High Performance Work Systems
Saturn was one of the most radical innovations in work organization of the last several decades, but it was not alone. So let's take a look at a number of companies that are proof of concept that you can compete with what we call high road strategies, with good jobs that provide good returns to shareholders, by using what we call human capital, that is, essentially workers, skills, and their social networks to drive innovation, good jobs, and high performance for the organization. Let's start with one that I think almost everyone knows, Southwest Airlines. This is an airline that was created in the 1970s, and it's been an anomaly to our friends on Wall Street. Southwest has been one of the most profitable airlines in the United States over the last 30 years. Yet at the same time, it breaks a lot of rules. First of all, it's been roundly criticized by Wall Street for not expanding fast enough, not growing fast enough, but using its retained earnings to shar...