Executive Summary: Organizational Trends in High Performance Workplaces
Mandy Howe, Geraldine Lee, Brittany Sharp, Todd Stopher, and Justin Warren

MGT/307

March 28, 2011

Yvette Mack

Organizational Trends in High Performance Workplaces
Into here
Characteristics of High Performance Workplaces xxx High Performance and Traditional Organization Comparison

To create operational effectiveness high performance workplaces place a greater emphasis on groups, teams, and motivation. Groups exist in all workplaces with two or more individuals and people join these groups to reduce the insecurity of standing alone (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Groups benefit traditional organizations because individual contributions add to the group goal. High performance workplaces create effective teams who share accountability. Team skills complement individual skills and contributions from team members increase the value of the team’s accomplishments. To improve work effort high performance teams motivate employees through intrinsic rewards and extrinsic rewards (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). Intrinsic rewards do not require participation from management and are self-perceived feelings of achievement when positive work outcomes support individual needs and goals. Extrinsic rewards are given to individuals by the organization for positive work outcomes and include compensation and recognition.

Workplace stress occurs when individuals face extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities and are often perceived differently by employees and management. High performance organizations recognize constructive stress increases work effort and stimulates creativity and that destructive stress can be dysfunctional for the individual and the organization (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). Stress can be reduced through individual strategies such as improved