Lecture 6 - Changing nature employee relationship

Question 1

Todays employment landscape has changed

Answer 1

1) Ageing workforce (retirement)
2) More grads, women in work ever before
3) Changes in the type of work (knowledge based)
4) Shorter timeframes (communicate quickly)
5) New technologies (internet)
6) Multinational organisations (multiple offices)

Question 2

Shift organisations are more like systems - all link

Answer 2

1) People
2) Work & Structures
3) Systems & Procedures
4) Technology
5) Goals/Metrics
6) Culture

Question 3

Impact on organisations & people in organisations

Answer 3

Org: new tools/capabilities, work organisation, new performance metrics, new policies & processes, supplier development, culture
- responsive to change (Nokia didn’t se outset mobile)
People: expectations of work, expectations of career, work/job boundaries blurred (accessable)

Question 4

What is the employment relationship

Answer 4

• Contract: work hours, pay, roles, place, dress code, holiday, absence processes
• Informal relationship

Question 5

Person- Environment fit

Answer 5

• match between persons needs, preferences, characteristics and their work environment (Furnham, 1992)
• environment attributes: tolerance for ambiguity, attitude to authority, attitude towards individualism, cognitive complexity and risk taking
  1) positive between job sat, neg mental illness (Furnham. 1984)
  2) job sat & organisational commitment (Judge, 1994)

Question 6

Psychological contract

Answer 6

• beliefs based on promises (voluntary, mutual), expressed or implied regarding an exchange agreement between an individual and the employing firm and its agents (Rousseau, 2004)
  Iceberg model
  Work: loyalty, drive change, commitment, performance, effort
  Pay: promotion, well-being, recognition

Question 7

Psychological contract violation (new boss/change over time)

Answer 7

1) Inadvertent violation - able and willing keep part of the bargain, violated misunderstand
2) Disruption - circ impossible for one of both parties to satisfy their part of the contract
3) Breach - one party able implement contract, refuses intentionally creates violation
- Active: Constructive- voice/talk Destructive - Neglect/destruction
- Passive: Constructive -loyalty/silence Destructive - Leave
- Interpretation of cause/source violation influence how violation experienced and how victims behave (Rousseau, 1995)

Question 8

New dawn for psychological contract- what does this mean

Answer 8

1) Flexibility on both
2) Home working
3) Working ‘after hours’
4) Promotion opportunities vs CV development opportunities
5) Flexible hours vs ‘never being off duty’

Question 9

Traditional career vs today

Answer 9

TRAD: job4life, success salary and hierarchy, specific skills qualification for life
TODAY: employees take responsibility for their career, lateral moves (sideways/experience), continuous learning

Question 10

Protean career

Answer 10

• shaped more by the individual than the organisation
  TRAD (PROTEAN)
• organisation (person) in charge, advancement safety (freedom growth) core values, lower (high) degree mobility, position pay (psychological success), organisational commitment (work satisfaction, personal commitment) key attitudes

Question 11

Boundaryless career

Answer 11

• ‘a sequence of job opportunities that go beyond the boundaries of a single employment setting’ (Arthur, 1996)

Question 12

What protean/boundaryless mean for psychological contract

Answer 12

1) workers now exchange internal prospects for continuous learning & marketability (rather than presence for pay/promotion)
2) People carry portfolio of skills/experiences make strategic moves which equip them for future employability (Kanter, 1989)

Question 13

some employees/generations cope better

Answer 13

Traditionalists - before end WW2
Baby boomers - between end WW2 early/mid 60s
Generation X - between early/mid 60’s and mid/late 80s
Generation Y - between 80’s and mid/late 90’s
Generation Z - between mid/late 90’s and present day

Question 14

Generation Y in workplace

Answer 14

1) respond poorly to inflexible hierarchical (Deloitte, 2012)
2) importance job security decreasing value leisure increasing (Wray-Lake et al, 2011)
3) Successive generations less inclined to follow ‘traditional’ career path ( Becton etl al, 2014)

Question 15

Implications for managers

Answer 15

1) Attraction and selection of Gen Y - desirable employer, reputation & image aligned to Gen Y Concerns
2) Managing Gen Y - max skills/foster creativity and innovation, development opportunities, team working with other Gens
3) Retaining Gen Y - opportunities, social networks, new technologies, innovative workplace, varied career paths, greater work-life flexibility