Considerable research has been conducted into developing high performance organisations (HPOs) (Blackman et al., 2012; de Waal, 2010; Pickering, 2008). Such research advocates the adoption of high performance work practices (HPWPs) to support requisite HPO competencies and characteristics (Gephart and Van Buren 1996; Huselid 1995; Kehoe and Wright 2013). The HPWPs considered to make the most impact on HPO achievement are: job design; recruitment and selection; employee development and training; performance management; rewards and high involvement work practices (Blackman et al., 2012). We suggest that the performance management HPWP needs greater analysis.
Using data from qualitative comparative case study research undertaken in the Australian Public Service (Blackman et al., 2012; Blackman et al., 2013), we argue that one of the most influential human resource management practices for enabling high performance is probation because it is a critical point where employee and organisational expectations can be set and modeled. We posit probation is largely overlooked both in the literature, and in practice, as a potential HPWP. We demonstrate that mandatory probation existed in all of the case study organisations but they were generally considered to be a poorly utilised compliance process, with management routinely signing off employees irrespective of their actual performance. However, in our study, participants argued that high performance could never be achieved if recent recruits were allowed to settle into a pattern of poor, or average, performance.
Second, based on the central role that probation plays in establishing and reinforcing expectations, we suggest that the performance management HPWP should be conceptualised as a continuum from commencement to separation of employment. Along this continuum, the focus should be on establishing a shared understanding between employees, peers and supervisors about what is to be achieved and how it is to be achieved. In doing so, we reposition performance management as a key element within the HPWP literature for the public sector.
References
Blackman, D., Buick, F., O’Donnell, M., O’Flynn, J., and West, D. (2012), “Developing high performance: Performance management in the Australian Public Service”, Crawford School Research Paper No. 12-09, ANU, Canberra, Australia, 25 June, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2130232.
Blackman, D., Buick, F., O’Donnell, M., O’Flynn, J., and West, D. (2013a), “Strengthening the performance framework: Towards a high performing Australian Public Service”, Australia and New Zealand School of Government Institute for Governance Working Paper, Canberra, Australia, 13 May.
de Waal, A.A. (2010), “Achieving high performance in the public sector”, Public Performance and Management Review, 34(1): 81-103.
Gephart, M.A., and M.E. Van Buren. (1996). “Building synergy: The power of high performance work systems”, Training & Development, 50(10): 21.
Huselid, M.A. (1995), “The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance”, Academy of Management Journal, 38(3): 635-672.
Kehoe, R.R., and P.M. Wright. (2013), “The impact of high-performance human resource practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors”, Journal of Management, 39(2): 366-391.
Pickering, J.W. (2008), “Building high-performance organizations”, In Newell, T., Reeher , G. and Ronayne, P. (Eds.), The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships that Make Government Work, CQ Press, Washington D.C.:127-155.
