High Performance Work Systems: The Digital Experience [Hardcover]

Originally published in 1989. Management styles in developed western countries are undergoing a crisis phase. Increased levels of international competition and volatile trading conditions are creating new demands of job skills and responsibilities. The management challenge is to find work organization and employment strategies that sustain and develop employee performance and commitment.

This book analyses the high performance work systems that a number of American and European companies have evolved to meet this challenge. It particular, it describes in detail the experiences of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) at their UK manufacturing plant. This study not only illustrates the benefits of new forms of work organization, it also explores some important myths, notably that technical and organizational changes can produce effortless excellence. It also provides practical management guidelines for the effective application of high performance work design.

Foreword by Laurence V. C. Megson;  Acknowledgments;  Part One: Back to the Future;  1. Buried in the 1970s  2. Surfaced in the 1980s  3. Managing Change;  Part Two: The Digital Experience;  4. Digitals Achievement Culture  5. Stuffing Modules  6. Competitive Organizational Design  7. Pain and Rewards  8. Transient Structures  9. The High Performance Experience;  Part Three: The Wider Relevance;  10. The Consequences  11. Large Scale Organizational Change  12. The Management Lessons;  Appendix;  Bibliography;  Index

This book analyses the high performance work systems that a number of American and European companies have evolved to meet this challenge. It particular, it describes in detail the experiences of Digital Eqlã"