HRM, rhetoric and the psychological contract: a case of 'easier said than done'

This article argues that employee expectations play an important role in the formulation of the psychological contract under HRM. It goes on to suggest that a key feature of the psychological contract and the expectations that it encompasses is the way in which the expectations are influenced by management rhetoric. The article presents a theoretical framework of how this occurs and uses case-study evidence in order to illustrate the process. It finds that the task for management is to match what their rhetoric promises to reality while also sustaining its appeal. A failure to do so is indicative of a failure to meet employee expectations and this has a number of negative implications for an organization's performance.

[1]  F. J. Smith,et al.  Work attitudes as predictors of unionization activity. , 1978 .

[2]  N. Oliver,et al.  Human Resources Management in Japanese Manufacturing Companies in the UK: 5 Case Studies , 1990 .

[3]  T. Watson.  Rhetoric, Discourse and Argument in Organizational Sense Making: A Reflexive Tale , 1995 .

[4]  Ken Kamoche.  Rhetoric, Ritualism, and Totemism in Human Resource Management , 1995 .

[5]  P. Herriot,et al.  New Deals: The Revolution in Managerial Careers , 1995 .

[6]  Stephen Fineman,et al.  Organizations as emotional arenas. , 1993 .

[7]  J. Rosenhead.  Industrial Behaviour: Theoretical Development Since Taylor , 1979 .

[8]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  CHANGING OBLIGATIONS AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY , 1994 .

[9]  Gregory A. Bigley,et al.  Motivation and Leadership At Work , 1996 .

[10]  Edward P. J. Corbett.  Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student , 1966 .

[11]  E. Morrison,et al.  WHEN EMPLOYEES FEEL BETRAYED: A MODEL OF HOW PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT VIOLATION DEVELOPS , 1997 .

[12]  David Guest,et al.  Personnel Management: The End of Orthodoxy? , 1991 .

[13]  M. Bowles,et al.  Image and Substance: The Management of Performance as Rhetoric or Reality? , 1993 .

[14]  David Grant.  New Style Agreements at Japanese Transplants in the UK , 1994 .

[15]  Gordon Marshall.  Social Class in Modern Britain , 1989 .

[16]  The impact of employee involvement on organisational commitment and ‘them and us’ attitudes , 1993 .

[17]  T. Keenoy.  HRM: A Case of the Wolf in Sheep′s Clothing? , 1990 .

[18]  E. Schein.  Organizational Culture and Leadership , 1991 .

[19]  P. Dewe,et al.  Employee share option schemes why workers are attracted to them , 1988 .

[20]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  Organizations and the Psychological Contract: Managing People at Work , 1996 .

[21]  J. Perry,et al.  Dual Commitment and Labor-Management Relationship Climates , 1986 .

[22]  J. Hackman,et al.  Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey , 1975 .

[23]  Peter Herriot,et al.  Facilitating new deals , 1997 .

[24]  E. Vaughan.  The Trial between Sense and Sentiment: A Reflection on the Language of HRM , 1994 .

[25]  Brian Vickers,et al.  In Defence of Rhetoric , 1988 .

[26]  Sharon R. Peck.  Exploring The Link Between Organizational Strategy And The Employment Relationship: The Role Of Human Resources Policies , 1994 .

[27]  T. Watson.  Shaping the story: rhetoric, persuasion and creative writing in organisational ethnography , 1995 .

[28]  Edward E. Lawler,et al.  Motivation in Work Organizations , 1975 .

[29]  Walter Nash.  Rhetoric: The Wit of Persuasion , 1989 .

[30]  Anna Pollert,et al.  The `Flexible Firm': Fixation or Fact? , 1988 .

[31]  T. Lupton,et al.  Efficiency and Effort. , 1962 .

[32]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  New hire perceptions of their own and their employer's obligations: A study of psychological contracts , 1990 .

[33]  E. Larson,et al.  Commitment to company and union: Parallel models. , 1984 .

[34]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  Human resource practices: Administrative contract makers , 1994 .

[35]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  The contracts of individuals and organizations , 1993 .

[36]  Joan C. Woodward.  Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice , 1966 .

[37]  E. Lawler,et al.  Expectancy theory and job behavior , 1973 .

[38]  R. Sims.  Human resource management's role in clarifying the new psychological contract , 1994 .

[39]  R. Pinder,et al.  Misperceptions By Managers and Their Bosses of Each Other's Preferences Regarding the Managers’ Careers: A Case of the Blind Leading the Blind? , 1993 .

[40]  Supervision: a reappraisal , 1973 .

[41]  S. Dunn.  Root Metaphor in the Old and New Industrial Relations , 1990 .

[42]  D. Guest.  HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS[1] , 1987 .

[43]  Alan McGregor,et al.  The ‘Flexible Firm’: Strategy and Segmentation , 1993 .

[44]  Lyman W. Porter,et al.  Managerial attitudes and performance , 1968 .

[45]  J. Hollenbeck,et al.  Goal commitment and the goal-setting process: Problems, prospects, and proposals for future research. , 1987 .

[46]  S. Robinson.  Trust and Breach of the Psychological Contract , 1996 .