 RESEARCH AT CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
HIGH COMMITMENT PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: THE ROLES OF JUSTICE AND
TRUST
Clare Kelliher
Professor of Work and Organisation
For organisations, this study’s findings emphasise the importance of justice and trust to
achieve desired performance outcomes.
There has been intense interest in how
Human Resources Management (HRM) can
add value to organisations. Conceptual
models have started to explore the links
between Human Resource Management
(HRM) practices and HRM outcomes, but
more empirical investigation is needed to
“open the black box” between HRM and
performance.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the
relationship between employees’ perceptions
of a particular subsystem of HRM practices
(performance management) and their
commitment to the organisation. In addition,
the study sought to examine the mechanisms
by which these perceptions translate into
employee attitudes and behaviours. When
exploring the impact of high commitment work
practices on firm performance, little attention
has been paid to the employee perspective,
even though employees ultimately are the
recipients of an organisation’s HRM practices,
and as such their perceptions of these
practices affect their attitudes and behaviour in
the workplace.
The paper focuses on performance
management as a subsystem of high
commitment work practices. These practices
are designed to engender commitment form
employees through involvement and personal
development, such as regular appraisal
feedback, input into the process of target
setting, choosing pay and benefit options and
appraisals leading to development
opportunities and new targets. In return for
these organisational practices, the employee
reciprocates with higher commitment to the
organisation, in line with social exchange
theory (Blau, 1964). In addition, when
employees feel they have opportunities to
develop, the reciprocal repayment of this
investment is demonstrated again in terms of
commitment and a lower intention to leave.
Farndale et al present the argument that for
performance management practices to have
the effect of achieving high commitment; this
RESEARCH AT CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
depends on the extent to which employees
perceive these practices to be fair, both in
terms of the process and the outcomes. The
approach adopted is to consider how the
company’s organisational climate affects
employee reactions using theories of
organisational justice and trust.
Organisational justice is proposed to play a
key mediating role in this relationship, and has
been found to explain a wide range of
employee behaviours, triggering employee
commitment in organisations. The extent of
trust that employees have in the organisation,
as represented by senior management, is an
important aspect of organisational climate.
Employee trust in senior management is
interpreted through the company’s policies
and practices, in this case performance
management practices. Farndale et al
construct a model of HCPM and its
relationship with these variables and test it in
an empirical study to explore its applicability to
theory and practice.
For organisations, this study’s findings
emphasise the importance of justice and trust
to achieve desired performance outcomes.
The findings also suggest, particularly for the
companies in the study, that increased focus
on improving perceptions of justice, through
ensuring line management are capable of
carrying out HCPM practices, may help
improve commitment to the organisation
during change.
The study also leads the authors to believe
that it is essential to examine the actual
employee experience of HCPM practices and
outcomes at the employee level if we are to
understand their effects on firm performance
and to consider the broader organisational
context, if researchers and practitioners are to
understand the high commitment performance
management practices effects on firm
performance.
Farndale, E., Hope Hailey, V. & Kelliher,
C. (2011) ‘High commitment performance
management: the roles of justice and
trust’, Personnel Review, vol. 40, no. 1,
pp. 5-23.
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Management Theme: Managing
People and Global Careers
MANAGEMENT THEMES AT CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
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 Business Performance Management
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 Leadership
 Managing People and Global Careers
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