#00-30-B
"What Makes a High-Performance Workplace? Evidence from Retail Bank Branches"
Abstract: This paper examines the effects of two high-involvement approaches to organizing work in retail bank branches: worker discretion and cross-functional flexibility. Both discretion and flexibility have positive effects on productivity and sales effectiveness. The effects of discretion and flexibility on performance in conjunction with one another are significant and negative. The worst performing branches have low-involvement work practices. Branches that have high flexibility or discretion perform better than branches with high levels of both.
Download the paper.