Performance improvement lies not so much in creating the hard issues at the
bottom line but on creating an environment within which people will accept
change and cooperate in different methods of working. And I believe our part-
nership approach does create such an environment, one in which we can
manage change successfully and which encourages people to accept new
responsibilities and acquire new skills.The majority of the organizations covered by the research had installed
performance management processes in which the emphasis was on
performance improvement and development and not reward. The scheme in
Mercia Systems emphasized the new priorities of involvement, teamwork
and self-development as well as more standard measures.
Quality and customer care
Quality, which in essence means customer satisfaction, is generally recog-
nized today as the key to the achievement of competitive advantage.
Innovation and cost reduction are still important but they are to no avail if,
ultimately, customers reject the product because it does not meet their expec-
tations. Quality is achieved through people and, in accordance with a basic
HRM principle, investment in people is a prerequisite for achieving high-
quality standards.
A strategy for total quality is a true HRM strategy in the sense that it is
owned and delivered by management. It should therefore be built into their
business strategy as it is, for example, for Mercia Systems.
The chief executive of Loamshire Council said that ‘We have a
performance appraisal system and one area that we are particularly keen
should be dealt with as part of that process is the contribution of the indi-
vidual to our customer care standards.’
At Mercia Systems, the personnel director stated that, in pursuit of their
goal of world-class performance, personnel strategy must help to ensure that
they are a best-practice company. An important aspect of this strategy ‘is to
educate everyone to build quality into every job, aiming to convey to people
that if you get it right first time they will be saving a lot of unnecessary work’.
ACHIEVING INTEGRATION
The integration of HR and business strategies is seen by some commentators
as a main distinguishing feature of strategic HRM. Doubts have been cast by
a number of commentators such as Storey (1993) on the extent to which such
integration does take place, often on the grounds that integration is not an
issue when there are no corporate strategies. This was not the case in any of
Strategic HRM in action l 101