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rm a smaller bundle by choosing a few activities which are relevant for the organisation.

The practices listed as the components of bundles are very appealing and offer a vision of HRM which is in relation to a high commitment model. It provides employees with a stimulating and pleasant environment. For example, the provision of employment security is attractive for employees, the opportunity to earn above average wages and to be rewarded for performance can be highly motivating and it is desirable to have a chance to gain extensive levels of training. The high commitment model has the capability to contribute to improved employee attitudes and behaviours, lower levels of absenteeism & turnover, high levels of productivity, quality and customer service. Proponents of HPP are of the view that research findings do not reflect a problem with the system but the problem is essentially a managerial one, focusing the wrong managerial values and beliefs or lack of knowledge, expertise or financial resources and ineffective implementation of HPPs.

Since long, high commitment HRM has been thought of as a good management practice and that the system yields superior performance. But such claims may be unwarranted. The practices which are assumed to be 'good' may not appear so beneficial to workers when analysed more systematically. There have been a number of problems with the notion of 'best practice' in relation to the meaning of specific practices, their consistency with each other and the claims that this version is universally applicable. The most noted study of the performance effects of High Performance Paradigm (HPP) has been Huselid's (1995) cross sectional analysis of 1992 mail survey data from 968 US firms in which he explored associations between two additive indices of HPP's and objective measures of firm performance, including sales per employee, labour turnover and an indicator of financial performance. He interpreted his findings as having strong positive effects. There have been many such studies providing strong evidence in support of the HPP. Yet there are others that suggest that HPP is fragile and lacks coherence. There are companies which have scaled back or discontinued this system after few years have elapsed (Drago 1988: 338-9; Eaton 1994: 378-80). Recent studies have found little support for HPP. A study conducted by Cappelli and Neumark (2001: 753-66) in the USA found that HPP is related to increased labour costs, to have weak productivity effects and to bear no association with labour efficiency in manufacturing establishments. Other studies by Freeman et al (2000: 9- 12) and Guest et al have had the same findings in various other industries. The proponents of HPP have not only overestimated the benefits of HPP but also the costs attached to it. Even if high levels of HPP yield significant gains, these may be offset by costs in workplaces. As a result, the adoption of HPP may yield little or no overall advantage over traditional personnel practices. A number of studies have reported positive social and psychological implications and a number have also found HPP's practices to be associated with high levels of stress and work intensity. In a study of autonomous teams in a US manufacturing plant, Barker (1993) has concluded that workers can feel pressurised by strong performance norms, a circumstance he referred to as 'concertive control.' There is evidence that when HPP is perceived to be