Evaluate the link between HPW and sustainable organization performance, employee well-being and competitive advantage.

Improving organizational performance 

of HPW.

HPW components:

–          Employee engagement.

–          Diversity.

–          Communication.

–          Trust

–

sustainable organization performance,

employee well-being and competitive

advantage.

–          Competing on Cost.

–          Competing on skills.

–          Cultural change.

–          Global markets and workforce.

–          Middle managers may not be good leaders.

–          Is HR integrated to the business into the business or is it isolated.

–

Performance management cycle and the role of development and performance reviews.

Involve line managers in the performance review process.

Employee role: Engaged in the process / develop skills and capability/ open and transparent.

High involvement practices:

–          Internal staff surveys.

–          Staff association.

–          Cross function teams.

–          Provide employee with a copy of the business plan.

As HR we think of developing:

–          Annual appraisal.

–          Continuous skill development programmes.

–          Workforce diversity for competitive edge.

–          Mentoring

–          Training to perform multiple jobs.

Common reward practices are:

–          Performance pay for some employees.

–          Profit sharing for some employees.

–          Job rotation.

–          Family friendly policies.

–          Non pay benefits( e,g, free meals, gifts or health packages.

–          Flexible working.

1        Understand the concept of high-performance working (HPW) and its contribution to creating and sustaining a high-performance work organization (HPWO).

2        Understand the contribution of performance management to high levels of performance and the role of line managers in the process.

3        Know how to create and sustain a community of practice to build a high-performance culture.

Your HR Director is to present a report to the executive team that puts forward a positive business case for introducing high performance working practices into the organization. She has asked you to provide her with an evidence-based written brief.

You will need to make reference to academic research and literature in your brief. In the first section you should briefly address the concepts of HPW and HPWO and provide:

●        A brief analysis of the concept and components of HPW.
●        A brief evaluation of the link between HPW and sustained organization performance, employee well-being and competitive advantage.
●        An identification of some of the main barriers to HPW.
In the next section of your brief you should address performance management. You should:

●        Summarize the main stages of the performance management cycle and the role of development and performance reviews.
●        Give some examples of different ways of involving line managers in the performance review process.
●        Provide a brief evaluation of the contribution of the performance management process to promoting challenges, capability or recognizing and rewarding talent.
In the final section of your report you should give a summary of how to create and sustain a culture of HPW and:

●        Recommend some of the ways of building trust, enthusiasm and commitment in support of a high-performance culture.

1.1

1.2

1.3

2.1
2.2

2.3

3.1

An evidence-based written brief of approximately 3,900 words in total.

You should relate academic concepts, theories and professional practice to the way organizations operate, in a critical and informed way, and with reference to key texts, articles and other publications and by using organizational examples for illustration. All reference sources should be acknowledged correctly, and a bibliography provided where appropriate (these should be excluded from the word count).

To pass, candidates should provide an evidence-based written brief of approximately 3,000 words in total which reflects the guidance given below.

Candidates should relate academic concepts, theories and professional practice to the way organizations operate, in a critical and informed way, and with reference to key texts, articles and other publications and by using organizational examples for illustration.

All reference sources should be acknowledged correctly, and a bibliography provided where appropriate (these should be excluded from the word count).

AC 1.1,

AC 1.2

AC 1.3

Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of HPW frameworks and their key components such as leadership and strategy, work organization, organization development, employee involvement, employee reward etc.

Candidates should refer to literature that evaluates the link between HPW and sustained organization performance, employee well-being and competitive advantage. They should address the link between HPW systems and processes and cultural change.

Candidates should identify some of the main barriers to HPW e.g. attitudes to change, costs in time and effort, lack of understanding, lack of trust, degree of co-operation from trades unions.

AC 2.1

AC 2.2

AC 2.3

Candidates should describe the main stages of the performance management cycle which would typically include: setting objectives, performing and developing through to performance review. They should make reference to the role of objective setting and link with organizational goals and any individual development needs in the process. They should summarize the role of development and performance reviews e.g. identifying key achievements, aligning individual’s day-to-day activities with organization goals, identifying development needs and establishing a focus for skill development, making decisions about reward, creating documentation for legal purposes.
Candidates should give some examples of how to involve line managers in the performance review process e.g. they could cite some of the following: provision of training in the organizations systems, processes and documentation, monitoring and mentoring to ensure equity, seeking their feedback on the operation of the systems and processes.
Candidates should show how the performance management process contributes to promoting challenge, building future people capacity or recognizing and rewarding talent. They can give their own examples e.g. in recognizing achievement, performance reward but should refer to key principles e.g. fairness, reasonableness, equity and meritocracy.

AC 3.1

Candidates should give some recommendations on how to sustain a HPW culture e.g. they could include: clarity of vision, mission and values, effective intro-organisational communications, inclusive collaborative working practices commitment to capacity and capability building, coaching and mentoring, provision of on-line tools and support.