Principal Investigator Robert McKersie
The Sloan Foundation began the Human Resources Network to investigate observations being made at Sloan Industry Centers regarding differences in the performance of firms based on workplace practices and human resource management in the semiconductor, steel and other industries, Now a part of the Industrial Relations Research Association, the Human Resources Network conducts research to understand how company practices and policies produce organizational excellence, known as the High Performance Workplace.
High Performance Workplace studies by Center researchers and others have compared lean manufacturing and traditional assembly lines in automobile assembly plants; and selective correlated minimizing types of inventory, worker teams, hiring, and increased training and incentives with improved productivity and product quality. Similar studies compared high performance steel finishing plants with traditional mills, examined the effects of lean inventory practices by large discount retailers on apparel manufacturers who successfully shifted from mass production methods to modular manufacturing, and looked at a medical instruments maker and a computer printer manufacturer. These studies provide strong and consistent evidence that innovative human resource practices and flexible work systems can have strong, favorable effects on organizational performance.
The Human Resources Network also produces findings concerning the effect of outsourcing, downsizing, minimum wages, and other organizational changes on performance. The Sloan Industry Centers have prepared reports on wage inequality and the leading causes of wage differentials in the retail food industry, semiconductor manufacturing, retail banking, and trucking. Sloan has also supported a telecommunications industry study by Cornell University, and a study on the printing and metal working industries by the University of Wisconsin. These studies concluded that causes of wage inequality vary by industry; no single factor exists across all industries.