High Performance Working and Culture at Johnson & Johnson

Defining High Performance Working and High Performance Culture

High performance working (HPW) is defined as an overall approach to managing organizations that aims to arouse employee participation and commitment so as to achieve high levels of performance — specifically, to improve the discretionary effort employees invest in their work and to fully utilize the skills and competencies they possess (Belt and Giles, 2009). HPW is also described as a term used to outline a distinct approach to management in the work environment, with the main objective of maximizing organizational performance by investing in the skills and capabilities of employees (Belanger et al., 2002). Ashton and Sung (2002) note that HPW takes into account the effective and efficient utilization of the workforce, with a significant focus on generating good-quality work rather than simply making employees work harder. Giles et al. (2002) similarly point out that the high-performance working approach is distinctively intended to improve the discretionary effort employees place into their work and to fully develop and augment the skills and competencies they possess. Guest (2002) argues that high performance working is potentially an organizational innovation from which every stakeholder — ranging from the employee to the employer and the broader economy — can benefit.

Noe, Hollenbeck, and Gerhert (2003) point out that high performance working is a system whereby an organization achieves the best possible fit between its people and their interactions (the social system) and its technical system (the equipment and processes). Yalabik et al. (2008) assert that high performance working is a system that increases employee productivity when employees are motivated, engaged, and given autonomy. The authors further note that high performance working generally comprises hiring practices, extensive training and education, performance-based pay, workplace empowerment, and the sharing of organizational knowledge.

Mkamwa (2010) conducted a review of widely used terminologies encompassing high performance working systems and found that there is no universally agreed definition for the term "high performance working," owing to its wide-ranging and varied usage. Despite this, Mkamwa (2010) argues that HPW can be defined as a distinct combination of human resource management practices, work-setting structures, and procedures that maximize employee knowledge, competencies, commitment, and flexibility. The concept of high performance working integrates practices that facilitate and encourage employees to make the most of this greater empowerment, affording them opportunities to participate in significant decisions, promoting the development of worker competencies, and providing incentives to engage in decision-making.

Culture determines the manner in which an organization conducts its everyday operations. A high-performance culture is a set of behaviors and norms that enables an organization to achieve superior outcomes by setting clear business objectives, defining employees' accountabilities, creating an environment of trust, and motivating employees to continually grow and reinvest in themselves. In essence, it is an organizational culture that drives a high-performance organization — one that achieves better financial and non-financial results compared to its peers over an extended period (Den Hartog and Verburg, 2004). Jones et al. (2009) define high-performance culture as encompassing four key constituents: leadership, performance enablers, people, and sub-components such as achievement, well-being, innovation, and internal processes. Finney (2008) asserts that a high-performance culture is centered on three components. First, there is a clear and compelling corporate mission that is inspirational enough to facilitate employee engagement. Second, there are shared organizational values — core values that guide employee behavior and influence business practices as the organization delivers on its commitments to consumers, personnel, and other stakeholders. Third, there is shared accountability. High-performance cultures require a setting that encourages employee ownership of not only bottom-line results but also the cultural foundation of the organization (Finney, 2008).

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