The Role Of Implementation Of High-Performance Work Systems In An Organization

In competitive business environment, organizations have faced with human capital challenges and uncertain economic conditions. Organizations are in the business of achieving sustained high performance. They do this through the systems of work they adopt but these systems are managed and operated by people. Ultimately, therefore, high-performance working is about improving performance through people. The aim is to achieve a high-performance culture. This can be done through the development and implementation of high-performance work systems, which incorporate to varying degrees processes of high performance, high commitment and high involvement management.

Employees are the key component of every organization as they are critical to its viability and the competitiveness. In today’s business world, committed and motivated employees are the fundamental key to achievement. Routing and managing employee competencies for achieving corporate success and permitting change is not only an essential requirement but is also linked with satisfaction of the employee. The vast majority of HR practitioners state that employee engagement is one of the primary objectives of a talent strategy. The term “employee engagement” is found everywhere, and most organizations use a general definition of engagement as something beyond satisfaction. Many organizations are thus measuring employee engagement in regular employee surveys as an important business indicator.

XYZ International, Inc. is one of the world's largest multinational companies that has adopted the Integrated Lean Six Sigma (IL6S) approach to process improvement company-wide. IL6S is a strategy to build the capability of the total organization by bringing together Lean, Six Sigma, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and High Performance Work System (HPWS) in an integrated approach. The aim of implementing IL6S is to achieve and sustain breakthrough business results through a highly skilled, motivated and self-reliant work force. HPWS provides IL6S with sustainability capabilities through 100% employee engagement. Further, HPWS is an enabler in terms of building a High Performance Organization (HPO). Therefore, as a part of global XYZ International, Inc. plants PT XYZ Indonesia is also implementing IL6S. In order to execute the IL6S, HPWS is one of the things to pay attention to. The Human Resource Department of PT XYZ Indonesia has started to socialize it to all employees through training and their daily activities. High-performance working can involve the two ‘ideal type’ approaches to HRM identified by Guest (2007). They are

the ‘high-commitment’ model – ‘a move from external control through management systems, technology and supervision to self-control by workers or teams of workers, who, because of their commitment to the organization, would exercise responsible autonomy and control in the interests of the organization’. The emphasis is on intrinsic control and intrinsic rewards.

The ‘performance management model’ in which management retains much of the control – ‘the focus is on the adoption of practices designed to maximize high performance by ensuring high levels of competence and motivation.’ According to Guest (2007), reconciling these have been attempted through high-performance work systems. These achieve high performance by ensuring that HR practices are adopted ‘that lead to workers having high ability/competence, high motivation, and an opportunity to contribute through jobs that provide the discretion, autonomy and control required to use their knowledge and skills and to exercise motivation’.