Introduction to Managing People Flashcards
Universalist management practices
This approach follows the logic that a set of universal truths about principles, values and morals may be applied in all business and management contexts
Relativist management practices
relativism contends that there cannot be a set of universal truths concerning principles, values and morals about management. Any set would inevitably be later replaced with a new set of truths, or in other words, one organisation’s truths cannot just be copied and pasted into other contexts.
Unitarism
represents the viewpoint that organisations are ‘families’ or ‘teams’ where managers and workers share common objectives and in which conflict or dissent among employees is deviant behaviour.
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Pluralism
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Pluralism reflects the viewpoint that organisations are made up of various interest groups, most notably managers and workers, who have conflicting but equally legitimate interests and therefore conflict is both inevitable and natural.
Unitarism vs Pluralism
Under unitarism the view is that power should
reside in the hands of management by virtue of their position of authority as organisational decision-makers. Under pluralism, power is viewed as being more distributed and the balance of power within organisations can shift from one group to another depending on circumstances or the issue at hand.
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The Psychological Contract
has been defined as ‘a set of unwritten reciprocal expectations between an individual employee and the organisation’ (Schein, 1978: 48), and ‘the perceptions of the two parties, employee and employer, of what their mutual obligations are towards each other’ (Guest and Conway, 2002: 1).
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The issue/Problem with psychological contracts
As opposed to terms and conditions that are largely closed to interpretation and unambiguous, the psychological contract is constructed of subjective,
often unarticulated beliefs, expectations and obligations that are subject to constant change. Consequently, it is a key source of conflict between employers and employees, particularly as the psychological contract is played out with neither party ever fully knowing the intentions and beliefs of the other; as such, the extent to which this constitutes a ‘contract’ in the true sense of the word has been questioned.
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How to better the psychological contract
The development of a positive psychological contract, therefore, involves the ongoing alignment and realignment of organisational and individual needs and part of the role of HRM is the management of expectations, ensuring that employees are aware of the expectations placed upon them and also ensuring that what employees can expect of the organisation is clearly transmitted.
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Why is the psychological contract important to performance management
it is important in shaping the attitudes and expectations.
. In particular, the psychological contract can be viewed as a mediating factor that translates HRM policies and practices into individual performance (Katou and Budhwar, 2012), as the ‘state’ of the psychological contract informs the actions of the employee on a day-to-day basis, particularly whether to work to their potential or withhold effort.
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Multiple Agency Problem in managing Psychological Contracts and the solution
Employees have formal or informal exchanges with a wide variety of organisational ‘agents’ (such as managers at varying levels) and, therefore, maintaining consistent messages across the organisation is problematic.
Therefore to ensure clear communication between employers and employees in explaining the rationale behind managerial actions and providing a mechanism through which employees can voice their opinions and grievances. One way to maintain consistency of attitude and behaviour across an organisation is the establishment and management of organisational culture. This is discussed further in Chapter 7.
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What is Employee Engagement with regards to the Psychological contract
Alternatively, Schaufeli et al. (2002: 74) define engagement as a ‘positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigour, dedication and absorption’, and suggest that such engagement is not momentary or specific to a particular task but ‘persistent and pervasive’. Robinson et al. (2004) suggest that the behaviours demonstrated by the engaged employee include a belief and pride in the organisation, a desire to work to make things better and an understanding of business context and the ‘bigger picture’. Given these definitions, there is no doubt that a state of engagement among its employees is desirable for an organisation
(Gruman and Saks, 2011).
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Reflective thinking on engagement and the HRM principles to a company
Theoretically, therefore, through the development of a positive psychological contract via particular configurations of HR policies and practices, organisations can elicit greater discretionary effort from employees, increase levels of engagement and unlock hidden potential. For example, Farndale et al. (2011) report that employee perceptions of trust, equity and fairness of treatment regarding HRM practices are important in developing positive employee behaviours and attitudes, such as employee commitment. However, creating an engaged workforce is problematic and ‘organisations must work to engage an employee, who in turn has a choice about the level of engagement to offer the employer’ (Robinson et al., 2004: 1). Robinson et al. (2004) suggest that a sense of feeling valued and involved at work represents the strongest driver of engagement, which is, in turn, reflective of the extent to which employee voice is listened to in decision-making,
the provision of opportunities for employees to develop their jobs and organisational concern for employees’ health and well-being.
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