management

496 PART 5 Meeting Other HR Goals

It's important for companies to capture and share the knowledge of workers who have had years to leam their specialty.

Learning 0rganization An organization that

supports lifelong learning by enabling all employees to acquire and share knowledge.

Conlinuous Learning

Each employee's and

each group's ongoing efforts to gather information and apply

the information to their

decisions in a learning

organization.

manager keeps the tearn updated on important i.ssues and ensllres that the teain shares information and resources with others who need them. At the Global Engineering Manu- facturing Alliance (GEMA) plant in Dundee, Michigan, tearnwork is designed to achieve the primary goai-to be the world's rnost productive engine plant. A1l employees, includ- ing the engineers, are either members or leaders of six-person teams. Groups of three einployees rvork rotating shifts so that they know and work rvith one another around the clock. Team members are carefully seiected to ensLrre they can handie the problern-soiving responsibilities that GEMA has delegated to its teams. Technology such as large electronic dispiay screens lets team members monitor productivity and delal's, so they

can idenrify when they are succeeding and when problems need to be resolved. Aii ernployees, not just maltagers or engineers, are elnpowered to solve problerns. Employ' ees who deveiop innovative solutions receive bonuses.o

Knowledge Sharing For more than a decade, lnanagers have been interested in creating a learning orga- nization, thar is, an organizarion in which the culture values and supports lifelong learning by enabiing all ernployees to continually acquire and share knowledge. The people in a learning organization have resources for training, and they are encouraged ro share their knowledge with coileagues. Managers take an active role in identifying training needs and encouraging the sharing of ideas.g An organization's information systems, discussed later in this chapter, have an important role in making this learn- ing activity possibie. Information systems capture knowledge and rnake it available even after individual employees who provided the knowledge have left the organiza- tion. Ultirnately, people are the essentiai ingredients in a learning organization. They

musr be committed to learning and wiiling to share what they have learned. A learning organization has several key features,l0 r

o It engages in continuous learning, each employee's and each group's ongoing efforts to gather information and apply the ir-rforrnation to their decisions. In many organizations, the process of continuous leatning is aimed at irnproving quaiity. To

engage in continuous learning, employees must understand the entire work systeln they particitr-rate in, the relationships among jobs, their rvork units, and the organi- zation as a whole. Ernployees who coirtinuously ieam about their work systern are

adding to their abihty to improve perforrnance. r Knorvledge is shsred. Therefore, to create a leaming organization, one challenge is to

shift the focus of training ar,vay from mereiy teaching skills and toward a broader focus

on generating and sharing knowledge.ll ln this view, training is an investment in the organization's hr-rman resources; it increases employees' value to the organization. Also, training conrent should be related to the orgauization's goals. Human resollrce

deparrments can support the creation of a leaming organization by planning training

programs that meet these criteria, and they can help to create botl-r face-to'face and

"ie.1rorri. systems for employee collaboration to create, capture, and share knowledge'

. Critical, slstematic thinking is widespread. This occurs q'hen organizations encour' age employees to see relationships among ideas and to test assumptions and obsen'e

the ,es,rlts of their actions. Reward systems can be set Llp to encourage ernployees and teams to think in new ways.

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CHAPTER 16 Creating and Maintaining Highl-Performance Organization s 497

. The organization has a learning cultwe-aculture in rvhich iearning is rewarded, promoted, and supported by managers and organizational objectives. This culture may be reflected in performance rnanagement systems and pay structures that

, reu'ard employees for gathering and sharing more knowledge, A learning culture creates the conditions in u,hich managers encourage fle xibility and expeimentatian. The organization should encourage employees to take risks and innovape, l.vhich means it cannot be qr-rick to punish ldeas that do not work out as intendqd.

c EmploJees are ualued. The organization recognizes that employees are the source of its knorvledge. It therefore focuses on ensuring the development and well-being of each ernplol'ee.

The experience of Lopez Foods shorvs that the qr-ralities of a learning organiza- tion aren'r limited just to high-tech industries. Lopez Foods, which makes beef and sausage patties, involved employees in rnakiirg production more efficient. Working rvith consultants, Lopez managers and engineers diagrammed production processes on huge sheets of brown paper hung on the u'ails. They made sticky notes available so that any rvorker passing by could post notes correcting the information or mak- ing suggestions based on their day-to-da1, experience on the front lines. Not only did the practice impro'r'e the qualiw of information, but ir also engaged rvorkers in the improvelnent Lrrocess so that they rernain cornmitted to making suggestions and helping their company become more efficiqrt. The conpany also improved the com- mr,urication of performance feedback, no\rr postirlg hourly perfornance indicators, and it pays prclduction n,orkers modest but reguiar bonuses for exceeding productivity tu.getr. I l

Job Satisfaction A condition r-rnderpinning ar-ry high-perforrnance organization is that epnployees experience job satisfaction-they experience their jobs as fulfilling or allou'ing thenl to ftrlfill iurportanr values. Research sLrpports the idea thar employees' job satisfac- tion and job pertormance are related.il Higher performance at the individual level should contribr,rte to higher performance for the organization as a u,hole. A study by CLC Genesee, an HR cor-rsulting firm, for-rnd that companies r,vith a high level of employee engagerrent (which includes satisfaction n'ith their jobs and the cornpany) saw their re\renues grou/ tnore than tr.rrice as fast as their competitors as u'ell as profit grou'th three tirnes irigher.la The relationship between satisfaction and per{orrnance also relates to nonprofit and governrnent organizations. In a survey by the Partner- ship for Pr-rblic Service and Arnerican l.Jniversit% the Nuclear Regrriatory Commis- sion and Governurent Accountability Office shorved the highest degrees of ernployee satisfaction, as the "Did You Knorvl" box shows. They far outranked the bottom agen' cies, the National Archives and Records Administration (56.0) and Department of tansportation (52.2).15 How would you expect these differences to play out in terms of the ager-rcies' effectiveness?

Chapter 10 described a nurnber of ways organizations can promote job satisfaction. They include rnaking jobs rnore interesting, setting clear and challenging goals, and providing valued reu,ards that are iinked to performance in a performance lnanage- ment system that employees consider fair. For example, the Nuclear Regulatory Com- mission's top agency score for employee satisiaction is based partly on relatively high ratings for fair ieadership, empowernerrt of employees by leaders, and rewards linked to performance. NRC ernployees also scored the agency r,ery high on teamwork and rnatching ernployee skills tt.l the agency's mission.l6

Federal government emploYees who rated their satisfaction with their job and work environment were most satisfied at the Nuclear Regu- latory Commission. EmPloYees in the highest-ranking agencies are at least as satisfied as the employ- ees in large companies, On aver- age, government employees are more satisfied with cooPeration

among co-workers and oPPortuni- ties to improve skills, while private- sector employees are more satis- fied with training, oPPoftunities for advancement, and information sharing by management. The gov- ernment has been imProving in the past few years, but businesses have been improving faster.

Sources: Partnership for Public Service, "Welcome to thd 2009 Best Places to Work Rankings," Best Places to Work, http://data.bestplacestowork.org, accessed May 12,2010; and Partnership for Public Service, "Private Sector Comparison," Best Flaces to Work, http://bestplacestowork.org, accessed May 12,2010.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Government Accountability Office

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

lntelligence CommunitY

Department of State

Average for all federal government

Average for all lange businesses

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7.r. Satis{a*ion with Job

Satisfaction with Organization

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Some organizations are moving beyond concern with mere job satisfaction and are

trying to fo!t", "-ployees'

passion for their u,ork. Passionate people are fully engaged

*ith"ro*"thing so that it t".o*", part of their sense of who they are' Feeling this *"u

"1"", or1i, *ork has been called occupational intimacy.lT People experience

occupational intimacy when they love their lvork, rvhen they and their co-rvorkers

care abo't one another, and when they find their work meaningful. Human resotlrce

managers have a significant role in creating these conditions. For exarnple, they can

selecr"people *ho Jr.. about their work and customers' provide methods for sharing kno*ledge, design work to make jobs interesting, and estabiish policies and prograrns

that shoi .o.r..*rn for employees' needs. Such efforts may become increasingiy impor-

tant as the business *orli ir-r.r.asingly uses employee empowerment, teatnrvork, and knowleclge siraring to build flexible organizations'18

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