Introduction
High Performance organizations (HIPOs) are usually characterized by a high performing workplace, which is established as a result of reinforcing the organization’s vision, mission, values, goals and objectives through an engagement of the employees.
Basically, a High Performance Organization embarks on strategies that are aimed at maximizing the best of the human resources found within the organization through the use of recruitment, retaining of employees and talent and performance management (Alkhafaji 2003).
The underlying framework of a High Performance Organization is to align the human resource and capital towards the achievement of the organizational mission and values. This implies that HIPOs rely on integration of Human Resource practices with aspect of talent management, with the main objective of exploiting talent Return on Investment and enhance the success of the organization.
Some of the core dynamics of HIPOs include information sharing, shared power and high employee i9nvolvement, compelling vision, ongoing learning, customer focus and energizing systems and structures (Arredondo 1996). This paper discusses roles and practices of HIPOs and the aspect of energizing systems and structures and it is effective in the context if Qantas Airways, which is one of the oldest airlines that has been under continuous operation.
The paper lays more emphasis on supporting employee, process and structure and developing programs and function. In addition, the paper also outlines the Human Resource as a supporting system and process executive such as conducting an evaluation process for leadership, organizational learning and employee engagement.
The Energizing systems and structures, processes and practices that are deployed High Performance Organizations are usually used in a such a manner that they facilitates the realization of the organization’s vision, goals and objectives and the directions of the organization’s strategic plan. This helps in making it easy for individuals within an organization to undertake their tasks effectively and efficiently (Blanchard 2009).
In addition, the energizing systems and structures offer a framework through which the organization can deploy in order to address the barriers and opportunities in a timely fashion. In order to determine if organizational structures and systems are energizing, it is vital to ascertain whether the deployed structures and systems help individuals in an organization to complete their tasks with ease or whether they increase the difficulty of task completion, thereby reducing organizational efficiency and effectiveness (Blanchard 2009).
An organization that aims at becoming High Performing should focus on supporting employees in order to enhance the production of sustainable results. This implies that people within the organization are perceived as assets of ultimate significance. The high performing organization does not embark on the philosophical approach whereby people in the organization are viewed as potential liabilities (Chartered Institute of Personal Development 2006).
Therefore, a high performing organization should embark on finding its employees happier and are more successful and productive when undertaking their duties at the organization. Energizing systems and structures are important in the context of Qantas Airways because the offer the required tools for employee empowerment, which in turn results to valuable contributions that are necessary for the success of the organization (Drucker 2007).
In addition, energizing systems and structures facilitate the creation of a workplace environment that is characterized by respect and diversity.
With this respect, diversity is viewed as asset and a tool for enhancing innovativeness, creativeness and value addition. It is a moral and social responsibility of organizations and business enterprises to embrace diversity within their organizational workforce. Ignoring diversity can impose significant effects on the business performance of an organization, and can additionally impose huge costs regarding the damaged business reputation and compensation payments.
Diversity can generally be described as valuing every organizational member as an individual (Goldsmith & Hu-Chan 2003). With this respect, managing diversity is core to the effective management of people within an organization, and it is usually relevant to the all the business processes and functions.
The significant challenge when managing diversity is to establish an organizational culture that meets the values of every organizational member, which is needed to foster employee productivity. Research studies report that organizations are faced with difficulties during workforce recruitment, as a result, business enterprises and organizations that do not emphasize on managing diversity are gradually risking in the increasing competition for available talent across diverse cultures.
In the present business environment that is competitive, it is imperative that business enterprises explore all the potential sources that can be used to create a competitive advantage. The implication of this is that employers must have an in depth understanding of the aspect of diversity and its relationship with business performance, this offers a framework through which business enterprises can compete productively (Bolman & Deal 2008).
The roles and practices High Performing Organizations are centered towards enhancing the efficiency of their human capital. This primarily entails focusing on five roles and practices of HIPOs including strategy, leadership, talent, culture and market. Strategy involves the alignment of organization’s human resource with the business strategies, implying that each employee in the organization focus on the achievement of the same goals.
Leadership involves communication of the performance expectations, development and promotion of the right human capital and informing organizational members the significance of their attitudes towards the success of the organization. With regard to talent, the organization’s HR strategy must be established in accordance with the business model with the main objective of ensuring that the selected human capital can facilitate the realization of the business value (Bolman and Deal, 2008).
It is also imperative that the organizational culture at all organizational levels should be subject to alignment; this implies that the departmental leaders have to show the commitment required towards the development of aligned organizational culture. Market involves the employees having an understanding of the significance of customers, and how their jobs influence the success of the business (Blanchard 2009).
The HR also has a significant role as a supporting system and process executive through avenues such as evaluation processes for leadership, organizational learning and employee engagement. The HR should focus on mobilizing teams within the organization, with the main objective of fostering cohesiveness.
This can be achieved through the creation of a workplace environment that facilitates collaboration and teamwork together with a flat hierarchy organizational culture. This implies that employees have their say in the organizational operations (Chartered Institute of Personal Development 2006).
The benefit of such an organizational structure in the context of Qantas Airways is maximizing the available resources in an organization through empowering individuals and providing them with opportunities to exercise leadership in their various fields of skill. The need for collective leadership is due to the increasing complexity in the dynamic of organizational activities; which become overwhelming for one individual to manage an organization (Blanchard 2009).
The HR also has a significant role in people development and the retention of expertise in the organization. It is a challenge to retain people especially in organizations that do not show any progress.
Retention of high-impact performers is always constrained by a number of recognized trends including: the declined status of working for a large company, the repeated lack of association connecting pay and contribution, the increasing influence that technical experts have and the reduced number of titles due to restructuring of companies (Blanchard 2009).
The leaders therefore must gain knowledge of how to manage human resources with the same skills they apply to manage financial resources. Some of the ways of retaining employees in an organization include showing them respect and dignity, creating a thriving environment, providing sufficient training to the employees, being a coach and appealing to the employees and rewarding and organizing employees’ achievements (Blanchard 2009).
Conclusion
An organization that is High Performing has the potential of remaining competitive through attaining a balance between meeting the requirements of inside and outside stakeholders. With the ever increasing evolution of organizational theories, the HIPOs model is one of the frameworks that organizations such as the Qantas Airways have to adopt in order to be successful in the present business context.
References
Alkhafaji, A 2003, Strategic management: formulation, implementation, and control in a dynamic environment, Routledge, London.
Arredondo, P 1996, Successful diversity management initiatives: a blueprint for planning and implementation, Sage, London.
Blanchard, K 2009, Leading at a Higher Level: Balanchard on leadership and creating high performing organizations, FT Press, New York.
Bolman, L & Deal, T 2008, Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA.
Chartered Institute of Personal Development 2006, ‘Diversity in Business: How Much progress have employers made?’, Diversity in Business, pp. 3-15.
Drucker, F 2007, Management challenges for the 21st century, Butterworth-Heinemann, New York.
Goldsmith, M & Hu-Chan, M 2003, Global leadership: the next generation, Pearson education Inc Prentice hall., New York.