ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the ways in which strategic development and deployment of human resources can make a significant impact on an organization's performance. It highlights the key areas in which management needs to take place. The chapter discusses the key role which people play in operations. It identifies the challenges to strategic operations management in mobilizing employee engagement. The chapter develops awareness of the major elements in high performance work systems. It presents the ways in which strategic operations managers can influence the development of systems through: creating appropriate structures; fostering learning and development; communicating a clear sense of shared purpose; and developing high involvement work systems. Service quality and the customer experience is all about a relationship between the customer and the person or people creating and delivering the experience. The 'socio-technical systems design' provided a strong influence on the development of capital-intensive industries like petrochemicals and on experiments in the car industry.
