High Performance Work Systems

34 Pages Posted: 26 Feb 2008

See all articles by Paul Boselie

Paul Boselie

Tilburg University - Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences; Utrecht University of Applied Sciences

Ton van der Wiele

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Economics; Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

Date Written: 19 2002 4,

Abstract

Research, summarized and classified in the work of Delery and Doty (1996), Guest (1997), Paauwe and Richardson (1997) and Boselie et al. (2001), suggests significant impact of Human Resources Management (HRM) on the competitive advantage of organizations. The mainstream research on this topic reveals encouraging results on organizational level. Also in relation to Total Quality Management (TQM) there is research evidence that 'best practices' and/or 'high performance work systems' (HPWS) can be identified having positive impact on the performance of an organization (Waldman, 1994; Hendricks and Singhal, 1997 and 2001; Blackburn and Rosen, 1993). Delery and Shaw (forthcoming in 2002) allege a need for "research on research" in the area of HPWS and performance, more precisely research on organizational-level research methods. We argue that further "research on research" on the perception of the individual employee may also reveal new (methodological) insights in the effects of HRM and/or TQM practices on performances in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to (1) review methodological problems in empirical literature on HRM/TQM and performance and to (2) test the stability of HRM/TQM factors (or constructs) over time. We have the opportunity to analyze longitudinal data (1998 and 2000) of individual employee perceptions from the Ernst & Young company in the Netherlands. The HRM/TQM constructs appear to be relatively stable over time, just like the relationship between these constructs and performance.

Keywords: human resource management (HRM), total quality management (TQM), high performance work systems (HPWS), employee morale, employee satisfaction

JEL Classification: M, L2, M12, M10

Suggested Citation

Boselie, Paul and van der Wiele, Ton, High Performance Work Systems (19 2002 4,). ERIM Report Series Reference No. ERS-2002-44-ORG, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1097833

Paul Boselie

Tilburg University - Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

Utrecht University of Applied Sciences ( email )

Utrecht
Netherlands

Ton Van der Wiele

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands
+31 10 408 1354 (Phone)
+31 10 408 9169 (Fax)

Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands