The United Nations has made "shelter" important, secondly the Centre is keen to provide homes to all, and thirdly, there is a huge backlog for houses in India. Mumbai has a huge population which still lives in slums which cannot be said to be comfortable housing. Evidently, the market exists for housing finance, competition is not as intense as in other industries and for HDFC employment security for its employees is natural. The employees are aware that innovation in work practices are not likely to land them out of their jobs.

One of the reasons of Japan's success is employment security. In USA Lincoln Electric a successful arc welding and electric motor manufacturer had offered guaranteed employment, without layoff even inrecession resulting in huge productivity gains. In HDFC people are strategic assets rather than costs. It has built excellent relationship and with liberal encouragement to its employees to buy company shares. The ownership thus is not restricted to a group of families or institutions.

They have benchmarked themselves to Federal Express Standards in USA and are keen to accept the standards set by them in taking care of their employees and involving them in HDFC affairs. So the HDFC team looks for tenable systems, long-term relationship, long-term perspective in the job and organisational performance.

Employment security also means a high level performance to match world standards. The environment within HDFC has also become social, far away from commerce in relationship, attitudes, trust and perception. This also enables exchange of strategic information to emerge as a systems of mutual, long term relationship.

Any organisation which is serious about obtaining profits through people willexpand the effort to recruit the right people. Secondly, HDFC also knows clearly what are the most critical skills and attributes needed. Thirdly, skills and abilities hired need to be carefully considered and be consistent with the particular job requirement and the organisation's approach to the market.

Organising people in self-managing teams for a task that has to he achieved is a critical component of virtually all high-performing management systems. In HDFC, small task forces result in high performance and work teams are encouraged. Such teams have several advantages, first, teams substitute for base hierarchical control of work. Instead of management devoting time and energy to controlling the workforce directly, workers control themselves" Peer control is frequently more effective than hierarchical supervision. Someone may not hesitate to disappoint the supervisor but the same person is less likely to let down his or her friends.

Since, most senior and junior level executives are shareholders inHDFC they work as if they where entrepreneurs. Such a culture is backed by need based training, information sharing, and delegation of responsibility and thus makes employees more motivated and effective.

Training is an essential component of high performance work systems because these systems rely on frontline employee skill and initiative to identify and resolve problems, to initiate changes in work methods and take responsibility for quality. All of this requires a skilled and motivated work force that has the knowledge and capability to perform the requisite tasks. Specially since the focus is on the customer that focus has to be constantly remembered. HDFC realises that training is an investment and in the current business milieu, it virtually begs for some sort of return-on investment calculations.

The fundamental premise of high performance management systems is that organisations perform at a higher level when they are able to tap the ideas, skill and effort of all people. In order to help makeall organisational members feel important and committed to enhancing organisational operations, therefore, most high commitment management systems attempt to reduce the status distinctions that separate individuals and groups and cause some to feel less valued. In HDFC too, this is attempted.

In HDFC, overall information sharing is an essential component of high performance work systems for two reasons. First, the sharing of information on things such as financial performance, strategy and operational measures conveys to the organisation's people that they are trusted. Executives in HDFC feel the first pre-requisite of effective teamwork in trust.

The author is a certified management consultant and Finmark Management Consultants president and professor in management studies at NL Dalmia Institute of Management Studies & Research