title: High performance HRM: NHS employee perspectives.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this paper is to examine National Health Service (NHS) employee perspectives of how high performance human resource (HR) practices contribute to their performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  The paper draws on an extensive qualitative study of the NHS. A novel two-part method was used; the first part used focus group data from managers to identify high-performance HR practices specific to the NHS. Employees then conducted a card-sort exercise where they were asked how or whether the practices related to each other and how each practice affected their work.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 11 high performance HR practices relevant to the NHS were identified. Also identified were four reactions to a range of HR practices, which the authors developed into a typology according to anticipated beneficiaries (personal gain, organisation gain, both gain and no-one gains). Employees were able to form their own patterns (mental models) of performance contribution for a range of HR practices (60 interviewees produced 91 groupings). These groupings indicated three bundles particular to the NHS (professional development, employee contribution and NHS deal).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These mental models indicate employee perceptions about how health services are organised and delivered in the NHS and illustrate the extant mental models of health care workers. As health services are rearranged and financial pressures begin to bite, these mental models will affect employee reactions to changes both positively and negatively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The novel method allows for identification of mental models that explain how NHS workers understand service delivery. It also delineates the complex and varied relationships between HR practices and individual performance.
authors.affiliation: Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. paula.hyde@mbs.ac.uk
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hyde
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sparrow
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boaden
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010559:Personnel Management / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006113:United Kingdom