1.Critically evaluate the claim that high commitment HRM leads to Essay

1.Critically evaluate the claim that high commitment HRM leads to improved levels of organisational performance - Essay Example There is an ever increasing trend for quality to be the major criterion that determines productivity, rather than a singular focus on costs which was the guiding principle prior to globalization. The new organizational approach therefore focuses on employee participation in decision making and a new set of human resource practices have evolved, focusing upon improvement in employee welfare through training, compensation and profit sharing, to motivate them in achieving this objective. These human resource practices are collectively referred to as high commitment HRM. In the present day competitive environment, people are viewed as an organization’s most valuable resource. While it may not be difficult for competitor companies to imitate products that are produced by one Company, it is next to impossible for one organization to imitate the people or replicate their skills. Human resource strategies within an organization are difficult to imitate because of path dependency, i,e, they are based upon organizational policies that have evolved over time. This is the reason why human resource management and its associated practices have come to be recognised as one of the most important factors that could impart a strategic advantage to an organization in competing in the global marketplace.(Boxall and Purcell, 2003). The scope of High Commitment HRM encompasses the notion of best practices in human resource management and the underlying premise is that there are some HR practices which have the potential to bring about improved organisational performance for all organisations (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005:72). According to Baron and Kreps (1999), high commitment HRM is characterized by three kinds of goals. Firstly, employees need to clearly understand what the best interests of their organization are and work towards the achievement of those ends. Secondly, in order to achieve these best interests, employees should also be flexible enough to