Nursing homes that demonstrate strong magnet (employer-of-choice) characteristics are more likely to have higher levels of nurse and patient satisfaction, even after controlling for a number of significant factors at the establishment level. Magnet nursing homes are more likely to have progressive participatory decision-making cultures and much more likely to spend considerable resources on job-related training for their nursing staff. The presence of high involvement work practices is not found to be a significant predictor in magnet strength, nurse or resident satisfaction. Merely adopting more high involvement nursing work practices may be insufficient for nursing homes, which desire to become 'employers-of-choice' in their marketplaces, especially if these practices are adopted without a concomitant investment in nurse training or an enhanced commitment to establishing a more democratic and participatory decision-making style involving all nursing staff.

High‐involvement work practices and employee bargaining power

High involvement work practices (HIWPs) may empower employees to do their jobs better, and also empower them at the bargaining table. This paper considers whether non‐universal adoption of productivity‐enhancing work practices may, at least in part, be explained by this dual nature of empowerment. It examines the case of a customer service programme in the Northern California division of Safeway stores, its affect on the outcome of a strike against Safeway, and the subsequent pattern of adoption (and non‐adoption) of similar programmes among Safeway's competitors. It concludes that the dual nature of empowerment can help explain the apparent paradox posed by empirical studies; that although HIWPs improve the performance of all sorts of organisations, most organisations do not adopt HIWPs.

HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT Best Paper Proceedings.

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings includes abstracts of all papers and symposia presented at the annual conference, plus 6-page abridged versions of the “Best Papers” accepted for inclusion in the program (approximately 10%). Papers published in the Proceedings are abridged because presenting papers at their full length could preclude subsequent journal publication. Please contact the author(s) directly for the full papers. ArticlesHEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT Best Paper Proceedings.Published Online:13 Dec 2017https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2003.13792267AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail AbstractThis article presents three paper proceedings on health care management. The first paper is based on the premise that a meaningful understanding of boundary-spanning activities requires one to be clear about what boundaries are being spanned. The authors develop an analytical framework that identifies a four-stage process through which an entity's entry and domain boundaries are constructed, emphasizing the networking activities that exert both centrifugal and centripetal gravitational forces. Discussion includes implications for theory and practice, and directions for future research using the proposed analytical framework. The second paper asserts that High-Involvement Work Practices (HIWP) represent a holistic human resource management work design. The research study found that HIWP were associated with both greater employee satisfaction and lower patient service costs in 146 Veterans Health Administration centers. In the third paper, the authors investigate how nurse practitioners and middle managers worked together to create changes in the way health care services are provided. The study highlights the critical role played by middle managers in sustaining these changes.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 2003, No. 1 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 13 December 2017 Published in print 1 August 2003 InformationCopyright of Academy of Management Journal is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.KeywordsHEALTH services administrationMEDICAL carePERSONNEL managementINDUSTRIAL managementDownload PDF

THE IMPACTS OF HIGH-INVOLVEMENT WORK SYSTEMS ON STAFF SATISFACTION AND SERVICE COSTS IN VETERANS HEALTH CARE.

Based on employee surveys and financial data from 146 facilities of the Veterans' Healthcare Administration, this study found that high-involvement work practices (HIWP) result in increased employe...

High-involvement practices in human resource management: concept and factors that motivate their adoption

Using data on 250 Spanish firms, we examine the incidence of high-involvement practices and investigate what variables are associated with the adoption of these practices. Particularly, we analyse the influence of size, age, competitive advantage, activity sector, the existence of a recent crisis, culture, leadership style and the competitiveness of the environment on the adoption of high-involvement work practices. With all this, we try to offer an exploratory view of nature of the contexts that condition the adoption of such practices, with the aim of motivating future research more thoroughly.

Opening the Box: Information Technology, Work Practices, and Wages

We examine the association between different kinds of information technology (IT), work practices, and wages for the job of customer service representative in 303 U.S. bank branches. We test for main effects and for interaction effects between IT and work practices. Off-line high-involvement practices (measured by the presence of quality circles) are related positively to wages, as is more extensive use of IT that supports sales efforts. Where IT is used more extensively to automate routine processes, wages are lower where branches do not have high-involvement work practices. The effects are partially explained by higher education requirements and levels of introductory training for higher-wage jobs.

Opening the Box: Information Technology, Work Practices, and Wages

Using 1994–95 survey data on customer service representatives in 303 U.S. bank branches, the authors investigate the effects on wages of information technology (IT), of work practices, and of those two factors in combination. Offline high-involvement practices (measured by the presence of quality circles) were related positively to wages, as was more extensive use of IT that supports sales efforts. Where IT was used more extensively to automate routine processes, wages were lower in branches that did not have high-involvement work practices. The effects are partially explained by higher education requirements and more extensive introductory training in higher-wage jobs.

Correlates and consequences of high involvement work practices: the role of competitive strategy

Illustrative of world-wide trends, New Zealand has undergone drastic product and labour market reforms in an attempt to stimulate economic growth and national competitiveness. Towards this goal, firms have been urged to emphasize differentiation strategies in their approach to their markets and also to become more progressive in their management of human resources. This study finds that whereas more intensive use of high involvement work practices promotes firm effectiveness, this effect depends on the competitive strategy being pursued. The use of high involvement work practices is positively associated with performance in firms competing on the basis of differentiation and shows no relationship in firms pursuing a strategy of cost leadership.

High Involvement Work Systems and Job Insecurity in the International Iron and Steel Industry

AbstractThe different factors behind globalization and the emergence of high involvement work practices do not necessarily carry similar implications for labour. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of high involvement work systems upon workers in the steel industry. The authors present results from a series of cross‐national sun>eys conducted in 1998 with 39 national trade unions from over 30 countries measuring issues such as job security, ownership changes, numerical flexibility, and union density. The findings are consistent with U.S. data reported by Osterman (1998) indicating that new work practices provide no defense against an environment of heightened Insecurity.RésuméLes différents facteurs qui encouragent la mondialisa‐tion et le dévoloppement de nouvelles pratiques de travail, dites “high involvement” (travail en équipes, rotation des fonctions, plus grande autonomie des employés) n'entraînent pas nécessairement des consequences semblables pour la main d'oeuvre. Nous examinons dans cette étude les effets de ces pratiques “high involvement” sur les travailleurs métallurgiques. Les auteurs publient les résultas de sondages interna‐tionaux effectués en 1998 auprès de 39 syndicats dans plus de 30 pays, permettant de mesurer la sécurité d'em‐ploi, les changements de propriétaire, la flexibilité numérique et la concentration syndicate. Leurs résultats s'accordent avec des donnés provenant des E‐U tels que dans Osterman (1988), et démontrent que ces nouvelles de travail ne sont pas une défense contre un environe‐ment plus hostile que jamais.

High-Involvement Work Practices, Turnover, and Productivity: Evidence from New Zealand

Study results indicate a positive association between use of high-involvement work practices and employee retention and firm productivity. A disordinal interaction was indicated: employee turnover was associated with decreased productivity when use of high-involvement work practices was high and with increased productivity when use of these practices was low.

HIGH-INVOLVEMENT WORK PRACTICES, TURNOVER, AND PRODUCTIVITY: EVIDENCE FROM NEW ZEALAND.

Study results indicate a positive association between use of high-involvement work practices and employee retention and firm productivity. A disordinal interaction was indicated: employee turnover was associated with decreased productivity when use of high-involvement work practices was high and with increased productivity when use of these practices was low.