In the last three decades, a growing body of research has suggested that using a mix or system of human resources management (HRM) practices can lead to superior organizational performance. These practices (such as selective recruitment and hiring procedures, performance-based compensation systems, employee participation, and training and development) have been referred to as high performance work systems (HPWS) and originated from the study of strategic human resource management (SHRM), where researchers have examined the impact of these systems on organizational performance outcomes. The relationship between HRM and organizational performance has received increasing interest from scholars and practitioners in the field of public administration. Scholars strive to identify the effects of HRM practices on organizational performance based on the notion that these practices will lead to enhanced attitudinal outcomes, such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and motivation, which will have positive impacts on organizational performance. This study contributes to further our understanding of the impact of management on performance in public organizations through empirical evidence drawn from theories of HRM. The growing interest among scholars in understanding the effects of management on performance presumes that the adoption of best practices will lead to improvements in organizational performance. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to examine the effects of HPWS practices on individual worker attitudes in international governmental organizations (IGOs) by reporting the results of a staff survey and follow-up interviews conducted on a cross-section of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) employees. The UNRWA is an international relief and human development Agency with a quasi-governmental role, delivering essential public services to over five million registered Palestinian refugees. UNRWA services include education, healthcare, social services, and emergency aid. In 2006, the UNRWA began a comprehensive reform program to strengthen its management capacity. Accordingly, one of the main achievements of the reform process is the deployment of new HRM systems that included recruitment strategies, performance appraisals, training and development, and compensation and rewards systems. The underlying message of the reform process has been adopting HPWS practices, which is the object of this study. Since the 1990s, the UNRWA has become increasingly interested in policy analysis and organizational research. Especially because of recent changes in the Agency’s management style, the UNRWA has become more focused on integrating knowledge and management research into its work. Therefore, when the researcher sought permission to examine the effects of the newly adopted HPWS practices on employee attitudes, the staff and upper management were very collaborative and co-operative. Surveys and interviews were conducted with program administrators, operations directors, and field staff, representing employees from different countries with varying lengths of service as well as an extensive range of levels of education and professional backgrounds. A total of 505 questionnaires were distributed in seven service departments and a total of 234 usable responses were obtained. In addition to questionnaires, a total of 10 face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore the data obtained from questionnaires and to understand further the implications of applying HPWS practices in an IGO context. Statistical analysis of the survey data and interviews provided a representation of the effects of four bundles of HPWS adopted by the organization (independent variables), on four worker attitude measures (dependent variables). The four independent variables are the HPWS practices that are the most common and most accepted in the HRM literature: staffing and recruitment, compensation and rewards, performance appraisal, and training and development. The four dependent variables are employee commitment, job satisfaction, motivation, and intention to quit. Preliminary statistical analysis consisted of descriptive statistics for all study variables, as well as Cronbach’s alpha for measuring the internal consistency reliability coefficients for all the survey subscales to examine its internal consistency. Four research hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analyses and Pearson correlation coefficients in an attempt to estimate the net effect of each of the independent variables and understand the relationship between study variables. The bivariate relationships between the dependent and independent variables have shown that the relationships are in the anticipated directions. One of the main conclusions regarding the effects of specific HPWS practices in an IGO context is that some practices, such as training and development, outperform other practices, such as staffing and recruitment. These findings are consistent with previous research on multinational corporations operating in different national contexts, and other studies comparing the effects of HPWS in different industries. The results also indicated that HPWS practices have synergistic and complementary effects on each of the employee attitudes that exceed their individual effects. Therefore, in order to expand our understanding of the effects of HPWS on organizational performance, different variables need to be considered such as national context, industry, and other organizational factors may moderate the HRM–performance relationship. The findings of this study support previous studies in this stream of research. The qualitative data were used to verify quantitative data and provide insights that were difficult to gain from surveys alone. The qualitative data indicated that more effective implementation and administration of HPWS practices would lead to better employee outcomes. In other words, the newly announced austerity measures negatively influence perceptions towards the newly implemented HPWS, which may also have influenced employee attitude outcomes.

No

No

Sammanfattning Bakgrund: High Performance Work Systems (HPWS), kan definieras som ett system av HR praktiker med intention att skapa en miljö som ger de anställda mer ansvar och skapa större organisationsengagemang. Anställda ses och behandlas som värdefulla tillgångar. Det ökade organisationsengagemanget gör i sin tur det möjligt för organisationer att skapa och upprätthålla konkurrensfördelar för att kunna uppnå organisationens mål, de anställdas mål sätts i linje med organisationen vilket gör att alla arbetar åt samma håll. Den största anledningen till att organisationer implementerar HPWS är att öka företagets effektivitet och produktivitet. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att kartlägga anställdas arbete med individuell målsättning, erfarenhet av prestationsstyrning samt välmående på arbetsplatsen i en HPWS miljö, samt undersöka dess relationer. Metod: En kvantitativ studie utförd på data insamlad via enkäter i Teams Forms från en icke slumpmässig urvalsgrupp bestående av personer med anställning i en organisation med implementerad HPWS. Data har statistiskt analyserats i PSPP och resultaten presenteras i tabeller, figurer med tillhörande deskriptiva text. Resultat: Resultatet visar att anställda i en organisation med implementerat HPWS har en hög grad av självbestämmande, möjlighet att vara med och påverka, de värderar sitt arbete som kompetenshöjande och meningsfullt samt har en god work-life balance. Slutsats: Studies resultat gör det rimligt att anta att HPWS skapar en miljö som har positiv påverkan på den anställdas arbete med individuell målsättning, erfarenhet av prestationsstyrning samt välmående på arbetsplatsen. Resultatet visar även tendenser på skillnader mellan män och kvinnor, där kvinnornas medelvärde är något högre än männens. Baserat på den tendensen, föreslår denna studie att förslag till framtida forskning att undersöka vilka variabler som påverkar kvinnors upplevelse av HPWS positivt. Nyckelord: HPWS (High Performance Work Systems), individuell målsättning, prestationsstyrning, välmående på arbetsplatsen / Abstrakt Bakgrund: Högpresterande arbetssystem kan definieras som ett system av HR-metoder som skapar en miljö i en verksamhet som tillåter en anställd större engagemang och ansvar. Anställda ses och behandlas som värderade tillgångar. Det ökade engagemanget i verksamheten gör det möjligt att skapa och bibehålla konkurrensfördelar tack vare medarbetarnas engagemang för att hjälpa verksamheten att lyckas. Den främsta anledningen till att anta HPWS är att öka företagets effektivitet och produktivitet. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga medarbetares arbete med individuell målformulering, erfarenhet från performance management och deras välbefinnande på jobbet i en HPWS-miljö, samt granska relationerna mellan de tre. Metod: En kvantitativ studie med resultat baserade på statistisk analys utförd i PSPP baserat på data som samlats in via Teams formulär frågeformulär från ett icke-slumpmässigt urval av personer som arbetar i organisationer med implementerad HPWS. Resultatet presenteras i tabeller och figurer med beskrivande text associerad. Resultat: Resultaten från denna studie visar att anställda i en organisation med implementerat HPWS har en hög grad av autonomi, stor möjlighet att påverka beslut, de värdesätter sitt arbete som meningsfullt och kompetenshöjande och har en god balans mellan arbete och privatliv. Slutsats: Resultaten från denna studie gör det rimligt att anta att HPWS skapar en miljö som har en positiv inverkan på medarbetarnas arbete med att sätta individuella mål, erfarenhet av performance management och välbefinnande i arbetet. Resultatet visar tendenser till skillnader mellan män och kvinnor, där kvinnor får högre poäng jämfört med män. Baserat på denna trend är förslaget till ytterligare studier att undersöka vilka variabler i en HPWS-miljö som har en positiv inverkan på kvinnor. Sökord: HPWS (High Performance Work Systems), individuell målsättning, performance management, välbefinnande på jobbet

In the times of globalization, informationization, rapid changing knowledge economy, corporate are facing intensive challenges. Management team knows that they should not only focus on competitive landscape but also enhance human capital in order to strengthen competitiveness and rejuvenate the organization. Accordingly, employees are motivated by every kind of intentions. They regard the degree of support of their work in the organization, the more they satisfy, the more they feel interested with the job, which might commit themselves to meet the organization¡¦s goal and be proud to be one of the whole team. This research is to test if employee perceived organizational support has an mediating effect to high performance work systems and employee¡¦s job change intention. This study collects data along with a 2- phase questionnaire, which were filled out by first-line servicing employee, with a total of 260 valid samples. In phase I analyzed high performance work system measurement result, phase II started 2 weeks after phase I questionnaire in order to prevent common method variance, which collected perceived organizational support and employee¡¦s job change intention. In this study, the result shows that high performance work systems have a significant impact on employee perceived organizational support, and have the negative impact on employee¡¦s job change intention. Moreover, employee perceived organizational support has a negative impact on employee¡¦s job change intention while it has the mediating effect between high performance work systems and job change intention. Keywords¡GHigh Performance Work Systems, Employee Perceived Organizational Support, Employee's Job change intention

One issue that has been neglected and is gaining currency in the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) literature is the extent to which individuals consider OCB to be part of the job (OCB role definition). A recent meta-analytic review reveals that employees are more likely to perform OCB when they define OCB as in-role rather than as extra-role. However, little attention has been paid to the influences of organizational practices on employee OCB role definition. This neglect is of particular relevance because researchers have argued that how employees view their role obligations are likely to be subject to some purposeful organizational practices. Thus, this paper focuses on the effects of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on employee OCB role definition. This paper adopts multiple theoretical perspectives (e.g., social exchange, organizational identification, ability-motivation-opportunity, and trust) to understand how, why, and when HPWS cause employees to expand their job requirements to include OCBs like helping and voice. Using a multisource data collected at 4 waves from 208 supervisor-employee dyads in Taiwan, I examined the following: (a) the direct effect of employee-experienced HPWS on employee helping and voice role definitions, (b) the mediating roles of employee helping and voice role definitions in the employee-experienced HPWS and actual employee helping and voice relationships, (c) the mediating roles of employee social exchange and organizational identification perceptions toward the organization, as well as employee efficacy, instrumentality, and autonomy perceptions toward helping and voice in the relationships between employee-experienced HPWS and OCB role definitions, (d) the direct effect of employee trust in supervisor on employee helping and voice role definitions, and (e) the moderating role of employee trust in supervisor in the relationships between employee-experienced HPWS and employee helping and voice role definitions. The results confirm the direct effects of employee-experienced HPWS and trust in supervisor, the mediating effects of employee helping and voice role definition, and employee efficacy, instrumentality, and autonomy perceptions toward helping and voice, as well as the moderating effects of employee trust in supervisor, such that employee trust in supervisor strengthened the effects of employee-experienced HPWS on employee helping and voice role definitions when trust in supervisor was high than when it was low. Implications for research and practice are discussed. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Employee attrition is a critical issue for organizations as retaining the best professional talent and controlling the costs linked to losing and employing new employees is a costly process. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises that have limited resources and where every individual employee is a big part of the collective effort of the company. It has been argued that in most organizations the utility of human resources is not maximized and that investments in the right human resource practices would provide returns that exceed the costs. The unclear relationship between human resource practices and performance is commonly referred to as ‘the black box' of human resource management. Human resource practices are conceptualized differently in the literature and one of the most popular views states that practices should support and synergize with each other and that a combined implementation of practices leads to better results. This concept is often referred to as high performance work systems (HPWS) which is designed to enhance employee effectiveness. Based on the research of HPWS, the AMO-framework was introduced to better explain the linkage between human resources management and organizational performance. The framework is based on the idea that employees will perform better when they are able to do so (Ability), when they possess the motivation to do so (Motivation), and when their work environment provides the necessary support (Opportunity). Due to the lack of research of the AMO-framework in Scandinavian countries, the purpose of this quantitative study is to tests the relationship between the AMO-framework, intention to leave and the two constructs of organizational commitment and work engagement. Based on the purpose, a research question for this study is addressed as follows: What is the impact of Ability, Motivation and Opportunity HR-practices on organizational commitment, work engagement and employees' intention to leave? The sample consisted of a total of 95 employees from various small and medium-sized enterprises in Sweden. The empirical findings suggest that even though the AMO-framework does not impact employees' intention to leave directly, the individual dimensions of Ability and Motivation might do so indirectly through the constructs of organizational commitment and work engagement. These findings highlight the importance of the impact of the AMO framework on the above-mentioned constructs. Furthermore, this study contributes to the studies on human resource management in SMEs by providing more insight for the owner-managers on how to wisely invest in human resources in order to decrease employee attrition.

Only a small number of U.S. businesses have implemented the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to improve their performance. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that executive business leaders use to implement the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. The study population consisted of 6 business executives and 2 organizations in the U.S. state of Texas, all with experience in implementing the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. The theory of high performance work systems provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were gathered from interviews and record reviews that were conducted within the organizations. Inductive analysis was used to identify words, phrases, ideas, and actions that were consistent among participants and organizations as well as to identify patterns and themes. Triangulation of sources between the interview and record review data was used for consistency. Three main themes emerged from data analysis: organizational leaders embedded the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence into native work models; they also used robust strategy deployment systems with accountability for action plans to spread the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence; and, rather than specifically create goals to align with the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, they identified actions to reach organizational strategic goals that were created using the Criteria as a business model. Implications for positive social change arising from this study include the potential to increase the number of available jobs by improving overall organizational performance through the increased implementation and use of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence among U.S. organizations.

Business researchers have shown that servant leaders empower, provide long-term vision, and serve their workers and followers better than do nonservant leaders. High performance work practices (HPWPs) and corporate social performance (CSP) can enhance employee and firm productivity. However, when overused or poorly managed, HPWPs and CSP can lead to the business problems of employee disengagement, overload, or anxiety. Scholars noted a gap in human resource management research regarding whether leadership styles affect HPWPs and CSP use. This study examined the relationship between leadership style and the use of HPWPs and CSP, by using a quantitative, nonexperimental design. U.S. business leaders (N = 287) completed a survey consisting of 3 previously published scales. A chi-square analysis calculated the servant to nonservant leader ratio in the population, finding a disproportionate ratio (1:40) of servant (n = 7) to nonservant (n = 280) leaders. Two t tests showed that no significant difference existed in how servant and nonservant leaders use HPWPs or CSP. However, a multiple linear regression model showed that a leader's self-reported characteristics of empowerment, vision, or service positively predicted CSP use; empowerment positively predicted HPWPs use; service negatively predicted HPWPs use; and vision had no effect on HPWPs use. Findings may help human resource practitioners identify leaders who use HPWPs or CSP differently. Positive social change may occur by hiring more visionary, empowering, or service-oriented leaders who can support overwhelmed or anxious workers, potentially leading to more engaged and productive workers, and an increase in the use of positive CSP.

La formation continue et le roulement volontaire des ressources humaines semblent entretenir une relation confuse. Peu de recherches se sont intéressées à cette relation au niveau d’analyse de l’organisation et leurs résultats semblent ne pas présenter de conclusions probantes. La présente étude de type panel pose la question à propos de la relation entre la formation continue et le roulement volontaire des ressources humaines et vérifie l’effet modérateur d’autres pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines sur cette relation. La formulation de la problématique de cette étude a donné lieu au développement d’un cadre conceptuel puisé dans trois perspectives théoriques différentes : la théorie des organisations, la théorie du capital humain et celles des systèmes de travail à haute performance. Les tests statistiques menés pour vérifier les relations entre les variables issues de ce cadre conceptuel ont été appliqués aux données collectées par Statistique Canada, dans le cadre d’une enquête longitudinale pancanadienne, auprès d’un échantillon de plus de 4 000 entreprises appartenant à 14 secteurs d’activité économique. Les résultats dégagés par l’étude confirment que la formation continue entretient une relation positive et significative avec le roulement volontaire. Les six autres pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines introduites pour tester l’effet de modération entretiennent en majorité des relations négatives et significatives avec le roulement volontaire. Les interactions entre la formation continue et chacune des six pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines aboutissent à un seul effet significatif. La multiplication des valeurs de la rémunération alternative par celles de la formation continue agit dans le sens de la diminution du taux de roulement volontaire des ressources humaines. Malgré le fait que les cinq autres pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines entretiennent des relations significatives et négatives avec le roulement volontaire, leurs interactions avec la formation continue sont demeurées sans effets significatifs. Il ressort donc des résultats de l’étude que l’impact de la formation continue sur le taux de roulement volontaire des ressources humaines peut être contrôlé par la mise en place de la rémunération alternative. Somme toute, cette étude a affirmé l’existence d’un lien significatif et positif entre la formation continue et le roulement volontaire. Elle a aussi vérifié l’impact des effets modérateurs des pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines sur la relation ci-dessus par le biais de tests d’interaction et a expliqué la possibilité de réduire le taux de roulement volontaire en associant la formation continue à la rémunération alternative. Enfin, cette recherche a permis de faire converger trois perspectives théoriques pour dégager un nouveau cadre conceptuel, lequel a servi de base à l’opérationnalisation des variables, la programmation et la réalisation des tests statistiques à travers lesquels ont été vérifiées les relations citées ci-dessus. / The association between employee turnover and training and development seems to be ambiguous at best. Few studies have shed light on this association at the organizational or workplace level of analysis and their results do not to present clear conclusions. The study reported here raises questions about this matter and verifies the moderating effect of other human resource management practices on this relationship. This study focused on the development of a conceptual framework drawn from three different theoretical perspectives: Theory of organizations, human capital theory and high performance work systems theories. The statistical tests conducted to verify the relationship between the variables included in the research framework were applied to data collected by Statistics Canada, as part of the national longitudinal survey of a sample of more than 4000 workplaces from 14 economic sectors. The results confirm that training has a positive and significant relationship with voluntary turnover, whereas the other six human resources management practices, introduced to test their moderating effect, have mostly negative and significant effects on turnover. The interactions between ongoing training and each of the six human resource management practices lead to a single significant effect. The product term formed by multiplying the values of alternative pay by those of continuous training acts in line with the decline in the voluntary turnover rate of human resources. Despite the fact that the other five human resources management practices maintain a significant negative relationship with voluntary turnover, their interactions with continuous training remain without significant effects. Hence, the findings of the study show that the impact of continuous training on voluntary turnover rate of human resources can be controled by the implementation of alternative pay practice. In fact, the study confirms that there is a positive and a significant link between training and voluntary turnover. The study also showed the impact of the moderating effects of human resources management practices on this relation through interaction tests, and explained the possibility of reducing the voluntary turnover rate by associating continuous training to alternative pay. Finally, in this research three theoretical perspectives have been merged in order to provide a new conceptual framework, which served as the basis in making the variables operational, and in programming and conducting the statistical tests used to verify the above relationships.