The implication of managing change at work for the psychological contract

by jamesxie (student)

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

The implications of managing change at work for psychological contract

James Xie Group C

Abstract

This assignment focuses on how managing change influence the psychological contract.

It is impossible to specify every aspect of the employment relationship in a formal contract (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Comparing with the formal contract, the psychological contract is a latent part that might influences the development of the company and individual performance. A related issue prompting a rethink of personnel management methods concerns the psychological contract between employee and organization (Rousseau, 1990, 1995). Therefore, it is very important for manager to understand and satisfy the workers’ requirement, in order to encourage the staff in the company and make profits. There are many factors might affect the psychological contract including culture changes, mentoring relationship, the number of innovative ideas of workers and reasonable job security. For example, employees have expectations such as performance feedback, a safe working environment and reasonable job security. In return, the employers expects from employees to be willing to work for extra hours, show loyalty towards organization, upholding the employers’ reputation and bring innovative ideas (Hassan, 2011). Definitely, the psychological contract does a serious job in the relationship between employees and employers. Considering about people might have reactions including lose their trust in job satisfaction and commitment to the organization when the psychological contract is breached, employers should take measures to deal with it. In addition, different people will have different expectations from their employers and different attitude to do the work (Bal, 2009). According Conway’s idea the two key areas in managing the psychological contract are contents and breach. In order to approach higher business, people should concentrate on managing the psychological contract.

Outline

Explain what is psychological contract

Introduce the history and development of the Psychological contract concept (Conway and Briner,2005)

Use the range of definitions from Christeen (2007) and Buchanan and Huczynski (2004).

Discuss which factors might affect psychological contract

Discuss the implication of the psychological contract for organizational strategy including management style, managing expectations and communications from The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) from Mullins (2007).

Describe how a culture change affects the psychological contract by using ideas from Kessler and Undy (1996).

Understanding how ...

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Outline

Explain what is psychological contract

Introduce the history and development of the Psychological contract concept (Conway and Briner,2005)

Use the range of definitions from Christeen (2007) and Buchanan and Huczynski (2004).

Discuss which factors might affect psychological contract

Describe how a culture change affects the psychological contract by using ideas from Kessler and Undy (1996).

Understanding how mentoring relationships might affect psychological contracts negatively from Haggard (2011)

Use ideas of Hassan (2011) to illustrate the requirement of employees and employers.

Describe how people react when the psychological contract is breached

When employees perceive their psychological contract as breached, they react to this breach by a decrease in trust, job satisfaction and commitment to the organization (Bal, Lange, Jansen, Velde, 2008).

Different people react in different ways. It is said that younger employees will have different expectations from their employers and perceive different employer obligations than older workers (Schein, 1978; Van der Heijden et al., 2008).

Discuss how to manage the psychological contract

Use ideas from Conway and Briner (2005) to illustrate how to manage the psychological contract.

Conclusion

In general, with the world developing an increasing number of employees will pursue higher qualifications at work and the psychological contract is tend to be more important in modern companies. It is necessary for both of the employees and the employers to reach an agreement to keep the psychological contract in a good situation and increase business.

References

Bal M., 2009, Age and Psychological Contract Breach in Relation to Work Outcomes. ISBN 9789051705614 NUR 708

Bal M. et al., Lange A.H.D., Jansen P.G.W., Ven Der Velde M.E.G., 2008, Psychological contract breach and job attitudes:A meta-analysis of age as a moderator, Journal of Vocational Behavior 72 (2008) 143–158

Buchanan D., Huczynski A., 2004, Organizational Behaviour An Introductory Text. 5th ed., Prentice Hall

Christeen G., 2007, The psychological contract

Conway N. et al., Briner R.b., 2005, Understanding Psychological Contracts at Work: A Critical Evaluation of Theory and Research. Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011

Haggard D.L., 2011, Mentoring and Psychological Contract Breach. 26 June 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Hassan

J., 2011, Influence of Psychological Contract Breach on Organizational Commitment. Jul2011, Vol. 9 Issue 2, p19-30, 12p

Millins L.J., 2007, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 8th ed., Prentice Hall

Rousseau, D.m., 1999, ‘Why workers still identify with orgaizations’, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 217-33.

Schein, E.H. (1978). Career dynamics: matching individual and organizational needs. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Van der Heijden, B.I.J.M., Schalk, R., & Van Veldhoven, M.J.P.M. (2008). Ageing and careers: European research on long-term career development and early retirement. Career Development International, 13, 85-94.