and at crafting HR policies and practices that produce those workforce
requirements. They must have a sufficiently wide breadth of business
knowledge to be able to understand how the company creates value, and to
see how the firm's HR system can contribute to that value-creation process.
The HR professional has to understand how businesses operate. Just
understanding the nitty-gritty of recruiting, selecting, and training is no longer
sufficient.
The High-Performance Work system
In today’s competitive environment, the manager can't leave the nature of the
HR system the actual HR policies and practices-to chance. Managers usually
try to create high-performance work systems (HPWS). The HPWS is a set of
HR policies and practices that maximize the competencies, commitment, and
abilities of the firm's employees. In practice, this means that each HPWS HR
activity produces measurable superior results. For example, review Table 2.6
Note how much more extensively the high-performing companies structure
their recruiting activities so as to produce qualified recruits. And, how much
more extensively high-performing firms hire employees based on selection
tests, and provides training to new employees. The bottom line is that
management can't leave their HR systems unmanaged. Based on an ongoing
research program with over 2,800 corporations, firms that use HPWS policies
and practices do perform at a significantly higher level than those that do not.
The evidence suggests that "high performance HR practices, [particularly]
combined with new techno produce better productivity, quality, sales, and
financial performance."