High performance organizations

Citation

Nolan, S. (2013), "High performance organizations", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 12 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2013.37212baa.001

High performance organizations

Article Type: Editorial From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 2

How can HR contribute to creating high performance organizations? This is the question addressed in this issue of Strategic HR Review. A combination of case studies and a research paper draw on best practice and innovation from around the world, linking people strategies with positive performance on an employee and organizational level.

“Regenerating organizational strength the employee centric way”, by Mrs Rohini Sharma and Dr C.K. Sahoo, is a case study feature of a successful turnaround from poor to high performance at Rourkela Steel Plant, part of the Steel Authority of India Limited. A three-year turnaround plan called “Regenerating Strength with People” (RSP) was developed on the conviction that RSP’s people were key to improving performance and by harnessing collective leadership and decision-making under a shared transformation strategy. It involved a workshop training program of an unprecedented scale at the organization to mobilize its people to meet the strategic objectives of maximizing production, reducing waste, lowering costs and retaining market share through quality improvements. Achieving such ambitious targets from a starting point of low performance and morale involved a cultural transformation that started with adding value to the employee, in order to push that value creation out to all stakeholders.

The case study, “Engaging global training program delivers high-performance results”, by Rick Jackson and Sue Stoneman, describes the development of a global learning program to encourage 100,000 employees in 220 countries to be the best that they can be. It followed a period of restructure that had lowered engagement levels, which it aimed to boost as well as gaining a competitive edge in the market. The overall objective was to deliver high-performance business results, by ensuring service levels are industry-leading and globally consistent. It started with a period of investigation into employee motivation, knowledge, customer orientation, appetite to learn, and feelings towards the organization. This information was then used to create a bespoke program aligned to the organization’s strategic objectives. Clear measurable goals were set prior to the delivery of the innovative blended learning program that included film and animation to share key messages, immersive and interactive engagement events and high impact learning materials.

“Building a high performance organization: how Pamplona helps Bull and its employees achieve their goals” is a case study from Jo Sims that discusses how Bull Information Systems is taking staff with leadership potential and transforming them into senior managers. This is part of its aim of creating a high performance team for the future. In order to qualify for the program, employees need to have shown an interest in personal and commercial development. However, the selection criteria go beyond this and are highly strategic. It considers the commercial need for particular skills and the value of having a robust succession plan, as well as recommendations from peers across the organization. The content of the program is realistic and relevant so that it matches Bull’s business environment. Course materials are created so that they actively benefit the business as a whole and engage employees in Bull’s business and people strategy. Delegates come up with new ideas and are then asked to develop them, with action teams set up specifically to help them. This creates a team of motivated leaders who become advocates for Pamplona and the wider Bull strategy.

In “The decision to trust boosts performance”, Anni Kervinen discusses how a program of trust, information sharing and transparency helped international software design and development house, Futurice, to reverse a decline in the quality of employee decision-making. Having experienced significant growth in the ten years following start-up, the company started to experience irrational and poor decision-making from employees – the result of a change of culture, new processes and controls to deal with a growing structure, and insufficient information sharing. The solution was to introduce a complete transparency in information to empower and improve individual decision-making. People were actively encouraged to ask questions and seek out information, rather than to accept and respond to instruction. Technology was used to facilitate information sharing, and trust to encourage it, with staff learning to care for each other and the organization and given the means to contribute directly to strategy and mission. As a result, staff retention, customer satisfaction and revenue growth are all high.

“The five key roles of managers: how HR can build engagement that lasts”, by Jane Sparrow, looks at the roles that managers need to play to influence high performance in others and how HR can support their proficiency in those roles. The author identifies five roles of the manager-as-engager – Prophet, Storyteller, Strategist, Coach and Pilot. She gives examples of each in practice and provides advice to HR professionals on practical ways to develop managers in each role. The key to being an exceptional manager, according to the author’s research, is to carefully balance all five roles, rather than focus on one or two. This means voiding a tendency to focus on natural strengths and to work on areas of weakness also. For HR it means creating a comprehensive development plan and providing managers with the support and investment required to be managers-as-engagers.

Sara Nolan