The central subject of the strategic HRM field is the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance and the focal construct is the high-performance work system (HPWS). The first two of the authors began their careers in the early 1970s as professors in a business school management department but decided in the late 1980s to leave academe and devote full time to their organizational design consulting practice. For over three decades they led large-scale HPWS design and implementation projects for several dozen companies in not only manufacturing plants but also banks, airlines, hospitals, and corporate headquarters. With the help of the third author, a comparison is made of the HPWS as discussed and conceptualized in the academic literature and the HPWS designed and implemented in practice. The academic version has little resemblance to the real-world version, pointing to a quite large research-practice gap that appears to widen over time. The remainder of the paper describes in more detail the socio-technical design principles used to construct an HPWS, the major challenges and pitfalls in successful implementation and sustainability, and a short case study of an actual HPWS project. If academics want to do useful, relevant research on HPWS, they need to engage with the real thing in the field.

战略人力资源管理领域的中心主题是人力资源管理实践与公司绩效之间的关系，重点构建是高绩效工作系统（HPWS）。前两位作者的职业生涯始于 1970 年代初，担任商学院管理系教授，但在 1980 年代后期决定离开学术界，全职投入组织设计咨询实践。三十多年来，他们领导了数十家公司的大型 HPWS 设计和实施项目，这些公司不仅包括制造工厂，还包括银行、航空公司、医院和公司总部。在第三作者的帮助下，将学术文献中讨论和概念化的 HPWS 与实践中设计和实施的 HPWS 进行了比较。学术版本与现实世界的版本几乎没有相似之处，这表明研究与实践之间的差距似乎随着时间的推移而扩大。本文的其余部分更详细地描述了用于构建 HPWS 的社会技术设计原则、成功实施和可持续性的主要挑战和陷阱，以及实际 HPWS 项目的简短案例研究。如果学术界想要对 HPWS 进行有用的相关研究，他们需要接触该领域的真实事物。以及实际 HPWS 项目的简短案例研究。如果学术界想要对 HPWS 进行有用的相关研究，他们需要接触该领域的真实事物。以及实际 HPWS 项目的简短案例研究。如果学术界想要对 HPWS 进行有用的相关研究，他们需要接触该领域的真实事物。