High-performance Work Practices (high-performance + work_practice)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


U.S. High-Performance Work Practices at Century's End

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2006
JOSEPH R. BLASI
This study examines the incidence, industry differences, and economic environment of work practices in the United States in 1994 and 1997 using census data from a nationally representative random sample of establishments. Self-managed work teams were used by a majority of workers in some sites. Work-related meetings had higher incidence. A high-performance work organization is used in about 1 percent of establishments. There were significant industry differences associated with globalization, namely, imports and exports. [source]


360-degree feedback with systematic coaching: Empirical analysis suggests a winning combination

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2003
Fred Luthans
Wanted: High-performance work practices to gain a competitive advantage. An increasingly common answer to this desperate call is 360-degree programs; unfortunately, they have, at best, mixed reviews when empirically assessed. This study found that a way to improve the effectiveness of 360s may be to combine them with coaching focused on enhanced self-awareness and behavioral management. In a small manufacturer, this feedback-coaching resulted in improved manager and employee satisfaction, commitment, intentions to turnover, and at least indirectly, this firm's performance. This feedback-coaching may be a winning combination to help in the competitive battles in today's global economy. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Balancing Work and Family: The Role of High-Commitment Environments

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 2 2003
Peter Berg
Recently, researchers have begun to recognize that the nature of jobs, the workplace environment, and more generally, the culture of the workplace can have a significant impact on the ability of workers to balance their work and family lives. This article examines the effect of high-performance work practices, job characteristics, and the work environment on workers' views about whether the company helps them balance work and family. Using data from a survey of workers across three manufacturing industries, we show that a high-commitment environment,characterized by high-performance work practices, intrinsically rewarding jobs, and understanding supervisors,positively influences employees' perceptions that the company is helping them achieve this balance. This article reinforces the view that helping workers balance work and family responsibilities is not just a matter of benefits and formal family-friendly policies. Rather, it also depends on the characteristics of jobs within the business enterprise. [source]


Contested Resources: Unions, Employers, and the Adoption of New Work Practices in US and UK Telecommunications

BRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 3 2007
Matias Ramirez
The pattern of adoption of high-performance work practices has been explained in terms of strategic contingency and in terms of union presence. We compare the post-deregulation/privatization changes in work practice at AT&T, Bell Atlantic and British Telecom. On the basis of these cases, we argue that the choice of new work practices should be understood as a consequence not only of the company's resources or changes in its environment, nor of a simple union presence, but also as a consequence of the practices' effects on union power, the nature of the union's engagement, and the union's strategic choices. [source]