Understanding High Performance Working: Key Components and Benefits

In this document we will discuss about Understanding High Performance Working and below are the summary points of this document:- High Performance Working (HPW) involves developing a culture of trust, transparency, and open communication in organizations. HPW includes employee participation in decision-making, training, incentives, and technology to enhance employee engagement, motivation, and productivity. The benefits of HPW include a strong sense of teamwork, increased employee morale, productivity, and efficiency.

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High Performance Working
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1. Analyze the concept of HPW. (AC 1.1) (approx 100 words)
High-Performance Working (HPW) entails developing a culture that comprises of trust,
transparency, as well as open lines of communication for every individual. HPW is about
discarding the traditional hierarchical structure which several companies still operate under, and
developing a flatter structure that enhances employee happiness, motivation, engagement,
including sharing and understanding the organization’s vision (Buchanan and McCalman, 2018,
n.d.). HPW is a combination of processes, Human Resource practices, and work structures that
aim at improving the skills and knowledge of the employees. It comprises of new ways of
organizing work, rewarding performance, including involving the staff in the process of decision
making.
2. Explain the key components of HPW (i.e. perspectives on the range of processes,
practices or systems that might be included in the best HPW best practice bundle). (AC 1.1)
(approx 400 words)
The first component is the employees’ ability to participate in the decision-making
process. An employee’s ability to take part in the decision-making process is regarded as a high
performance working key element. Giving the staff the chance to make decisions that have an
impact on their immediate environment results in positive effects in the entire company. Doing
so makes the staff feel more empowered, thus developing a committed workplace. In addition, it
enhances workplace relationship because every employee is given an opportunity to share their
opinions as well as knowledge with their colleagues. Engaging the employee in decision-making
does not only enhance manager-employee relationship but it also enhances a strong sense of
teamwork among the staff.

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The second component is training. Training is effective in improving the employees’
knowledge, skills, as well as capabilities of doing a certain job. The training process molds the
staff’s thinking, resulting in quality performance. Training is important for the success and
development of an organization (Shin and Konrad, 2017, pp.981). Training is beneficial both to
the organization’s employer and employees. If trained well, the employee will become more
productive and efficient. The primary benefits of training are; it improves the employees’
morale, it encourages less supervision as the staff is well acquainted with the job, there are fewer
accidents at the workplace and leads to increased productivity.
The third component is the incentives. If there are no incentives, the employees may be
discouraged from taking part in the HPW. The performance of the staff is directly proportional to
the outcomes that are of benefit to the organization and to themselves. It is the same reason that
it is common for smaller firms to offer stock options including other profit sharing plans and
equity plans. However, big organizations are more likely to use pay rises, give bonuses for
achieving the targeted performance, including other monetary incentives.
Technology is the fourth component. In the 21st century, technology is crucial for the
success of any business. Technology is important in the workplace because it makes the business
more efficient and productive. For instance, it makes it easy to schedule appointments or sales
calls, track time, along with performing tedious work. In addition, technology ensures that there
is computational accuracy. For instance, Excel, - consisting of several computational formulas-
ensures accuracy. Accounting programs also help a company accurately keep inventory, handle
payroll, record sales, or even manage and pay bills.

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3. Identify barriers to implementing HPW in organizations (AC 1.3) (approx 400
words)
Barriers to implementing HPW in an organization are categorized into barriers put in
place by the senior leaders and barriers resulting from not managing performance. Some of these
barriers include;
The first barrier is leaders not educating themselves sufficiently. Most of these leaders
read and are aware of the outcomes of a high-performing company but they misunderstand and
become misinformed of the commitment level required such as energy, a shift in mindset, time,
and resources. As a result, a consultant should be engaged to prepare the management on what
they are supposed to do, the resources, time, as well as the energy they will require to change the
way which the company operates and shift to a culture of high-performance. It is also important
that the leaders are aware of the valley of despair since it is likely to arise when transiting to
high-performance.
Maintaining too many rules that hinder meeting customer needs is the other barrier. The
management may be unwilling to remove policies as well as procedures that restrain high
performance. Trust is a key component of high-performance and the management needs to trust
that most of the team members intend to do the right thing, and if they are given the opportunity,
they will do the right thing, - without having to put too many policies and procedures that hinder
them from performing.
Not giving up control is the third barrier to implementing high performance working in
an organization. The senior leaders should be willing to give up control and carry out duties
which they are meant to do such as spending most of their time on strategic issues. Nonetheless,

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not having the courage and willingness to let go of the old way of doing things and adopting a
new culture of high-performance may be a barrier to implementing HPW.
Lack of enough information to assist in tracking performance is a barrier to implementing
HPW. Lack of this information is associated with poor technology that does not provide an
opportunity to record and report the individual as well as the company’s performance, including
the creation of succession and development plans. If employees are to be productive and high-
performing, it is essential that they have access to quick and real-time feedback that helps them
adjust their performance quickly. Other barriers include not having clear consequences of not
achieving or achieving organizational outcomes and abdicating real leadership.
4. Evaluate the link between HPW and employee well-being. (AC1.2) (approx 200
words)
Given that HPW focuses on the management of people including the importance of the
employees to an organization, it is true to say that HPW is linked to the staff’s wellbeing.
Wellbeing increases workplace productivity and it is also associated with losses in production or
absence from work. Worker engagement is an essential underpinning in increased or reduced
productivity or quality. While the traditional practices relied upon command and control, HPW
enables and motivates the employees. HPW equates to the best practice among the employer,
employees, including their representatives. As a result, HPW redresses the productivity losses
that are as a result of weaknesses in the practices of managing people, through which
organizations should seize and promote the widespread of HPW to improve their productivity
performance (Jensen, Patel and Messersmith, 2013, pp.1700). HPW philosophies recognize that
workers require meaningful and challenging work. The employees require the opportunity to

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apply their knowledge and skills in an environment that is safe and healthy, where there are
effective working relationships while maintaining work-life balance with the aim of moving
towards organizational wellbeing. HPW provides an environment that incorporates the working
practices that perceive employee wellbeing as crucial to productivity gains. HPW does this by
minimizing negative emotions while maximizing positive emotions.
5. Evaluate the link between HPW and competitive advantage. (AC1.2) (approx 200
words)
The link between high performance working and an organization’s competitive advantage
is based on the company retaining and improving its market position by innovating in new
products as well as new designs. Designing new products through innovation helps develop
products that best meets customers’ needs thus giving an organization a hedge over its
competitors. The link between HPW and competitive advantage is also based on establishing
social relationships in a company’s environment that are difficult to be imitated by rival
organizations, which is also termed as social complexity. Competitive advantage results from
different things; the first is the productivity of the employees. The staff should possess the
knowledge and skills of doing their work with less supervision using the tools and resources
available in the organization (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright, 2017, n.d.). Effectiveness is
the other factor that enhances competitive advantage whereby the management implements
policies and strategy. Innovation also sustains a competitive advantage by ensuring there is a
constant flow of new ideas. Last is technology that makes sure that information is readily
available for the employees to work on. All these factors are directly associated with the HPW
and they enhance the competitive advantage of an organization.

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6. Evaluate the link between HPW and sustainable organizational performance (AC1.2)
(approx 200 words)
Through mediating mechanisms, high-performance working contributes to high
organizational performance. However, HPW does not have a direct effect on performance but
rather it enhances performance through sequential links. HPW have a positive impact on the
staff’s behavior, skills, and motivation which result in positive employee outcomes that include
individual performance as well as low turnover (Mahdi, Liao, Muhammad and Nader, 2014,
pp.17). The employee outcomes translate to increased productivity in terms of service and
quality which in turn lead to enhanced financial outcomes. Implementing HPW causes a lower
voluntary turnover and enhanced productivity, which affects the level of financial performance.
Employee productivity is due to improved skills, motivation, including the organizational
structures that promote work performance. In addition, higher financial performance can be
achieved when the HPW’s investment is less compared to the benefits resulting from higher
productivity and lower employee turnover. The link between HPW and sustained organizational
performance is thus based upon the ability to implement human resource activities that comprise
of training and development which are essential in developing the staff’s competence level that
enables them to utilize the organizational resources. The ability of implementing these HR
activities depends on understanding the organization’s context so as to come up with informed
decision on the most essential practices.
7. Please also comment on how you will transfer the new knowledge and skills gained
during this assignment into working practices. You may also use this reflection for your CPD.
(approx 200 words)

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Learning is one thing but until we put into action the new knowledge that it becomes a
skill. To ensure that I transfer this new knowledge and skill into working practices, I would help
the management set short term as well as long term goals to make sure there is progress in
changing from the traditional practices and adopting the HPW. HPW is directly linked to
sustainable organizational performance and competitive advantage. Through HPW, I can assist
the management come up with training and development programs that will help improve the
employees’ knowledge, skills, and competencies which will, in turn, result in improved
productivity, thus enhanced financial performance. By setting goals, I can help guide the HR
director to set guidelines to adopt new technology and innovation. Innovating and designing will
improve the competitive advantage of the organization while new technology provides reliable
and up-to-date information. In addition, I can inform the management of their role in
implementing HPW such as by creating a conducive working environment for the employees,
trusting their employees by giving up control, educating themselves sufficiently, remove policies
as well as procedures that restrain high performance, and ensuring that the employees have
access to up-to-date information.

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Bibliography
Buchanan, D.A. and McCalman, J., 2018. High performance work systems: The digital
experience. Routledge.
Jensen, J.M., Patel, P.C. and Messersmith, J.G., 2013. High-performance work systems and job
control: Consequences for anxiety, role overload, and turnover intentions. Journal of
Management, 39(6), pp.1699-1724.
Mahdi, S.M., Liao, J., Muhammad, S. and Nader, H.M., 2014. The impact of high performance
work system (HPWS) on employee productivity as related to organizational identity and job
engagement. European Journal of Business and Management, 6(39), pp.1-24.
Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource management:
Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Shin, D. and Konrad, A.M., 2017. Causality between high-performance work systems and
organizational performance. Journal of Management, 43(4), pp.973-997.