Pfeffer takes on widely held beliefs that he contends are massively destructive to employment relationships and organizational performance. For example, Pfeffer argues that the "new employment contract" makes no logical sense given what we know about human behavior and the importance of the norm of reciprocity. He considers alternatives to downsizing and ways to accomplish reductions in staff without doing as much organizational damage. He identifies troubling trends in compensation and puts forth alternative ways of thinking about pay practices. He examines the evidence on the effects of labor unions and provides examples of how to develop more constructive relations with employee representatives. He also considers the role of government and why market-based forces do not invariably produce optimal employment practices. Pfeffer explores why smart organizations and managers sometimes do "dumb" things when managing employees, and what might be done to overcome these problems. He offers ideas for how to implement high-performance work arrangements and offers a diagnostic process for assessing the alignment between what an organization does and what it needs to do to be successful.