High-commitment management is a management approach that focuses on fostering employee empowerment, personal responsibility, and decentralized decision-making at all levels of an organization. Unlike traditional hierarchical management styles, this approach distributes authority to encourage greater engagement and initiative among employees.Wesenberg, Sean. Phone Interview. 18 November 2012
Although this management style can be complex to implement, research suggests that it may contribute to long-term organizational performance. Studies have also indicated that organizations using high-commitment practices report sustained levels of performance and employee engagement.Beer, Michael, and Russell A. Eisenstat. High Commitment, High Performance: How to Build a Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2009. Print
A key component of high-commitment management is its emphasis on employee relationships. This approach often includes flexible work schedules and comprehensive hiring processes, which may involve multiple interviews, structured induction programs, and team-building activities.Lowe, Jim, and Nick Oliver. "The High Commitment Workplace: Two Cases from a Hi-Tech Industry." Work, Employment & Society 5.3 (1991): 437-50. Print. Once integrated into the organization, employees are encouraged to build trust and collaboration, which are considered essential for sustaining commitment in the workplace.
History The founders or transformational chief executives design high-commitment management firms to achieve sustained high levels of commitment from employees. The application of high-commitment management in firms today originated from an alignment of the employees and the firm's missions.
Certain sociologists attribute this congruence as a product of performance and psychological collaboration between the firm and its employees. Since its initial development, high-commitment management has been driven by self-regulated behavior and performance-driven group dynamics.Foote, Nathaniel. "High Commitment, High-Performance Management" HBS Working Knowledge. Harvard Business School, 10 August 2009. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6119.html>. Contrary to top-down leadership practices, high-commitment management took form as leaders engaged and listened to people, allowing ideas from different levels of the organization to push the firm forward.
Self-directed work teams In a study of workplace illumination at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company, Elton Mayo, a sociologist from Harvard Business School, concluded that when the organization established experimental work groups, "the individuals became a team, and the team gave itself wholeheartedly and spontaneously to cooperation."Mayo, Elton 1984 . ― Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company.‖ Pp. 279-292 in Organization Theory: Selected Readings. Second Edition. Edited by D.S. Pugh. New York: Penguin. Through a natural system of collaboration, the teams became responsible for their work and managing their group. Mayo's research uncovered that teams, under their direction, developed a capacity for self-motivated learning and change.Mayo, Elton 1984 . ―Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company.‖ Pp. 279-292 in Organization Theory: Selected Readings. Second Edition. Edited by D.S. Pugh. New York: Penguin. This concept of designing the work system with full employee participation was a breakthrough for organizations during the 1990s. During this time, employees closest to the product and customer began to acquire greater decision-making power and capabilities.Hunter, Larry W., and Lorin M. Hitt. "What Makes a Committed Workplace?" Wharton Business School. University of Pennsylvania, 24 July 2002. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/00/0030.pdf >.
Interview programs The Hawthorne Experiments sought to determine a correlation between light levels and productivity. Researchers divided employees into teams of six and interviewed individuals to assess the effect of lighting. Mayo discovered that the interview program established by the study naturally instilled a sense of higher purpose in the employees. Exposure of employee thoughts and concerns to managers was a fundamental aspect of the relationship between managers and employees. Evidently, by having the ability to speak with their managers, employees at Western Electric exhibited a dramatic improvement in their attitudes toward work.Mifflin, Jeffrey. "Western Electric Company. Hawthorne Studies Collection, 1924-1961 (inclusive): A Finding Aid." Western Electric Company. Hawthorne Studies Collection, 1924-1961 (inclusive): A Finding Aid. Harvard Business School, 04 Jan. 1998. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~bak00047>. Essential to a highly committed workforce, the interview program was formally developed, and cooperation with management was sustained.
Problem-solving teams The Hawthorne experiment further highlighted that teams working without coercion from higher-ups or limitations from below could exceed even their expectations. Sociologist Fritz Roethlisberger argued that this informal organization left the team responsible for addressing the myriad problems that continuously arise. Roethlisberger observed that studying the dynamics of informal groups, human interactions, and collaboration has the potential to determine how teams face problems on their own.Roethlisberger, Fritz J. and William J. Dickson. 1981 . ―Human Relations.‖ Pp. 67-83 in The Sociology of Organizations: Basic Studies. Second Edition. Edited by O. Grusky and G. A. Miller. New York: Free Press. Together, the individuals in the team strive to improve processes by adapting to different demands and learning from each other.
Cross-training In the 1970s, modern Japanese management in the automobile industry began to place significant emphasis on cross-training. Sociologists studied how Japanese automobile firms implemented company-wide orientation and training programs to cross-train their employees.
As Japanese firms trained employees in various aspects of the production process, sociologists discovered that the training fostered a sense of unity among employees, with all becoming dedicated to the company's mission.Graham, Laurie 1993. ―Inside a Japanese Transplant: A Critical Perspective.‖ Work and Occupations. 20(2):147-173. These established connections appeared to promote cooperation among the workforce. The Japanese auto plants demonstrated that flexibility within production teams allowed employees to focus on their tasks while maintaining the productivity of others. Cross-training is still used today to improve employee skills, increase flexibility, and foster teamwork.
Difference from other management strategies
High-commitment practices are spin-offs of the natural system of management,E. Mayo.'Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company'.The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization. Routledge, 1949. chapter 4. pp. 60-76. like other management strategies within this system. High-commitment practices assume natural theories of motivation, rather than the considerably different rational theories of motivation.Frank Dobbin, "From Incentives to Teamwork: Rational and Natural Management Systems" (Sociology 25, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, 1 October 2012). Because most management strategies before high-commitment practices assumed rational theories of motivation, high-commitment practices differ from these strategies in three primary aspects.
Employee motivation In terms of methods for motivating workers, there are key differences between high-commitment practices and the standard rational system. The rational system of management focuses on either punishments or incentives. For example, the earliest form of rational management, direct control, encourages employee productivity by having supervisors oversee the production process and punishing workers who fail to produce enough output.Frank Dobbin, "Managing the Workforce" (Sociology 25, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, 17 September 2012). Another form of rational management, bureaucratic control, encourages productivity through career incentives such as bonuses and promotions. However, high-commitment practices, unlike any form of rational management, aim to stimulate productivity by fostering employee commitment to the organization.Frank Dobbin, "High Commitment Practices" (Sociology 25, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, 10 October 2012). For example, Data General, a corporation that advocates high-commitment practices, has managed to make employees love their tasks and become so attached to the corporation that many choose to work twelve hours, four hours more than the company prescribes.Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine, 1981 Contrary to rational management, high-commitment practices aim to create environments where employees aspire to deliver their best efforts.
Employee control High-commitment practices also differ from practices in the rational management system in terms of employee control. The rational system of management discourages job autonomy, believing that such freedom will lower productivity because employees may choose not to work. For example, in scientific management and Fordism,Taylor, Federick W. "Scientific Management." CLASSICAL THEORETICAL PERSPECTlVES : 54-66. Print. employees are given specific instructions on how to perform certain tasks. While the rational system of management seeks to provide very specific direction to employees, high-commitment practices strongly encourage independence.
Influence on corporate structure Institutions employing rational management and those employing high-commitment practices also differ in their corporate structure. Institutions with rational management tend to have a steep hierarchy, with many ranks separating floor workers from executives.Frank Dobbin, "Internal Labor Market" (Sociology 25, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, 14 September 2012). For example, institutions employing bureaucratic control often have one entry-level position at the bottom of the hierarchy, from which recruits work their way up the corporate ladder. Because these institutions have a steep hierarchy, those near the bottom of the chain are often alienated from higher-ups.Frank Dobbin, "Alienation" (Sociology 25, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, 19 September 2012). Consequently, relationships between executives and workers are minimal. In contrast, institutions that employ high-commitment practices typically have a flatter hierarchy, and intra-firm networking is easier. As a result, most employees readily develop attachments to their on-the-job peers, bosses, and the institution, which increases their commitment.
Other natural managements While high-commitment practices are similar to other strategies in the Human Relations School, both aim to increase job satisfaction and make employees feel valued. High-commitment practices seek to foster attachment to the institution, whereas the Human Relations School aims to encourage employees to work based on the satisfaction gained from contributing outputs.
Google follows a high-commitment management model and has a distinctive corporate culture. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company was established to create a positive and engaging work environment. Google's stated philosophies include principles such as "work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun" and "you can be serious without a suit.""Ten Things We Know to Be True." Google Company. Google, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <https://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/>.