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Research and Information
Key themes - High performance working - High performance work organisationThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) definition describes high performance work organisations (HPWO) as those organisations that are moving towards a flatter and less hierarchical structure where people work in teams and with greater autonomy, based on higher levels of trust, communication, employee participation and learning (OECD: 2001).
Evidence collected about HPWOs, shares many common elements with research to find a link between effective people management and organisational performance. This particular line of thinking is most advanced in the United States, where the literature tends to refer to high performance working when describing the use of new forms of work organisation and people management practices to produce business performance outcomes.
The OECD definition is broad in the sense that it refers to the organisation of work, trust and learning. Issues about effective people management are not lost on the OECD either, however it refers in greatest detail to issues relating to work organisation. Similarly, the European Work Organisation Network (EWON) and United Kingdom Work Organisation Network (UKWON) are primarily concerned with the identification, analysis, support and dissemination of new trends in work organisation.
Click here to access the European Work Organisation Network (EWON)
Click here to access the UK Work Organisation Network (UKWON)
From a work organisation perspective, high performance working represents a complex interplay of factors, both internal and external to the organisation; the involvement and participation of the whole workforce in sharing knowledge, innovation and creativity through new workplace practices; and their implications for policy makers and the social partners.
The Chartered Institute of personnel and development (CIPD) also ascribe a central role in high performance working to changes in work organisation and learning as key components of performance improvement but say that the success of these depends on the motivation of employees as individuals and trust developed at various levels within organisations. Similarly John Purcell focuses on the key role of work organisation in his most recent research.
Where the CIPD refers to willing contribution, willingness to learn and willingness to change, Purcell differentiates between the importance of organisational citizenship (going the extra mile) and discretionary behaviour, the willingness to innovate and make decisions as part of the job, driven by the ability, motivation and opportunity to participate of the workforce.
David Ashton and Johnny Sung, take up the issue of skill formation in high performance work organisations and how those skills translate into performance, in 'Supporting Workplace Learning for High Performance Working' (2002). Their work, which builds on case studies and research undertaken by the International Federation of Training and Development Organisation (IFTDO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) argues that:
'The traditional Taylorist forms of work organisation minimise the skills required of most employees to perform the job. They also minimise the involvement of these employees within the organisation. HPWOs are totally different; 'the organisation of production is based on the assumption that competition is based not just on cost but also on incremental improvements in the quality of the goods or services produced. The division of labour is organised to ensure that all employees are in a position to contribute towards the overall performance of the organisation. Management is no longer the sole repository of knowledge [and] for the workers, also means that they must acquire the social and problem-solving skills required for the management of production, in addition to the technical skill required for their immediate work tasks. This generates the conditions not just for higher levels of learning and skill formation but for learning to become a continuous process' (2002: 73).
Click here to access an online version of David Ashton and Johnny Sung's book 'Supporting Workplace Learning for High Performance Working'.
Click here to access the International Federation of Training and Development Organisation (IFTDO)
The issue of skill formation also raises some fundamental public policy questions about the role and nature of education and training policy of aspiring high performance economies and how best governments can encourage organisations to make more effective use of the skills of all of their employees.
Click here to access the ESRC Research Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE), based at the universities of Oxford and Warwick. SCOPE is a dedicated research body concerned with the need to develop a more highly educated and skilled workforce in more developed economies in order to gain a competitive advantage.
Search for more information about high performance work organisations at Partnership-at-work.com our good practice database.
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