If an employer violates an employment contract, there are legal consequences. Although a psychological contract can be much more informal, violating it still has very real consequences. Psychological contract refers to the unwritten and intangible agreement between an employee and their employer that describes the obligations, expectations, and informal understandings that make up their relationship. The concept of the psychological contract was originally developed by Denise Rousseau. Rousseau is a professor of organizational behavior and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. PC = psychological contract – which is hidden, tacit, unwritten and takes into account the relational references (r) between the employee and the market (including other external factors), as well as the employer`s relationship with the market (also r) and the visible contract (VC). Note that only the visible contract element (vc) is written and transparent. All other sections are subject to perception until/until clarification. Some workers may disagree with certain elements of the “contract” due to generational or cultural differences.
The term “contract” (lowercase “c”) in the context of communication is not yet clearly defined and generally does not refer to the psychological contract. As discussed below, “procurement” generally refers specifically to the “agreement of mutual expectations” in the context of transactional analysis (a specialized therapeutic or coaching/consultation methodology) and perhaps also in other forms of therapy. (THE “Contracting” TA is specifically described in modern TA theory.) As companies expect increasing flexibility and agility from their employees, a key aspect of maintaining relationships is that the psychological contract is respected. The need for adaptability can go against the way things have been done before, and therefore changes in business needs can be perceived as a breach of contract. Proactive management of employee expectations therefore becomes an ongoing and necessary process. COYLE‐SHAPIRO, J. and KESSLER, I. (2000) Consequences of the psychological contract for the employment relationship: A large scale survey. Journal of Management Studies. Volume 37, No.
7, pp. 903-930. A psychological contract differs from your typical employment contract in that it is an unwritten and unofficial document. You could call it a mental document if you want you and your employer to sign internally. The works of Denise M. Rousseau and later deepened the details and perspectives of the psychological contract. [8] [9] [10] Sandra L. Robinson noted that employees usually report a breach of the psychological contract a few years after taking up their duties and that the effects of the breach of contract have a negative impact on employee productivity and retention. [11] We can see that the psychological contract can extend to very deep reflections on the relationship between employees and employers, particularly in professional organizations. This goes beyond the traditional appreciation of reward and emotional well-being.
The psychological contract leads us to question the fundamental orientation of employees and employers – especially in terms of ownership, representative management, profit sharing, etc. – and how this is structured within the framework of constitutional rules and the purpose of the organization. Violations of the psychological contract by an employer are not always avoidable. External factors such as the negative economic outlook can affect the agreement between the company and its employees. However, companies can avoid many negative outcomes if they are fair in managing the situation, even if they can`t promise positive results for everyone. For more information, see our report Entitled to the Changing Contours of Equity. Overall, the psychological contract can cover the following aspects of the employment relationship: the concept of psychological contract in companies, work and employment is extremely flexible and very difficult (if not practically impossible) to measure in the usual way, because we can, for example, compare wages and pay in relation to market prices or responsibilities with qualifications, etc. In reality, this contract is something you sign on the first day and probably don`t see much for the rest of your time in the store. If the employee and employer do not enter into a dispute, this contract may well remain in a filing cabinet at the back of the office. A knowledgeable team will support their psychological contract, provided they strive to serve all members equally, and will try to improve their performance for themselves and the future of their business. Remember that the psychological contract is not measurable or manageable in the traditional way.
It must approach it partly through tangible facts and logic, and partly through intuition, trust and a certain pragmatism. .