Management summary
Ever increasing demands of stakeholders force organizations to adapt faster to growing international competition and to compete simultaneously on the basis of price, quality, flexibility, delivery times, and after-sales support. They are pressured into defining the elements that make up high performance, as there is a growing consensus that effective approaches to management offer organizations competitive advantage. In the wake of the landmark book In Search of Excellence and the more recent bestsellers Built to Last and Good to Great, managers have developed a strong interest in learning the characteristics of high performance organizations (HPOs) to help them in their quest for excellence. HPOs are defined as organizations that achieve results (both financial and non-financial) that are better than those of their peer groups over a period of time of at least five to ten years.
After a five year study the characteristics were defined which are part of all excellent organizations worldwide and can be influenced by managers so they are able to take targeted actions to start achieving superior results. The research involved examination of over 280 publications on studies performed in the last 30 years in the area of high performance. The common themes that were found were tested in a worldwide survey executed at over 3100 profit, non-profit and governmental organizations.
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