High involvement work system,work–family conflict,and expatriate performance – examining Taiwanese expatriates in China

This study explores the effects of multinational companies (MNC) implementation of a high involvement work system (HIWS) for their expatriates on both expatriate work–family conflict (WFC) and their performance. We surveyed 174 Taiwanese expatriates stationed in China. Data were collected on: (1) perceived human resource management (HRM) practices concerning ‘high involvement work system’; (2) perceived work–family conflict; (3) job satisfaction; and (4) supervisor ratings of expatriate job performance. Structural modeling techniques helped us examine in one model the interdependent relationships among high involvement work system, work–family conflict, and expatriate performance in their host country. Our results show that a high involvement work system is positively related to expatriate satisfaction and performance. However, a high involvement work system is also positively related to expatriate work-family conflict, which in turn is negatively related to expatriate satisfaction and performance. Our findings remind managers that a high involvement work system may produce multiple effects on various dimensions of employee work life, and not all of these effects may be positive.     

High involvement management,high-performance work systems and well-being

Studies on the impact of high-performance work systems on employees' well-being are emerging but the underlying theory remains weak. This paper attempts to develop theory of the effects on well-being of four dimensions of high-performance work systems: enriched jobs, high involvement management, employee voice, and motivational supports. Hypothesized associations are tested using multilevel models and data from Britain's Workplace Employment Relations Survey of 2004 (WERS2004). Results show that enriched jobs are positively associated with both measures of well-being: job satisfaction and anxiety–contentment. Voice is positively associated with job satisfaction, and motivational supports with neither measure. The results for high involvement management are not as predicted because it increases anxiety and is independent of job satisfaction.     

High performance work systems and organizational performance: an empirical study of Taiwan's semiconductor design firms

This paper presents a study examining the relationship between high performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational performance in Taiwan's semiconductor design industry. The hypotheses are tested by matching and analysing data collected from field interviews with 21 HR managers and surveys of 21 senior operations managers and 1,129 employees. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrate that the effective use of employee empowerment practices is positively related to organizational performance.     

Employee commitment in MNCs: Impacts of organizational culture,HRM and top management orientations

This article tests a model of organizational commitment in multinational corporations (MNCs). According to the model, organizational culture and human resource management (HRM) affect employee commitment directly as well as indirectly through top management team orientations. Szpecifically, we examined the effect of top management team global orientation and geocentric orientation, which are seen as contributing uniquely to employee commitment in MNCs. The model was tested on a sample of 1664 core employees working in 39 affiliates of 10 MNCs. We found strong overall support for the model. In particular, organizational culture characterized by high adaptability and a HRM system characterized by high performance work practices were found to have a significant and direct effect on employee commitment. In addition, we found that the effect of these traditional elements of the human organization is partially mediated through top management orientations, specific to international firms. The validity and generalizability of these results are reinforced by the control of a set of demographic variables as well as nationality of parent company.     

High‐Performance Work Systems and Teachers’ Work Performance: The Mediating Role of Quality of Working Life

This article examines the role of quality of working life (QWL) in the relationships between high‐performance work systems (HPWSs) and employee in‐role performance and extra‐role behavior. Using the data from 1,051 teachers and their immediate supervisors in 63 Chinese schools, we performed multilevel analysis to test meso‐mediation models. The results showed that HPWSs directly and indirectly influence teachers’ in‐role performance and extra‐role behavior through the mediation of QWL. These findings demonstrate that QWL is an important conduit of the relationships between HPWSs and employee work behaviors. The article concludes by discussing the implications for management and future research. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High‐performance work systems and creativity implementation: the role of psychological capital and psychological safety

Unimplemented creative ideas are potentially wasted opportunities for organisations. Although it is largely understood how to encourage creativity among employees, how to ensure this creativity is implemented remains underexplored. The objective of the current study is to identify the underlying mechanisms that explain the relationship between high‐performance work systems and creativity implementation. Drawing from the job demands–resources model, we explore a model of psychological capital and psychological safety as mediators in the relationship between high‐performance work systems and creativity implementation. Based on 505 employee survey responses, the findings show support for the mediating relationships, highlighting the importance of psychological mechanisms. The study has important implications for HRM, uncovering how people management practices can encourage creativity implementation in the workplace.     

The Effects of Union and Nonunion Forms of Employee Representation on High‐Performance Work Systems: New Evidence from French Microdata

This article investigates the effects of union and nonunion employee representation (ER) on the use of high‐performance work systems (HPWSs) in the French context. We use microdata from a nationally representative survey (REPONSE 2010–11) and estimate models dealing with the potential endogeneity of ER. After controlling for endogeneity and for a range of workplace characteristics, regression analyses suggest that neither union nor nonunion representatives are inherently against the use of HPWSs. Moreover, these forms of ER cannot be regarded as substitutes for one another. Results vary, depending on what type of bundle of practices is considered. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The role of employee HR attributions in the relationship between high‐performance work systems and employee outcomes

Although research has shown that the use of high‐performance work systems (HPWS) is associated with employee outcomes, our knowledge of the meanings employees attach to HPWS systems and how these shape employee outcomes is still limited. This study examines the signalling impact of enacted HPWS on HR well‐being and HR performance attributions, and how these influence happiness‐ and health‐related outcomes. Using multilevel data (1,065 employees nested within 150 work units) obtained from multiple sources (line managers and employees), our results show that coverage of HPWS was positively associated with the two HR attributions. In addition, HR well‐being attributions were associated with higher levels of commitment and lower levels of job strain. HR performance attributions were associated with higher levels of job strain. The findings of this study highlight the importance of taking into account how employees attach meaning to enacted HPWS in order to predict employee outcomes.     

The impact of diversity and equality management on firm performance: Beyond high performance work systems

This article demonstrates that a diversity and equality management system (DEMS) contributes to firm performance beyond the effects of a traditional high‐performance work system (HPWS), which consists of bundles of work practices and policies used extensively in high‐performing firms. A DEMS typically includes diversity training and monitoring recruitment, pay, and promotion across minority or other disadvantaged groups. Our analysis of quantitative data from service and manufacturing organizations in Ireland confirms that HPWS practices are associated with positive business performance and finds specifically that DEMS practices are positively associated with higher labor productivity and workforce innovation and lower voluntary employee turnover. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Workplace innovation,employment relations and HRM: two electronics companies in South Korea

Analysing two electronics companies (unionized LG Electronics and non-union Samsung SDI) in Korea, the present paper investigates the impact of union status on workplace innovations and the effects of workplace innovations on organizational performance. Both case firms are considered highly innovative, model companies in terms of their sophisticated human resource management (HRM) and cooperative employment relations (ER). We first provide a conceptual framework and generate three propositions. The framework is composed of three main components: input, organizational system and output. The major findings include: (1) the adoption of high performance work organizations (HPWO) is highly dependent upon top management and union/employee representatives; (2) the two case firms adopted two different production modes (a team production mode in LG Electronics and a lean production mode in Samsung SDI); and (3) alignment among organizational design and work processes, ER systems and HRM systems would lead to high organizational performance. We also discuss the transferability of HPWO to other cultural settings in a universalism-contingency context.     

High‐involvement HRM,job satisfaction and productivity: A two wave longitudinal study of a Spanish retail company

The strategic human resource management literature lacks longitudinal studies, and the causal associations between human resource management (HRM) and organisational performance (OP) remain underexplored. We tested cross‐lagged relationships between high‐involvement work systems (HIWS), job satisfaction, and store productivity based on a large longitudinal dataset from the retail sector comprising two waves of data. The first wave (2011) included 6,016 employee responses from 104 stores, and the second wave (2015) included 5,842 employee responses from 94 stores. The quantitative study suggested counterintuitive negative associations. A subsequent qualitative study indicated that the association may have been conditioned by the recessionary action taken by the company in response to financial difficulties. The longitudinal research design, the compilation of data during difficult economic situations, and in a relatively unexplored sector such as the retail industry help to shed some light on the universalism of the HRM‐OP relationship and its boundary conditions.     

Employee involvement,the quality of training and the learning environment: an individual level analysis

Theories such as human capital theory, the metaphors of learning and the high involvement work paradigm all suggest that the quality of training and learning varies along a number of axes. This article shows how these theoretical insights have been translated into questions used in a UK survey of 6829 employees carried out in 2006. We find that the qualities of both the training experience and on-the-job learning are strongly associated with the extent and nature of employee involvement. This suggests that employee involvement is likely to play an important role in the process of upskilling the workforce, which has been accorded a central role in the economic strategies of many nation states as well as supra-national organizations such as the European Union.     

定能分级与绩效挂钩在提高高年资护士工作积极性上的作用

目的:探讨定能分级与绩效挂钩在提高高年资护士工作积极性上的作用。方法:根据院部定能分级方案确定护士相关能级,参照规定的绩效分配方案进行各能级绩效发放。结果:高年资护士在定能分级与个人绩效挂钩后主动承担病房临床业务、病房的管理及带教任务,大大提高了工作的积极性、主动性。结论:通过实施定能分级与绩效挂钩,高年资护士的工作积极性得到了很大的提高,充分利用了护士资源,提高了护理质量,提高了患者满意度。     

Are high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) enabling or disabling? Exploring the relationship between selected HPWPs and work‐related disability disadvantage

We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by drawing on the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) model to assess the relationship between high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) and work‐related disability disadvantage. We develop competing “enabling” and “disabling” hypotheses concerning the influence of selected HPWPs (competency testing, performance appraisal, individual performance‐related pay, teamworking, and functional flexibility) on disabled relative to nondisabled employees. An empirical assessment of these competing hypotheses using matched employer–employee data from the nationally representative British Workplace Employment Relations Study 2011 reveals a negative relationship between these HPWPs when used in combination and the proportion of disabled employees at the workplace, although this relationship disappears in workplaces with a wide range of disability equality practices. While disabled employees report lower work‐related well‐being than their nondisabled counterparts, we find limited evidence that this is associated with the presence of HPWPs.     

Are you really doing good things in your boss's eyes? Interactive effects of employee innovative work behavior and leader–member exchange on supervisory performance ratings

Organizations increasingly depend on employee efforts to innovate. However, the quality of relationships between leaders and employees may affect the recognition that employees receive for their innovative work behaviors. Drawing from a social cognition perspective, we tested a model in which leader–member exchange (LMX) moderates the impact of employee innovative work behavior on supervisory ratings of employee performance. Results from two multisource studies combining self, colleague, and supervisor ratings consistently showed that employees receive more favorable performance ratings by engaging in innovative work behavior when they have high‐quality LMX relationships. Moreover, we found that this interactive relationship was mediated by leader perceptions of innovative employee efforts, providing support for a moderated mediation model. Implications for the literatures on performance appraisal, LMX, and innovation are discussed.     

High‐commitment HR practices,employee effort,and firm performance: Investigating the effects of HR practices across employee groups within professional services firms

In this study, the authors examine the relationship between high‐commitment HR practices and firm performance in professional services firms through the mediator of employee effort. In addition, they contribute to the debate in the field of strategic HRM on whether high‐commitment HR practices should be used across all employee groups within a firm. Their study's results show that high‐commitment HR practices positively relate to firm performance through employee effort for two employee groups within professional services firms. Further, they found that the relationship between effort and performance is contingent on the value of the employee group to firm competitive advantage, suggesting that companies may only want to expend the effort and resources on building a high‐commitment HR system for employee groups that are clearly tied to creating firm competitive advantage. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

HR practices and New Zealand firm performance: what matters and who does it?

We examine the impact of human resource practices, especially those considered as parts of high performance work systems, on firm performance. The analysis is unique in using data from an economy-wide official survey to determine whether firms that adopt high performance HR practices perform better than their rivals. We find that adoption of a suite of high performance practices (and adoption of specific practices pertaining to staff training and performance pay) has a causal impact on firm outcomes. The strength of the relationships differs by firm size and age. Firms that adopt high performance practices are predominantly young and in high-tech related sectors.     

Research and theory on high‐performance work systems: progressing the high‐involvement stream

The notion of a high‐performance work system (HPWS) constitutes a claim that there exists a system of work practices for core workers in an organisation that leads in some way to superior performance. In this article, we dissect this fuzzy notion and examine its companion terminology: high‐involvement work systems and high‐commitment management. We argue that a focus on the high‐involvement stream usefully grounds HPWS studies in an important area of workplace change in the current context and takes us away from eclectic and contentious selections of ‘best practices’. We review research models and findings in this stream. The path to better research lies in examining the underpinning processes experienced by workers when management seeks to pursue high‐involvement systems, and charting their links to employee and operational outcomes.     

Computer-integrated manufacturing and high performance work system: the case of Taiwan

This study investigates the relationships between computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) and high-performance work system (HPWS) that can arguably improve human capital in the firm and enhance the effectiveness of these advanced manufacturing technologies. Our data were drawn from two surveys of Taiwanese manufacturing establishments in 1998 and 2005. Results showed that high-degree CIM was positively associated with the practices of the each HR practice and HPWS, including high pay level, rigorous selection, extensive training, developmental performance management, performance- and competency- based rewards as well as employee stock ownership.