At present the old model (XIXth century) of production is still practiced in big industrial complex, the "big machines" of Huxley  (oil , chemical,industries, agro-alimentary Mt Santo, Nestlé etc.) engaged in a "struggle for life" because of emergent countries and industries.. They sell energy or products for their own profits, for surviving because they are also submerged by their gigantic size  (e.g. like the administration of a state).  Then your second solution (concerning the employee and the human beeings in general) is the good (and necessary) one, but it could change in a far future (?)   

Here is a quiet new meta-analysis about HPWS and performance in a cultural context: Rabl, T., Jayasinghe, M., Gerhart, B., & Kühlmann, T. M. (2014). A meta-analysis of country differences in the high-performance work system–business performance relationship: The roles of national culture and managerial discretion.

there is no doubt that HPHRMPs result in better performance as the nature is performance oriented. But now a days HPWS does not only concentrate upon performance but it also empowers the employees as well as implements flexible time and place practices for addressing different demands of the employees, which can affect their well being too. please read the following papers

Dr. David,

Your question is very interesting to me. I have read man a times high performing organisation (HPO) and high performing work team (HPWT). In HRM I have gone through High Performing HR practices and about strategies adopted for high performance. Realy fantastic for your insight. In the light of this theories  and concept we may be bale to explore mutual gain from high performing HRM and in HPO. Though there are researches but directly on high Performing HRM and Mutual Gain there are rare in literature. This can be a global project on HRM to examine your queries in the context of west-east-south-north part of the world.

The following chapter concerns the possible negative impact of High Performance Work Systems:

Spector, P. E. (In press). Sometimes more is less: High performance work systems as a source of occupational stress. In N. M. Ashkanasy, R. J. Bennett, & M. J. Martinko (Eds.). When do high performance work practices become abusive supervision? New York: Psychology Press. (SIOP Frontiers Series).

I don't think you can find a definite answer to that questions since something is missing: To do what?

Charles Handy invented years ago the "inverted doughnut" concept to reflect the idea of how different jobs add value to the organizations. Many jobs seem designed by Bismarck and his "it's forbidden everything that is not openly ordered" while some others ask from people much more than the ability to perform the ordered tasks. They have to figure out what the task should be.

Now, coming back to your question, the answers in these so different environments could be very different. You can need an active hand, an active brain or both and the requirements will be different in every case.

Problem is that there is probably more than one defnition of HPHRMS and even more applications in practice. More clarity on the predictor side give:

Jiang et al. (2012). How does human resource management influence organisational out-comes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of Management Journal, 55, 1264-1294.

Here we find also the link to measures on the HR- side.

What is also linked to heath variables on the employee's side are leadership styles, mabe there's something for you here:

Zwingmann, I., Wege, J. Wolf, J., Wolf, S. Rudolf, M., Schmidt,. M. & Richter, P. (2014). Is transformational leadership healthy for employees? A multilevel analysis in 16 nations. Zeitschrift für Personalforschung, 28 (1-2), 24-51.

Good luck,

Regards,

LB

High-performance HRM must aim towards optimal use of human resources, in order to maintain the resource productivity and yield. Human resource ,being different from financial or technological resource, need to be managed differently, as there may be  issue of fatigue and diminished ability. Employee empowerment and motivation are important factors in that direction. High level of employee motivation and participation  will lead to high performance through commitment. The leadership that recognizes human potential and creativity, will be able to derive high performance through creation of conducive organizational culture that would motivate employees to synchronize personal aspirations with organizational goals and would eventually lead to high performance.  

HPWS is the best tool we have to link Human Resources practices and business outcomes. There is a growing body of evidence supporting the idea that competent, commited and motivated people with the opportunity to contribute, show enhanced performance.

As a discipline we still don't know the exact mechanism how this work (called the black box) and we have some pending issues related with causality, defining precisely what practices compose a HPWS and if there is one or more sets of HPWS, but practically all over the world the conclusion is the same; there's a relationship between these practices and organizational performance. 

For a paper dealing with the potential "dark side" of high involvement work practices and how independent collective bargaining representation can help limit if not reverse this problem see our recently published works at the individual

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279033571_Balancing_efficiency_equity_and_voice_The_impact_of_unions_and_high-involvement_work_practices_on_work_outcomes

and organizational levels of analysis

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259547469_Are_Unions_Good_or_Bad_for_Organizations_The_Moderating_Role_of_Management%27s_Response

All the best, Andrew

Article Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice: The Impact of Union...

Article Are Unions Good or Bad for Organizations? The Moderating Rol...

According to Kroon (2012) high performance work practices are HRM practices that help to increase organizational performance and employee performance.

The view of Ferreira et al., (2010) is that HPWPs is a HR system, made up of new structure of work organization.  According to them the new structure of work organization includes flexible human resources practices based on employee involvement and empowerment.

Reference

Kroon, B., Van De Voorde, K. and Timmers, J., 2013. High performance work practices in small firms: a resource-poverty and strategic decision-making perspective. Small Business Economics, 41(1), pp.71-91.

Ferreira, P., Porto, N. and Portela, M., 2010. Women's participation in high performance work practices: a comparative analysis of Portugal and Spain.

there is High Performance Work Practice, High Performance Human Resource Practice, High Performance Organization, High Involvement Work Practice, High Commitment Work Practice, commitment based human resource etc...all seems diff things but unfortunately, a clear version of every single term is yet to be establish.