High-performance workplaces and organizations, unlike the "Tayloristic" ones of the past in which workers specialized in certain tasks, responsibilities were centralized, and the organizational structure was a pyramidal hierarchy, are structured to promote employee empowerment (Bauer, 2004, p. 1). The new high-performance workplaces feature flat hierarchies, and employees are no longer chained to a particular task but moved about in job rotation cycles (Bauer, 2004, p. 1). Moreover, teams are responsible for themselves instead of directed from above, and employees are multi-taskers instead of single-focus taskers (Bauer, 2004, p. 1). Moreover, decision-making in these organizations is not confined to a few executives at the top but involves lower-level employees as well, and the old vertical communication channels have given way to horizontal channels denoting collaboration and networking (Bauer, 2004, p. 1). High-performance workplaces are "holistic," in contrast to the fragmented ones typical of old-school pyramidal hierarchies (Bauer, 2004, p. 1). Kauhanen (2009, p. 454) describes high-performance work systems in terms of their ability to "transform the work of frontline employees...by giving them an opportunity to participate, investing in their training and providing incentive pay," as well as changing the organization's power base by granting increased autonomy to employees.
The impact of a high-performance workplace on employees is largely positive. Operational effectiveness results from a proper fit between the organization's "information, technology, people, and work" (Hanna, 1988, Nadler & Tushman, 1988, as cited in Varma, Beatty, Schneier, & Ulrich, 1999). As Appelbaum (2000, p. 46) points out, "Trust and intrinsic rewards...enhance commitment to the firm and worker satisfaction, and lower levels of work stress, though the relationship to stress is likely to be complex." Increased autonomy can raise...