Section Five UNIVERSAL PRACTICES VS. CONTINGENCY
PERSPECTIVES
The universal approach maintains that there are several best
practices that can have positive performance effects in nearly
any organizational context. Furthermore, the approach applies
to both individual best practices as well as systems of best
practices. This approach maintains that the performance effects
of such practices or systems are direct and that their effects are
so general or robust that they increase performance regardless
of other organizational conditions or circumstances. While
human resource scholars have pointed out the lack of common
agreement on which practices constitute best practices, some
recurring themes among various studies tend to include the
practices already discussed in this section. One group of
researchers has offered this tentative description of best
practices: (1) employee skill enhancement by selective staffing,
training, and development; and (2) enhanced teamwork,
empowerment, and worker involvement in problem solving
through the mechanisms of job redesign, use of group-based
incentives, and the progression to all-salaried work forces.^102
The contingency or fit perspective maintains that firms
should adopt systems of human practices that fit their human
resource strategies. This perspective maintains that the
performance effects of such practices are realized through their