Crossing the line between high performance work practices and abusive supervision: Context, implementation, and intentionality as interpretive triggers

The underlying thesis of this chapter is that, although high performance work practices (HPWPs) offer excellent potential for improving workplace productivity, while at the same time offering benefits in terms of employee long-term health and well-being, there can be a ‘dark side’: When they are badly managed, such practices can lead to abusive supervisory practices and outcomes that might well be the antithesis of what is desired. A further issue identified by Flores and her co-authors related to the broader issue of HPWSs, which incorporate ‘bundles’ of HPWPs to make an overall package across a wide range of organizational functioning and performance. A particular HPWS is not necessarily going to be a panacea, so future researchers will need to carefully investigate the effects of such systems in different environments on different outcomes.