Human resource management practice I also available by michael armstrong

HRM and 

performance

Key ConCePts and terms

The black box

Causal ambiguity

High-performance culture

High-performance work system

HR value chain

Performance management

Reversed causality

LearnIng outComes

On completing this chapter you should be able to define these key concepts. You should 

also understand:

 

●

What impact HRM can make on performance

 

●

How HRM makes that impact

 

●

The nature of a high-performance culture

 

●

How a high-performance work system functions

 

●

The role of performance management

 

●

How HR can contribute

53

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Part 

1

  The Practice of Human Resource Management

54

Introduction

All  organizations  are  under  an  obligation  to  their 

stakeholders to perform well. To do this they depend 

on  the  quality,  dedication,  enthusiasm,  expertise 

and  skill  of  the  people  working  in  them  at  every 

level. The message of the resource-based view is that 

HRM delivers added value and helps to achieve sus-

tainable competitive advantage through the strategic 

development  of  the  organization’s  rare,  hard-to-

imitate and hard-to-substitute human resources. As 

Guest (1997: 269) argued: ‘The distinctive feature of 

HRM is its assumption that improved performance 

is achieved through the people in the organization.’ 

If, therefore, appropriate HR policies and practices 

are introduced, it can also be assumed that HRM 

will impact on firm performance.

The chapter begins with a review of the evidence 

that HRM makes an impact on performance and of 

the  problems  met  by  researchers  in  establishing 

what the link is and how it works. It continues with 

a description of the concept of a high-performance 

culture  and  how  it  can  be  achieved  through  a  

high-performance  work  system  and  performance 

management.