The notion of a high‐performance work system (HPWS) constitutes a claim that there exists a system of work practices for core workers in an organisation that leads in some way to superior performance. In this article, we dissect this fuzzy notion and examine its companion terminology: high‐involvement work systems and high‐commitment management. We argue that a focus on the high‐involvement stream usefully grounds HPWS studies in an important area of workplace change in the current context and takes us away from eclectic and contentious selections of ‘best practices’. We review research models and findings in this stream. The path to better research lies in examining the underpinning processes experienced by workers when management seeks to pursue high‐involvement systems, and charting their links to employee and operational outcomes.

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Using a national population survey, this article examines how high-involvement work processes affect employee well-being. The analysis shows that greater experiences of autonomy and participation in decision-making have positive or neutral effects. Higher involvement is a key factor predicting higher job satisfaction and better work-life balance while it has no relationship to stress or fatigue. In contrast, higher levels of work intensity increase fatigue and stress and undermine work-life balance. If the quality of working life is a key objective in a reform based on greater employee involvement, close attention needs to be paid to the balance between processes that release human potential and those that increase the intensity of work.

High-involvement work processes are at the heart of the current interest in highperformance work systems. A study of 775 New Zealand employees shows that greater experience of high-involvement processes is associated with higher job satisfaction. To a lesser extent, there are also better outcomes in terms of jobinduced stress, fatigue and work-life imbalance. However, in situations where pressures to work longer hours are higher, where employees feel overloaded and where managers place stronger demands on personal time, employees are likely to experience greater dissatisfaction with their jobs, higher stress and fatigue, and greater work-life imbalance. Increasing the availability of work-life balance policies for employees was not found to ameliorate these relationships. The study implies that organizations that can foster smarter working without undue pressures to work harder are likely to enhance employee well-being.

Purpose-This introduction seeks to provide a brief background to the notion that there are generational differences at work and to introduce the papers included in this special issue of the Journal of Managerial Psychology. Design/methodology/approach-The current context concerning generational differences at work is briefly outlined followed by a description of the core theory underpinning the notion of generational cohorts. Criticisms of this theoretical premise are provided before a brief outline is given to each article in the special issue. Findings-There is evidence for changes in personality profiles across generations, and for differences in attitudes towards work and careers. However, effect sizes tend not to be large, and some findings are inconsistent with popular stereotypes regarding generational differences. Little support was found for differences in work values or motivation. Practical implications-Contrary to popular hype concerning generational differences at work, managerial time may be better spent considering employee needs relating to age (maturity), life-cycle and career stage differences than developing generationally specific management policies and practices. Significant methodological problems remain in generational research. Originality/value-The papers facilitate a critical understanding of the challenges facing generational research and its limitations, and provide a litmus test against which popular stereotypes can be compared.

This commentary paper explores the meaning and significance of highperformance work systems (HPWSs), an important topic in the debate around how to build a 'high-skill' or 'high-road' economy. Work reforms to increase the involvement of production or front-line service workers are at the heart of these systems, which are therefore more aptly called 'high-involvement work systems' (HIWSs). While emphasising that the specific practices in such systems need to be customised to industry and occupational conditions, this paper outlines the core features of HIWSs, including the wider managerial and governance processes in which they are embedded. The paper goes on to explain how the literature in the HPWS area is making a valuable contribution to our understanding of the role of intervening management and employee variables in the performance of any kind of HR system. This underlines the value to any company concerned about its HR performance of looking at the chain of links that runs from management intentions through management practices and employee responses to organisational outcomes.High-performance work systems (HPWSs), a type of HR system, are an important concept in contemporary research on workplaces. In an era of economic globalisation, they are a major issue in the policy debate around how

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