High Performance Work Systems

3 Pages 845 Words

High Performance Work Systems
In recent years, Boeing has adopted one or more innovative work practices. These include quality circles, flexible job classifications, cross-functional training, and various forms of employee involvement. However, none have had the success that high-performance work system has achieved.
The key characteristic of a high performance work system is extensive worker participation in all aspects of the company, including understanding core business strategic objectives. This, as a by-product, has pushed Boeing employees to understand all charts and graphs that concern their work area. As a frontline worker can attest nine panels charts have gained a new appreciation. Nine panel charts include perato charts, histograms that meticulously records major influences of each team. In the past Boeing has already practiced some form of worker participation, from suggestion boxes, surveys and quality circles. Now High Performance Work Teams have a deep admiration for the information that Nine Panels provide them. Without this team orientated focus countless challenges would never had been resolved much less noticed by the people who directly influence each chart. Studies indicate that most forms of worker involvement are an improvement over the traditional mass producti!
on approach, in which workers perform manual tasks that require little thought and provide them with few opportunities to improve the process. Boeing has found that employee participation, when sustained over time and integrated with other organizational policies and practices, results in positive economic gains. Boeing has concluded that the extensive participation of workers led to significant improvements in return on investment, return on assets, and productivity. Another plus that Boeing has revealed shows that deep worker involvement is also essential to corporate flexibility and quick customer response, in today's volatile product markets...