Value Initiatives Improving Performance in the Workplace

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, University of Phoenix, language: English, abstract: Today¿s hyper-competitive world necessitates that businesses continuously take strategic actions to sustain highly competitive performance. It is these actions, which lead to the competitive advantages that seal a company¿s fate. Without even a small competitive advantage on their side, businesses are doomed to stumble and eventually be left along the wayside of their industry.

A globalized economy has opened new doors of opportunity for organizations; that is certain. Customers can now be solicited around the globe. Thanks to technology, communication that once took days, if not weeks, to transact now can be accomplished instantaneously. Geographic and cultural boundaries have begun to become invisible as a world economy develops. However, just as there are new opportunities to be taken advantage of, new threats have arisen as well.

In the rapidly changing environment that organizations now must operate in, traditional human resources approaches have become of less value. Strategic human resource systems are now receiving renewed attention, as a means of building and strengthening business (Chiavenato, 2001). Human resources have become increasingly important in today¿s organizational strategies, especially in the improvement of individual competencies. Although there is a variety of ways an organization can pursue sustainable competitive advantage, this paper will frame its discussion within the context of Human Resource Management (HRM) strategies, in the form of value initiatives directed at the improvement of individual performance.

In this context, value initiatives are only a positive addition to an organization¿s strategic arsenal, when they improve the performance of the individual members. They are worth the effort only when they enrich individual actions. It follows that the practical way to measure the success of values initiatives is to determine: To what extent they improve operations? Do they produce better products? Promote faster service? Expand staff capacity? Do they add flexibility and focus to the organization? How do they specifically enhance the use of time, machinery, and capital?