Human Resources - High-Performance Work Practices - Essay Example

Human Resources - High performance work Practices Organisation is a structure with a ‘collage’ of humans doing their allocated work under the supervision of a leader. These humans or workers will be apportioned different roles according to their educational qualifications, experience, skill, knowledge, etc. After the recruitment and apportionment is over, it is the duty of the organisation or employer to provide the employees an optimal organisational atmosphere or High performance work places or organisations. In those organisations only, employees will unite as a team and exhibit high performance increasing the productivity and profit manifold. “High performance work places or organisations (HPWOs) are organisations that are moving towards a flatter and less hierarchical structure, where people work in teams with greater autonomy.” (Tamkin, 2004). But, sometimes the organisation will not be able to provide High performance work places due to various factors. This will surely bring down the level of performance among the employees to bare minimum. The important aspect is, the performance levels of the employees have to be kept at optimal levels or high levels, so that the employees exhibit optimum productivity. So, this paper will look at how the employees’ performance can be heightened by optimizing the High performance work places, thereby aiding the employers as well as the employees, kind of win-win solution: benefiting both the employers and the employees High performance work places, focusing the employees and increasing in performance Once a common, feasible and effective High performance work places is created, different employees can be focused on a single goal and thereby increasing their performance level. As any organisation will be a hotbed of human activity, it could give rise to groups and subgroups, which will eventually share enough experience to create subcultures based on occupational, national, and uniquely historic experiences. Once such differentiation has taken place, the organisation’s task is to find ways of coordinating, aligning, or integrating the different subcultures into common culture by making them work in a common organisational atmosphere. So, performance among the employees can be optimized at the outset itself, only if the leader or manager of the organisation provides the employees a favourable High performance work place with a common organisational culture, focusing on a single target. “Support culture, which include performance operations and people management processes, aligned to organisational objectives to build trust, enthusiasms and commitment.” (Tamkin, 2004). The trait of merging different humans and focusing all of them on a single goal is one trait, the organisation importantly its leader should importantly have. So, building an effective organisation is ultimately a matter of meshing the different subcultures and the leader should do this job, by encouraging the evolution of common atmosphere, common goals, common language, common procedures for solving problems as part of High performance work place, thereby achieving high performance. That is, when commonality in organisation atmosphere is achieved there will maximum performance from the employees who will function as a team. This maximum or high performance will automatically translate into the actualization of targets or goals. Thus, it is clear that the leaders as part of the High performance work place will try to create a common organisational culture, based on which they will focus the employees on a target to elicit high performance and then will help employers to achieve its organisational targets. Rewards as part of the organisation’s atmosphere The performance levels of the employees have to be kept at high levels, so that the profit flows into the organisation’s coffers continuously. So, Allocation of rewards, incentives and promotions to the deserving and apt employees is an important strategy to motivate the employees and thereby keep the performance of the employees levels at higher plane. “The body of research on engagement has shown that employee motivation is a key intervening variable in producing higher performance.” (Tamkin, 2004). That is, awarding the deserving and ‘success achieved’ employees will stick them to the organisation, and importantly will motivate them to give better results. Provide appropriate financial incentives and rewards, and non-financial praise for the employees’ achievement” (Armstrong 2005).In an organisation, the workers do their duties for personal motivations like money (salary), looking after their family, etc, however their motivational as well as performance level will get a great boost, if they receive additional rewards and promotions as part of the High performance work place. Rewards and promotions to deserving and ‘success achieved’ workers will motivate them to give high performance and motivate others also, to reach that status. From the organisation’s or employer’s angle, the leader or manager can quickly get across their own priorities, values, assumption, etc and importantly organisation’s goals and profits by consistently linking rewards and punishments to the activities of the candidate. That is, if the employer gives apt and ethical rewards, incentives, promotions to the employees, it will provide them motivated employees with high performance capabilities, and importantly this high performance will help the employer in actualizing all the goals and targets. Interactive Organisation atmosphere promotes performance In any organisation, there will hierarchical structures, with the management and the employees separated both physically and mentally. This separation particularly the absence of mental interaction will also affect the performance level of the employees, leading to less productivity for the employers. That is, if mental interaction is developed by the employer or leader with the employees, it can increase performance to high level. The mental interaction can be maximally held during the decision making and other process. That is, during the process of decision making, one of the approaches the organisation and its management could try is, putting for discussion their thoughts, targets, strategies, plans, etc, goals among the workers, and involving them productively. “Employees are given a high degree of decision-making responsibility beyond simple participation in decision making. The emphasis on all of these levels is that employees are urged to individually play a larger role in their work environments.” (Kirkman, Lowe and Young, 1999). That is, if the employees are given important responsibilities, they will optimize their mental and physical abilities to complete the given work successfully. As it is a matter of proving oneself among the group of fellow workers, the employees will come up with feasible and effective suggestions, ideas, etc in-group and thereby improving their performance, as well as helping the organizations function effectively. As they are asked to contribute by the leaders, they will accentuate their thought process and physical capabilities leading to high performance among the employees. “Employee involvement and autonomy in decision making provides the employees with the opportunity of developing teamworking and decision-making skills.” (Tamkin, 2004). So, involving and allowing co-workers to play a part in the decision-making process will give heighten performance to perform better and at the same time will help the organisation in getting good feedbacks and decisions. That is, the employer involves the employees in the decision making process and then the employees’ suggestions or feedbacks are filtered, to select the best one. With employees’ exhibiting high performance and aiding the decision making process, the employees will be able to take apt decisions. Improving communication process to improve the performance of the employees as well as the employers In an organisation, workers will normally be apportioned or “structurized” into departments for better arrangement and streamlining of work. These different departments can only boost an employer by working in unison, and thereby actualizing the opportunities on offer, so they could reach their targets and the estimated profits. So, ‘working in unison’ is the key, and the ‘key’ which opens up the minds of the workers working in the department, and aid ‘unison’, is communication. That is, communication between organization’s different departments will only help the workers to work as a team and help them in coordinating and concluding the given work successfully. But, that team like the five different fingers in one’s hand will be different from one another having different characters, attitudes, education, background etc, etc…and the unison of these different humans under a single organisation to reach a target is, and will always be a difficult proposition. As these different humans could only create a different working culture leading to the blockage of communication channels, the performance will be minimal. But, all the blockages in the communication channels can be removed and importantly a barrier free communication channels can be actualized and incorporated into the organizational culture, if the leader of the organization functions effectively, with optimal strategies. That is, if the employer actualizes barrier free communication channels, it will provide the employees to air their grievances as well as give their feedbacks. If the employees’ grievances are heard by the employer and importantly solved, it optimize the motivation lever, thereby performance level to a higher level. On the other hand, the employer with its free communication will be able to function smoothly and productively. Optimizing the physical environment as part of High Performance workplace to get high performance An important constituent of High performance work places is providing a perfect and comfortable physical working environment for their workers. Thus to elevate the performance levels of the employees, the best option is going for an open-office layout. That is, cubicles should be preferred instead of offices with doors because, in an office set up where team work will have prominent place, face to face interaction would bring in more ideas and better performance, than one calling other into a closed room and having a closed discussion. Also minimization of the use of status symbols such as private offices, special dining rooms for executives, and personal parking spaces should be carried out. This is one of the important needs because it will give even the lower staff, the feeling that all are treated equal, irrespective of the salary, experience etc. “From that baseline, we consider a set of related hypotheses, testing whether factors such as the extent to which the affiliate is embedded in the local environment, the extent of flows between the parent and the affiliate, the characteristics of the parent, and the nature of the industry, influence HRM practices” (Rosenzweig and Nohria, 2004). Instead of special rooms, many conference rooms and attached kitchens could also be setup to encourage people and interact comfortably. So, these kind of environment, if made part of the High Performance workplace, will make the individuals stay, at office, an enjoyable experience at the same time motivating experience. “Recognise their responsibility in humanisation of organisational environment to make the employees feel that the organisation where they work and spend a large part of their working life is theirs and realise that it is their second family and that they are taken not of, valued and cared for” (Rao, 2004). With that motivation, their performance will optimize, with the organisation reaping the benefits. That is, when the employer transforms its physical environment, it will be provide an optimal atmosphere and that will transform to high performance benefiting both the employees as well as the employer. Conclusion The organized human activity under the structure of organisation has to be carried out with precision, for it to succeed. Organisations need to learn in an effort to adapt to their environment, which is internally focused first order learning as well as gather information to anticipate environmental change. (Kirkman, Lowe and Young, 1999). But, precision in organizing or planning cannot be done without the initiatives and the fullest co-operation of the motivated and high performing employees. The leaders of the organisation or employers only have to optimize the performance level of the employees by formulating, adopting, actualizing and embedding an High Performance workplace. “Leadership from the top and throughout the organisation to create momentum.” (Tamkin, 2004). Then as part of that HPWO, if a goal is set and the performance level is heightened, then the workers can work in cohesion to achieve it. Likewise allocation of rewards, incentives, promotions and importantly appreciation to the deserving and hard working employees will also increase the performance levels. Importantly, if the HPWO involves the employees productively as part of the decision making process and also actualizes good communication channels for optimum communication, it will result in high performance of the employees. If all the parts of an organisation conduct this way with the employees exhibiting high performance, then the organisation will have ubiquitous presence all over the world. References Armstrong, M. (2004). How to Be an Even Better Manager: A Complete A-Z of Proven Techniques. London: Kogan Page. Kirkman, BL., Lowe, KB and Young, DP. (1999). High Performance Work Organizations. Greensboro: Center for Creative Leadership. Rao, T V. (2004). Performance Management and Appraisal Systems: HR Tools for Global Competitiveness. New Delhi: Thousand Oaks. Rosenzweig, P.M. and Nohria, N. (2004). Influences on Human Resource Management Practices in Multinational Corporations. Journal of International Business Studies. Vol. 25 Tamkin, P. (2004). High Performance Work Practices. HR Network Paper MP36, Institute for Employment Studies Read More