Getting the Measure of the Transformed High-Performance Organization

The term `high-performance work systems' is increasingly being used to label the transformed high-commitment organization associated with the abandonment of Taylorism. A fundamental issue is whether the whole ensemble of high-commitment and total quality management practices tend to be used together or in a fragmented ad hoc way. Latent trait analysis is used to address this question. Using data from Osterman's study of US organizations, the analysis shows that certain practices do co-exist, though quality circle stands apart from them. While it is meaningful to talk of high-performance management as an integration of modern quality and personnel management methods, caution must be exercised when defining management approaches in terms of a set of practices on a priori grounds alone.