Characteristics of high performance organisations

Abstract

Because of the recent recession, interest into the factors that determine sustainable organisational success has increased. Managers all over the world are trying out various improvement concepts, seeing mixed results. One likely reason for this is the lack of consensus on the organisational characteristics that lead to high performance. The research study described in this article aimed at identifying the factors which have a positive relation with organisational performance, through a literature review of 290 research studies into high performance and subsequent testing of possible high performance factors in 1470 organisations worldwide. The research yielded 35 characteristics – grouped into five factors – that have a significant correlation with high performance and seem to be generic for all types of organisations, industries and countries. The research results provide managers with a framework that adds focus to their continuous improvement efforts in order to achieve better performance. The framework will also support academics in their pursuit of ever more specific improvement factors.