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The Psychological Contract
Managing and developing professional groups
Christeen GeorgeOpen University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire England SL6 2QL
email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121 -2289, USAFirst published 2009
Copyright © Christeen George 2009
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London, EC1 N 8TS.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-10: 033521 61 29 (pb) 0335216137 (hb) ISBN-13: 9780335216123 (pb) 9780335216130 (hb)
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Typeset by YHT Ltd, LondonPrinted in the UK by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow
For Byron and Camilla George, Uella and David Amah, and Christeen Aboe
Contents
List of tables and figures ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introducing the psychological contract 1
1 Professional careers in the UK 32
2 Contract formation and development: early socialization 49
3 Transitions: from education to professional employment 70
4 From professional employment to the mature career 85
5 The psychological contract and critical career decisions 97
6 Managing the psychological contract 114
7 The future of the psychological contract and psychological
contracts of the future 123
References 135
Acknowledgements
This has been a long journey which has been at times a solitary one but there have beenmany people who have helped me along the way. The first person I would like to thank isDr Deirdie Kelley-Patterson who was originally going to be a co-atithor and who wasinvolved in the developmental stages. I would also like to thank Professor ChrisBrotherton, the series editor, for his patience and a long list of editors that I won't nameindividually for fear of offending one I may have missed out. Thanks also to all my MScstudents at the University of Hertfordshire. Thanks in addition to Andy Pedley whounwittingly gave me the motivation to perservere at a time when the task appearedinsurmountable. A special thanks to my family who have endured many inconveniencesover these last few years.
1 Introducing the psychological contract
This book is concerned with the psychological contract with particular reference
to the careers of professional workers. The aim of the book is to examine the
management and development of professional groups through an understanding of
how psychological contracts form and change over time.
The concept or construct of the psychological contract has been a popular one,
particularly over the past ten years or so. However, relatively few books have been
written about the psychological contract per se although there is a plethora of
journal articles, a great many of which, but by no means all, report empirical
research.
With the increasing numbers of university graduates, many people are working in
professional or proto-professional occupations. Thus the management and
development of these groups of workers has become an increasingly important
issue. The framework used throughout the book is predominantly that of the
psychological contract. Thus, in this chapter the psychological contract is defined
and there is a brief examination of the history of the concept. There is also some
discussion of the characteristics and content of the psychological contract. Different
types of contract are discussed with particular reference to the distinction made by
Rousseau (1995) between relational and transactional contracts. The concepts of
psychological contract breach and violation are outlined. This is followed by a
critique of the contract to date with reference to aspects such as the clarity of the
conceptualization and underlying assumptions.
In subsequent chapters the focus shifts to professional careers. In Chapter 2
there is a discussion concerning professional careers in the UK with regard to the
recruitment and retention of professional workers. Distinctions are made between
organizational and professional careers starting with organizational and professional
socialization and moving on to the possible tensions between organizational and
professional careers. The topic of early career socialization is then examined in some
detail in Chapter 3, focusing upon the portrayal of professional workers in the
media and the possible consequences of this portrayal. Factors impacting on the
decision to enter a profession are identified in connection with the career
development literature. The entrance to many professions requires a protracted
period of professional training and development. The expectations of those entering
this period of professional development will be considered and also the extent to
which the various professions actively shape these expectations.
Chapter 4 concentrates on the development of professional identities through
both formal education routes and intra-organizational mentoring schemes. There has
been some suggestion (e.g. Jenkins, 2001) that degree programmes may actually
produce disillusionment with career choices and paths. Issues surrounding the
changing perceptions of the professions are discussed. The differing psychological
contract expectations of graduates and managers are highlighted. The development
of professional identities is discussed with reference to social identity theory, which
provides an integrative framework.
The spotlight is then moved to the developing professional career beginning with
a consideration of the entry into professional life and career decisions made, such as
progression to managerial status. Many professional workers report significant role
strain when they move to their first supervisory role. In Chapter 5, cultural
transmission and the development of 'managerial' occupational role identities are
explored. Career development issues such as the growing importance of
collaborative working (in health and social care), partnership working and networking
are discussed. The leadership pressures associated with the demands of 'new
managerialism' are explored through the eyes of professionals operating in
managerial roles.
Chapter 6 is concerned with the impact of the psychological contract on the
career decisions of professional workers. The discussion of psychological contract
violation and breach is developed further with reference to the professional worker.
The consequences of violation and breach are examined, such as lowered
commitment and job satisfaction, and exit. Exit from the professions is discussed in
connection with career changes and the possibility of professional 'downshifting'. The
role of HR strategies in the retention of professional workers is investigated and a
number of characteristics important for the retention of professional workers are
identified.
The role of HR is further examined in Chapter 7, where the 'management' of the
psychological contract is considered. Socialization/induction, identity development
and contract change and violation will be discussed with reference to people
management strategies.
Finally, future trends in the development and change of the psychological
contract are explored in Chapter 8. Here the main issues are summarized and there
is a critical evaluation of the approach taken in the book as a whole.
Introduction
What is a psychological contract? On first acquaintance with the concept it
appears to be a relatively easy one to understand. However, on reading the
many papers written on the psychological contract, especially since 1995, the
concept of the psychological contract becomes more and more elusive. Is it
concerned with expectations, promises, obligations or all of these? Is the
psychological contract a mutual agreement between employees and their
organization or is it best seen entirely from the employees' viewpoint? Do
different groups of workers have different types of psychological contract? What
of professional workers? Do they hold psychological contracts with their
profession, the organization that they work in, or with both? If it is intended to
look at the careers of professional workers through the lens of the psychological
contract, it is important to examine definitions of the construct and also to
explore the history, the content, the characteristics and the formation of
psychological contracts, as well as the consequences of contract violation and
breach. In the next section an attempt is made to provide a definition of the
psychological contract taking into account conflicting approaches.
Definitions
Whilst the psychological contract may be difficult to define, as a concept it is
easily understood, on some level or another, by anyone who has ever worked in
any kind of organization. Ask any group of employees what they expect from
their organization and what their organization expects from them and they will
have no trouble in eliciting a list of items many of which are not found in the
conventional contract of employment. Definitions may vary but there is some
general agreement concerning the nature of the psychological contract. The
general consensus would appear to be that the psychological contract is
promissory, implicit, reciprocal, perceptual, and based on expectations.
• The psychological contract is promissory as it can be denned in relation to the
promises that employees believe were made to them by their employer
probably prior to them entering the organization.
• The psychological contract is implicit in that it is unspoken, unwritten and
often only becomes apparent when it is breached, causing feelings of
violation.
• Psychological contracts are reciprocal as they are embedded in beliefs of
mutual obligations (Rousseau, 1995) existing in the context of the
employee/employer relationship. They are concerned with exchange
agreements between individuals and their organizations.
• The psychological contract is seen as forming or as being formed by 'the
idiosyncratic perception of the employment agreement held by individuals'
(Blancero ctal., 1996).
• The psychological contract can be seen as 'a series of mutual expectations and
needs arising from an organization-individual relationship' (Kelley-Patterson and
George, 200L) or as the sum of mutual expectations between the organization
and the employee (Levinson etal., 1962; Schein, 1978).
• The psychological contract binds the employee and the employer. It is a form of
guarantee that if each does his or her part, the relationship will be mutually
beneficial (Robinson and Rousseau, 1994). This may be a fairly complex
relationship in the case of professional workers.
Problems arising with the definition of the psychological contract appear to
stem from the differing approaches occurring within the psychological contract
literature. According to Grant (1999) there would appear to be two broad
approaches to defining the psychological contract. The first approach has been
described by Herriot (1995) as the 'classic definition' and is derived from the
work of Argyris and Schein. This approach focuses on employer and employee
perceptions of the exchange implied by the employment relationship and
considers the social processes that shape these perceptions. The second
approach places the psychological contract firmly within the mind of the
employee (Herriot, 1995). This approach focuses on 'individual beliefs,
shaped by the organization, regarding the terms of an exchange agreement
between individuals and their organization' (Rousseau, 1995). It may be, as
Guest and Conway state, that the psychological contract is best seen as a
metaphor: a word or phrase borrowed from another context that helps to make
sense of our experience. The psychological contract is a way of interpreting the
state of the employment relationship and help to plot significant changes (Guest
and Conway, 1998: ix).
For some writers in the field there would appear to be little that can be
described as 'psychological' in the psychological contract as the term is used
merely as a description of the employment relationship. Used in this context the
psychological contract is a useful way to refer to employee/employer relations
and one that appears to fit neatly within the unitary perspective.
History of the concept
Relatively little has been written about the history of the psychological contract.
The most extensive review of the origins and early development of the
psychological contract construct is that of Roehling (1997). He notes that both
Argyris (1960) and Levinson et at. (1962) have been credited with introducing
the term.
Argyris (I960) used the term 'psychological work contract' to describe the implicit
understanding between a group of employees and their foreman that arose as a
result of a particular leadership style that Argyris referred to as 'passive' or
'understanding'. Foremen adopting this style of leadership influenced employees
to behave in the desired manner by maintaining the informal employee culture
and not behaving in a way that violated the culture's norms.
Levinson et al. (1962) derived the concept of the psychological contract from Karl
Menninger's discussion of the intangible aspects of contractual relationships and
a study carried out by the Menninger Foundation where employees spoke of their
expectations in relation to their work. They defined psychological contracts as 'a
series of mutual expectations of which the parties to the relationship may not
themselves be [but] dimly aware but which nonetheless govern their relationship
to each other' (p. 21).
A key writer in the early development of the psychological contract as a
construct was Edgar Schein. In 1965 he stated that 'The notion of a psychological
contract implies that the individual has a variety of expectations of the
organization and that the organization has a variety of expectations of him'
(1965: 11). By the 1980s he had broadened his conceptualization of the
psychological contract by claiming: 'Though it remains unwritten, the psy-
chological contract is a powerful determiner of behaviour in organizations'
(Schein, 1988: 24}. Schein envisaged the psychological contract as influencing
organizational roles, power relationships, motivation, performance, induction and
socialization, employee relations and career-related behaviour. Schein defines
organizational roles as 'a set of behavioural expectations' many of which are
'implicit and involve the person's sense of dignity and worth' (1988: 23). He also
states that a major element of the psychological contract is an expectation on
the part of the organization that a new worker will accept the authority system of
that organization.
Schein claims that the psychological contract is 'a major variable of analysis'
(1988: 99) underlying effective work performance, employee commitment,
loyalty, and enthusiasm for the organization and its goals. In later chapters the
pervasiveness of the construct will be examined with particular reference to the
careers of professional workers. According to Schein, the psychological contract
is based upon the inner needs of the employee and his/her manager as well as
on what they have learned from others, traditions and norms which may be
operating, their own past experiences and 'a host of other sources' (1988: 24).
Thus, as these needs and other external forces change so do expectations,
making the psychological contract, in Schein's words, 'a dynamic one which must
be constantly renegotiated' (1988: 24). Thus, for example, economic conditions
may lead to renegotiations of professional contracts amongst professional and
other workers.
Other research feeding into the early development of the concept includes
Gibson (1966), Kotter (1973), Portwood and Miller (1976), Weick (1979) and
Nicholson and Johns (1985). Gibson was concerned with absence behaviour and
the links between this and an individual's 'work contract' with his/her
organization. The work contract is seen to consist of a formal contract and a
'quasi-contract' involving an unwritten understanding of the rights and duties of
parties. Gibson refers to the term psychological contract as being a less formal
term alluding to the individual's perception of the quasi-contractual aspect of the
work contract. Expectations around absence or presence behaviour can clearly
be seen to be a reciprocal dimension of the psychological contract. For
professional workers this often relates to assumptions concerning off-site working
which may often be an aspect of the job for some.
In 1973, in a study of organization socialization, Kotter defined the
psychological contract as 'an implicit contract between an individual and his
organization which specifies what each expects to give and receive from each
other in their relationship' (p. 92). Kotter talks about matches and mismatches of
expectations, which he claims make up the psychological contract. He
emphasizes the importance of minimizing these mismatches in order to retain
workers and to create a successful organization. Thus Kotter appears to be
providing the foundation for the many empirical studies on breach and violation
of psychological contracts.
In 1976, Portwood and Miller were concerned with the specific ways in which
individual and organizational characteristics interact to influence observed work
attitudes and work behaviour. They sought to generate empirical evidence
concerning the psychological contract model (see Figure 1.1).
They concluded that individual employees related to the organization through
a process of comparing personal expectations with conditions as they exist in the
organization. They evaluated the links between the individuals' perceived job
integration and overall job satisfaction and the employer's evaluation of the
employee's 'satisfactoriness' to the organization. The term 'satisfactoriness' was
used to cover specific task performance, as well as individual commitment and
compatibility with the organizational environment. They concluded that the
psychological contract model demonstrated some validity as a description of the
employee-organizational relationship. This is one of the few studies that
attempts to examine both sides of the relationship comparing 'satisfactoriness'
of the employee as well as the perceived 'satisfactoriness' of the organization.
Weick (1979} describes the psychological contract in terms of individuals'
reasons for joining organizations, seeing it as playing a central role in orga-
nizational behaviour (Roehling, 1997), thus suggesting the importance of
psychological contract formation prior to entry into the employing organization.
However, this is an area that has received very little interest in the literature.
Figure 1.1 Psychological contract model Source: Portwood and Miller (1976)
In the 1980s, Nicholson and Johns (1985) saw the psychological contract as a
means of transmitting culture within organizations. They described it as
emerging from interaction and communication, as 'a psychological mechanism
by which collective influence is translated into individual behavior' (p. 398). They
also emphasized the importance of the more concrete factors such as the literal
contract provisions, pay arrangements and control systems. They claimed that
these factors 'provide grist for the emergent psychological contract' (p. 405) and
advised their consideration by researchers. This is advice that has been heeded
by few subsequent workers in the field due to the emphasis on the perceptual
aspects of the psychological contract. What are the links between actual
contracts of employment and perceived psychological contracts? Do more
general and flexible role descriptors mean that an increasing proportion of the
employment contract is implicit rather than explicit?
Denise Rousseau has become one of the main authorities on all aspects of the
psychological contract. Her paper (1989) has been described as 'seminal' by
several writers in the field (Roehling, 1997; Millward and Cropley, 2003; Conway
and Briner, 2005). In many ways her work can be seen as marking a transition
from the early work on the concept of the psychological contract to more recent
developments in the psychological contract literature. Nearly all research in the
area published after 1989 makes reference to Rousseau's work and she has
made a unique contribution in the area. The paper marked a fundamental shift in
understanding the meaning and functioning of the psychological contract and
how it could be investigated (Conway and Briner, 2005).
The key differences between Rousseau's conceptualization of the psy-
chological contract and previous research are outlined in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1 Differences between Rousseau's conceptualization of the
psychological contract and previous research
More detailed discussion of these differences may be found in Conway and
Briner (2005: 14). However, to outline them briefly here, much of the early work
focused on the expectations that employees had about their obligations to the
organization and the organization's obligations to them. This contrasts with
Rousseau's focus on the promissory aspects of the contract. What do employees
feel that their organization has promised them and what promises from them are
implicit in this arrangement? Earlier studies also emphasized the two-way nature
of the contract more strongly whereas for Rousseau the emphasis is on individual
idiosyncratic perceptions which exist 'in the eye of the beholder' (Rousseau,
1989: 123). Contract formation is discussed in some more detail later. However,
as Conway and Briner note, 'Rousseau believes that it is primarily an individual's
perceptions of observable behaviour that constitute psychological contracts'
(2005: 14). Finally, one of the major shifts in emphasis revolves around fulfilment
of the psychological contract. Early studies tended to focus on equity between
the inputs of the organization and those of the employee. Rousseau was
responsible for the shift of focus from comparative inputs to consideration of the
'violation' of psychological contracts and the consequent outcomes. Again, this is
a topic discussed later on in this chapter and also in Chapter 6 when the violation
of professional workers' contracts in particular is discussed.
Although critical in many ways of the psychological contract as
a concept, David Guest has been responsible for conceptualizing tire psycho-
logical contract in such a way as to make it more readily acceptable to human
resource management specialists. Guest (1998) turned the focus on to the 'state
of the psychological contract' and has subsequently carried out a number of
wide-ranging surveys for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
(CIPD) (e.g. Guest et al, 1996; Guest and Conway, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002). He
also conceptualized the psychological contract as consisting of three
components: trust, fairness and delivery of the deal. Influences on the
psychological contract are seen to reside in the organization or in the individual,
although both will be influenced by wider societal norms and they may include
expectations (Guest, 1998: 660). In his model of the psychological contract
Guest also considers the possible consequences of the psychological contract for
both the individual and the organization. Guest's (1998) model is shown in Figure
1.2. It is possible that when focusing on professional workers some adaptation to
this model may be required.
Figure 1.2 Guest's model of the psychological contract Source: Guest (1998)
Guest has also been responsible for moving recent research on the psy-
chological contract to include an organizational as well as an individual employee
perspective. There has been some danger that in focusing on tire idiosyncratic
aspects of the psychological contract the reciprocal aspects have been forgotten.
Content and characteristics
Both before and after the contribution of Guest to the research area, the
characteristics of the psychological contract have been outlined by a number of
key writers in the field. One aspect on which there has been a high degree of
agreement in recent years is that the psychological contract is a subjective
perception which differs between individuals (Rousseau, 1995). It is described as
a self-construct whose terms maybe diversely interpreted (Rousseau, 1989,
1995). Each psychological contract is individual and unique (Anderson and
Schalk, 1998} and consists of the internal cognitions of individuals formed and
held individualistically (Morrison and Robinson, 1997). Does it then make sense
to look at the psychological contracts of specific groups of workers such as
doctors, nurses, or local government workers, or is it best to focus entirely on
individual-level analyses?
There is considerable agreement that the psychological contract is also a
dynamic construct which is likely to change during an employee's organizational
life (Hiltrop, 1996; Cassar, 2001) and throughout the relationship between the
employer and the employee. It may be argued that for the professional worker
the profession forms an important part of this dynamic relationship. Another
characteristic of the psychological contract relates to the emphasis on mutual
obligations. The psychological contract defines a form of belief that an exchange
relationship between two parties exists (Guest, 1998). This may be more
complex for professional workers as there may be a choice as to whether this
relationship should be with the organization or the profession. Psychological
contracts may also be seen to be founded upon a perceived promise where a
promise is defined as 'any communication of future intent' (Westwood et a., 2001).
For the professional worker these promises may come from a variety of sources.
The psychological contract is usually described in the context of a relationship
between workers and their employers but how can it be defined in relation to
professional workers who have relationships both with their profession and their
organization? According to Schalk and Freese (1993), individuals or organizations
cannot separately create psychological contracts, but they develop as an
inescapable result of the interaction between the parties. However, the
organizational agent with whom the worker holds a contract is not clear. This is a
particular issue for professional workers. Westwood et ai. (2001) claim that
psychological contracts are held by individuals with respect to the employing
organization in the abstract. That is to say that the psychological contract is not
formed with respect to any specific agent within the organization. However, it
can be employed to explain how relationships between employment parties
evolve, develop or degenerate (Shore and Tetrick, 1994) and as such may be
seen as an important determinant of the behaviour and attitudes of employees
(Anderson and Schalk, 1998). Despite this, the psychological contract is rarely
discussed explicitly.
Psychological contract types
Psychological contracts are usually described as being either transactional or
relational in nature. Relational contracts emphasize the degree of social
exchange and interdependence between workers and their employers.
Transactional contracts tend to focus on the concrete content of the
contract. The distinction between transactional and relational contracts can be
seen as central to both theory and empirical research in the field (Thompson and
Bunderson, 2003).
Rousseau (1995) distinguishes between transactional and relational contracts
in terms of focus, inclusion, time frame, formalization, stability, scope and
tangibility. The focus of transactional contracts is mainly economic, inclusion is
partial, the time frame is likely to be close-ended or specific, role information is
likely to be written, tasks, roles and duties are mainly static, the scope of its
influence is narrow, and the conditions are public and observable. On the other
hand, relational contracts have both an economic and an emotional focus, the
'whole person' is included, the time frame is open-ended and indefinite, terms
tend to be both written and unwritten, they are dynamic, their scope is
pervasive, and the conditions are difficult for a third party to understand.
Transactional and relational contracts have been conceptualized as being two
ends of a continuum. Millward and Hopkins (1998) developed measures of
transactional and relational contracts and factor analysis revealed support for a
two-factor model composed of transactional and relational dimensions. There
was a strong negative correlation between these two factors, suggesting that
transactional and relational contracts operate in a functionally antagonistic
fashion. However, for professional workers there may be a distinction between
the type of contract held with their profession and that held with their employer.
Transactional contracts
According to Rousseau (1995), transactional contract terms are exemplified by a
fair day's work for a fair day's pay, focusing on short-term and monetizable exchanges.
Typically transactional contracts are based on pay as a primary incentive with
employees working relatively few hours and/or having a low level of emotional
investment. Transactional contracts work within a close-ended time frame
involving seasonal employment or two to three years in a particular job at most.
Work duties and working conditions are well specified, with any change requiring
a renegotiation of contract. Transactional contracts tend to require use of
existing skills therefore not obligating the employer to provide extensive
development.
A transactional contract implies a purely instrumental exchange relationship
between employees and employers, i.e. services in exchange for compensation
(He mot and Pemberton, 1996), which serves short-term employer needs (Hallier
and James, 1997). Transactional contracts are self-interested, based on balanced
reciprocity norms, concrete and are often carefully monitored by both sides. As
part of the exchange, the organization provides adequate compensation, a safe
working environment, and reasonable short-term guarantees of employment in
exchange for the employee's fulfilment of narrow, specified role responsibilities
(Thompson and Bunder-son, 2003). It could be argued that professional workers
are expected to hold relational contracts both with their profession and their
employer.
Transactional contracts imply an egoistic or instrumental model of human
nature because employees are concerned about themselves as primary
beneficiaries of the exchange (Rousseau and McLean Parks, 1993). Individuals
who form a transactional contract with an organization often do so either
because they view the current job and organization as a stepping stone to
further their career aspirations or because the organization has indicated that
the employment relationship will be short-term in nature. Many professional
workers may take a series of short-term jobs at the start of their career. Indi-
viduals with a transactional contract have been found to have low levels of
affective commitment (Irving and Bobocel, 2002). Transactional contracting can
also be seen to reflect Kelman's (1958) concept of compliance where individual
behaviour is predicated on influence attempts that involve the promise of reward
or punishment. Compliance does not involve shared beliefs but rather consists of
a calculated desire to maximize personal utility. The transactional orientation has
also been likened to continuance commitment based on the notion that both
may bind an employee to the organization by instrumental interests (Millward
and Hopkins, 1998). Irving and Bobocel (2002) in a study of university graduates
found a positive association between continuance commitment and employee
perceptions of a transactional contract. This suggests that although individuals
with transactional contracts may be willing to leave the organization, they may
perceive themselves as being unable to do so. Professional workers may join an
organization at an early point in their career for relevant professional experience
but may stay if no other suitable position is available elsewhere. According to
Heniot and Pemberton (1996), transactional contracts can be continued,
renegotiated, adjusted unilaterally, or exited.
Contract breach is discussed in more detail later. However, the breach of a
transactional contract can be seen as relatively straightforward as it is usually
clear whether or not an organization has fulfilled its obligations with regard to
economic and other tangible inducements. It is generally agreed that violation of
economic obligations will tend to result in exit where this is a feasible option.
Relational contracts
Rousseau sees the relational contract at the other end of the continuum from the
transactional contract. The relational contract focuses on open-ended
relationships involving considerable investments by both employees and
employers. Employee investments include the acquisition of organization-
specific skills and long-term career development, with employers investing
in extensive employee development. Such investments can be seen to involve a
high degree of mutual interdependence and barriers to exit. However, for some
professional careers, progression may require the development of a series of
short-term relationships.
Relational contracts typically include emotional involvement as well as
economic exchange. Those with relational contracts have a personal
identification with their organization. They are concerned with the
involvement of the whole person in terms of growth and development. The
commitment to the organization is open-ended with respect to time frames. The
terms of the contract are both written and unwritten, with some of the terms
emerging over time. Relational contracts are dynamic and subject to change
during the life of the contract. The conditions are pervasive, affecting and
influencing personal and family life. Many of the conditions of a relational
contract are subjective and implicitly understood, making them difficult for a
third party to understand (Rousseau, 1995). In relational contracts the parties
pay attention to the fairness of the process rather than the fairness of the out-
comes (Heniot and Pemberton, 1996). This is a crucial factor in the retention of
key workers.
Relational contracts are more open-ended and relationship-oriented.
Employees who perceive their psychological contract to be relational develop an
identification with the values of the organization and internalize organizational
values because such contracts involve an emotional involvement with the
organization. Relational contracts are characterized by more generalized
agreements, which seek to create and sustain a long-term relationship involving
both monetizable and non-monetizable exchanges. In relational contracts
employees are encouraged to believe that they will be employed over the long
term and provided with training and career opportunities (Hallier and James,
1997). Some professional workers will work with employing organizations for long
periods of time; others, such as NHS workers, may have one umbrella employer
but several individual organizational employers.
The currency of the relational contract is socioemotional. Employees pledge
their loyalty to the organization in exchange for security, career development
and membership in an identity group. When their contract is perceived as
relational, employees contribute their commitment and involvement to the
organization, often in the form of organizational citizenship behaviours (Robinson
and Morrison, 1995), with the belief that the organization will provide loyalty, a
sense of community and opportunities for professional growth (Thompson and
Bunderson, 2003). Relational contracting relies on a collectivistic or socialized
model of human nature (Rousseau and McLean Parks, 1993} and entails a
relatively more pervasive, comprehensive and renegotiable set of obligations.
However, the identity group for professional workers may be their profession,
which may make the relationship between psychological contracts and
organizational citizenship behaviours a complex one.
If transactional contracts can be seen to reflect Kelman's (1958) concept of
compliance, relational contracting is consistent with Kelman's concept of
identification where individual behaviours are exhibited in response to influence
attempts based on loyalty obligations. Kelman's definition of identification
describes it as personal motivations to maintain long-term affiliation, flexibly
negotiated social relationships and membership within a desirable group, all of
which are consistent with relational contracting (Thompson and Bunderson,
2003). Individuals who form a relational contract with an organization have also
been found to have high levels of affective commitment (Irving and Bobocel,
2002). It has already been suggested that relational contracts involve
considerable investment on the part of both employees and employers. These
investments bring with them a high level of interdependence and barriers to exit.
These barriers to exit based on mutual investments make it less likely that these
employees will be seeking employment with other organizations, although
professional workers may need to seek employment elsewhere for their
subsequent career development. Irving and Bobocel found that employees who
believed that they were promised opportunities for skill development and
increased marketability were more likely to view their relationship with the
organization as one of mutual loyalty. This has been found to be particularly true
for professional workers.
Relational contracts on account of their characteristics are assumed to
provoke stronger emotional reactions. This is thought to be especially relevant in
situations where the contract is broken. Herriot and Pemberton suggest that
feelings of mutual loyalty, trust and commitment follow when relational contracts
are perceived to be equitable and honoured, with feelings of anger, grief and
mistrust ensuing when they are perceived as inequitable or dishonoured.
Honoured relational contracts may lead to closer relationship ties between
employees and employers with each offering benefits over and above the agreed
contract. When the employee reacts in this way it is referred to as citizenship
behaviour and may reflect the affiliative need for close relationships.
Dishonouring of relational contracts may provoke a renegotiation of the contract
in purely transactional terms (Organ, 1990) or, in some cases, exit and the end of
the relationship.
However, the picture may be slightly more complex than it at first appeared.
Transactional and relational contracts are not mutually exclusive. Rewards and
recognition may be important features of a relational contract just as they are
important features of a transactional contract (Irving and Bobocel, 2002). The
difference between transactional and relational contracts may revolve around
the individual's view of his or her work. This may be an important factor for the
psychological contracts of professional workers. Wrzesniewski et al. (1997) have
shown that individuals tend to view their work as a job, a career, or a calling.
Those individuals with a 'career' orientation focus on establishing connections,
pursuing opportunities for status advancement, and enjoying integration within
an occupational community. This occupational community may be at either the
organizational or the professional level. This can be seen as the essence of the
relational contract (Thompson and Bunderson, 2003). On the other hand, those
individuals with a 'job' orientation view work as an opportunity for economic
maintenance or advancement, which can be seen as consistent with the
transactional contract.
Differences between transactional and relational contracts
To summarize the differences between transactional and relational contracts
it might be useful to refer to Kelley-Patterson and George (2001) and their table
comparing transactional and relational contracts (see Table 1.2). In this table
transactional and relational contracts are compared with reference to
employment relationship characteristics, employee expectations, organizational
expectations, key outcomes with reference to both the employee and the
organization and associated HR strategies.
Transactional contracts are seen as part of the 'new deal', with relational
contracts associated with the 'old deal' and a promise of lifetime employment.
Employee expectations associated with transactional contracts focus on tangible
and quantitative aspects such as salary, development activities designed to
'improve' the employee's CV, status and financial perks. With relational contracts
employee expectations are focused more on intangible and qualitative aspects
such as job security, good workplace relationships, a broad range of
developmental experiences accompanied by interesting an challenging work.
Organizational expectations associated with transactional contracts include less
emphasis on specialist work, an increase in multifunctional team working and
employee investment of time, energy, knowledge and skills as and when needed.
In terms of relational contracts, organizational expectations Include high levels of
employee commitment, loyalty, the sharing of organizational values, the
production of quality work accompanied by specialization and use of professional
knowledge and expertise. Thus professional workers are expected to make use of
their professional training for the benefit of the organization in return for job
security, career development and interesting and demanding work.
Table 1.2. The nature of transactional and relational contracts
The advantages of transactional contracts for the employee centre around
immediate financial gain, flexibility, change and variety and for the organization
include high levels of employee flexibility. Relational contracts are associated
with reduced levels of workplace uncertainty for the employee accompanied by
feelings of self-efficacy and empowerment and possibly also reduced levels of
stress. The organizational advantages include a reduced requirement for direct
supervision of workers, worker commitment and a social capital base to assist
future organizational development.
Content of psychological contractsThe content of the psychological contract was outlined by Rousseau in 1990
based on studies of MBA students.
Exercise 1.1
Write a list of things that you expect from your employer and another list of
things that you think your employer expects of you.
Are the lists similar? Is there a balance between what you expect from your
employer and what you consider your employer's obligations to you to be?
If you are not working at the moment or are self-employed think of what
organizations might expect from their employees and what you as an individual
might want back in return.
Heniot ct al. (1997) carried out a study which aimed to explore the content of
the psychological contract in a representative sample of the UK workforce using
critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954). The results of their study are found
in Table 1.3. Most groups of workers when asked come up with similar lists.
Contract formation
Most of the research concentrates on the period after psychological contract
formation. However, it is important to know how psychological contracts are
developed both with employing organizations and, in the case of professional
workers, with the profession and the occupation. Rousseau has also been a
pioneer in this area of psychological contract research.
Rousseau (2001) outlines the phases of psychological contract formation. The
first phase takes place pre-employment and is influenced by professional norms
and societal beliefs. Thus at this phase of organizational psychological contract
formation, professional learning and media portrayal of certain occupations may
have an influence on the type of schemata developed. In the next phase, which
takes place during the recruitment process, there is a process of active promise
exchange by both the employing organization and the prospective employee.
This is a two-way communication of and also perception of the promises made
by both sides of the employment relationship. Phase three of psychological
contract formation occurs during early organizational socialization where
according to Rousseau there is continuing promise exchange. This is also a
period in which both parties actively continue to seek information about each
other from a variety of information sources (e.g. co-workers, line managers,
customers/clients). In the next phase promise exchange is more intermittent;
information seeking is less active, as are the efforts of the organization to
socialize the no longer new employee. However changes may be incorporated
into the existing psychological contract. The final phase involves evaluation,
revision and possible violation of the psychological contract. Table 1.4 shows
these five phases.
Rousseau (1990, 1995, 2001) argues that the contracting process is one of
developing and refining mindsets or mental maps or schemata which emerge
through contact with the organization. Psychologically, the parties may begin to
formulate the contract prior to employment by seeking out information on
'trustworthiness' from sources such as the media, friends or tire organizational
network or professional bodies. In recent years this recruitment phase is often
centred around web-pages, and employing organization web-pages as well as
those of professional bodies may be important influencing features at this stage
of psychological contract formation. Organizational recruitment and socialization
processes then reinforce tire mental maps of employees. There is some evidence
to suggest that HR practices may have some influence here (George and Kelley-
Patterson, 2002). Influential HR practices include the adequacy of recruitment
practices (Nicholson and Arnold, 1991), the quality of work placements (Laycock
et a(., 1990), job previews (Wanous, 1991), degree sandwich programmes
(Arnold and Garland, 1990), work experience while on degree programmes,
systematic orientation training, focus on gaining management experience, job
coaching and mentoring, and the formation of positive work relationships
(Garavan, 1997). Work placements and work experience are often features of
professional training.
De Vos et at. (2003) investigate psychological contract formation as a sense-
making process taking place during organizational socialization. They propose a
model in which the adaptation of perceived promises to the interpretation of
experiences can occur both unilaterally and reciprocally. Unilateral adaptation
refers to changes in perceived promises conveyed by one party based on the
interpretation of that party's actions. Reciprocal adaptation refers to changes on
behalf of newcomers based upon their interpretations of the other party's actions
in the work setting. They found that newcomers changed their perceptions of
what their employer had promised them based on their perceptions of the
employer inducements actually received. They suggest that this implies that
newcomers use their experiences within the work environment as feedback
about their initial expectations and that they are flexible in adapting their initial
expectations based on this feedback (De Vos el a(., 2003: 553). In the case of
professional workers this sense-making will also take place with reference to the
profession.
Millward Purvis and Cropley (2003) explored the processes of psychological
contracting in an employment scenario in which the 'other' party to the
relationship was relatively unambiguous and in which 'the quality' of the
employment relationship really mattered to both employer and employee. They
found that expectations became clearer the more they were discussed and that
relational expectations were more likely to be discussed implicitly than
transactional expectations. To date there is still relatively little research on
psychological contract formation. This is particularly true of the pre-entry stage
although some writers examine anticipatory socialization (e.g. Scholarios et ai.,
2003) and there is a vast literature concerned with organizational and
professional socialization. Some recent research has looked at the role of
organizational web-pages in the development of psychological contracts. There
has been some research on the influence of educational establishments, Some
writers have found for example that degree programmes may produce
disillusionment with the selected degree path (Garavan and Morley, 1997: 153).
Others have found that for graduates the contracting process may be mediated
by expectations and experiences whilst still in higher education and further
influenced during the early stages of the relationship through recruitment and
socialization processes (Kelley-Patterson and George, 2001:316). This feature
may be particularly relevant in the development of professional workers'
psychological contracts.
Contract breach and violation
'Faith is null and the promise is void' [Romans 4.14]
Although in 1996 Morrison claimed that very little research had focused on
psychological contract breach, this topic appears to have overwhelmed psy-
chological contract research since that date. So much so that five years later in
2001 Kickul notes 'Most of the research on the psychological contract has
investigated the employees' reactions to unfulfilled organizational promises (i.e.
contract breach)' (2001: 290). Several writers have commented upon this
emphasis on violation and breach (see for example Hallier and James, 1997;
Turnley and Feldman, 1999; Cassar, 2001; Kickul, 2001; Kickul and Lester, 2001;
Aselage and Eisenberger, 2003; De Vos et a}., 2003; Lambert etai., 2003; Lo and
Aryee, 2003; Guest, 2004). The focus on violation appears to be due to the fact
that, as an influence on behaviour, the psychological contract usually only
becomes important when it becomes salient, that is to say broken or violated in
some way (Carbery et al., 2003). It is also due to Rousseau's repositioning of the
concept. Most writers agree that psychological contract breach is a subjective
experience based on a person's perception that another has failed to fulfil
adequately the promised obligations of the psychological contract (Rousseau,
1989), whereas a violation is the failure of one party to fulfil its obligations to the
other (Robinson et al, 1994). Training is an area often cited in relation to contract
violation, with employees complaining that they have either received no training
or that the training was not as promised when joining the organization. Training
is often a very salient feature of professional workers' psychological contracts as
most professional roles involve extensive periods of training. Other areas include
compensation, promotion, the nature of the job, job security, feedback,
management of change, responsibility, co-workers and benefits.
Morrison and Robinson's (1997) article is a key authority for definitions of
contract violation and breach judging by the number of times it is cited in other
articles. They define psychological contract violation as inherently perceptual,
referring to violation as experienced by the employee which does not necessarily
have to correspond to 'objective reality'. Use of this definition suggests that
violation is cognitive and reflects a mental calculation of what one has received
relative to what one was promised. Others such as Rousseau (1989) describe
violation as involving feelings of betrayal and deeper psychological distress
whereby the victim experiences anger, resentment, a sense of injustice and
wrongful harm.
Morrison and Robinson, however, make a distinction between feelings of
violation and the cognitive evaluations that underlie them, distinguishing
between violation and 'perceived breach'. They define perceived breach as 'the
cognition that one's organization has failed to meet one or more obligations within
one's psychological contract in a manner commensurate with one's
contributions' (p. 230). Violation is then the emotional and affective state that may
follow from the belief that one's organization has failed to adequately maintain
the psychological contract. Violation is often accompanied by feelings of anger,
resentment, bitterness, indignation and even outrage emanating from the
perception that one has been betrayed or mistreated. According to some, the
degree of experienced violation depends on the type of violation, the degree of
discrepancy, and whether the organization is held responsible for the violation
(see for example McFarlane et a)., 1994; Anderson and Schalk, 1998). However, is
it possible that professional workers may also hold their profession responsible
for psychological contract violation.
Not all unmet promises are therefore denned by employees as a contract
breach. Guest (1998) notes that there is a certain lack of clarity as to whether
violations of the psychological contract which are defined as unmet obligations
or promises differ from unmet expectations. There is also a tendency in the
psychological contract literature to use the terms 'breach' and 'violation'
interchangeably to signify any failure to meet contractual obligations. However,
some writers claim that contract breaches are fundamental to the employment
experience (e.g. Robinson, 1996; Johnson and O'Leary-Kelly, 2003).
There are also different types of violation. Rousseau (1995) talks about three
forms of violation:
• inadvertent violation;
• disruption;
• reneging or breach of contract.
Inadvertent violation occurs when both parties are able and willing to keep their
bargain but divergent interpretations lead one party to act in a manner at odds
with the understanding and interests of the other. For example, if I think we have
an appointment at 11 am on 10 June and you think the appointment is at 10 am
on 11 June we may inadvertently fail to honour our mutual commitment to meet
by turning up for our meeting on different days.
Disruption to the contract occurs when circumstances make it impossible for
one or both parties to fulfil their end of the contract even though they are willing
to do so. For example, a manager agrees to support an employee's request to
attend a conference but, unknown to either of them, the conference in question
is already fully booked.
Reneging or breach of contract occurs when one side refuses to honour the
contract despite being able to do so. An employee living some distance from his
workplace is told at interview that he may work from home two days a week.
However, he is subsequently told that his job is such that it requires attendance
at the workplace five days a week. The nature of the job has not changed since
interview but the attendance requirements have. The employee feels that had
this been made clear at interview he may not have accepted that particular job.
Morrison and Robinson (1997) refer to reneging and incongruence as the two
conditions that may give rise to violation. Their definition of reneging is similar to
that of Rousseau's, referring to situations when an agent or agents of the
organization knowingly break a promise to an employee, but differs due to the
fact that it is seen as something that is carried out by only one side of the
partnership, namely the employer. This one-sided view of reneging is also shared
by Coyle-Shapiro and Kessler (2000). Morrison and Robinson define incongruence
as occurring when the employee and agent(s) have different understandings
about a promise. Niehoff and Paul (2001), however, describe reneging as
occurring when either party to a psychological contract knowingly breaks a
promise to the other. A professional worker whose primary allegiance may be to
his or her profession may renege on his or her organizational contract. For
example, a professional worker who perceived her organization to be breaking a
promise made not to her personally but to her professional body reported her
employer to the said professional body. This was interpreted as contract violation
on behalf of this professional worker by the professional worker's line manager
acting in this case as the organization's representative.
Another example of contract breach caused by incongruence is provided by
Porter et at. (1998) in a study in which they assessed the extent to which
aerospace employees and company executives felt their organization was
obligated to provide inducements such as autonomy and recognition for a job
well done. They found that for seven of the nine inducements considered in their
study, there were perceptual gaps involving employees' perceptions that the
organization owed them more than the organization's managers believed was
owed to the employees. These perceptual gaps were found to be negatively
related to job satisfaction. However, it is suggested that employees who are
exposed to formal socialization practices and interact frequently with
organizational representatives are less likely to experience a contract breach due
to incongruence (Robinson and Morrison, 2000). In the previous example the
professional worker in question interacted more frequently with the professional
body representatives than with organizational representatives.
Causes of breach and violation
In recent years many forms of disruption have been experienced by employees,
such as mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and redundancies. Turnley and
Feldman (1998) found that employees who reported that their organization had
experienced significant downsizing or reorganization or had merged with
another organization were significantly more likely to report contract breaches,
thus suggesting that disruption is indeed a cause of contract breach.
In a study of 134 supervisor-subordinate dyads, Lester et ah (2002) found
differences in the ways in which supervisors and subordinates attributed
contract breach. Subordinates were more likely to attribute contract breach to
reneging and incongruence than their supervisors, who were more likely to
attribute it to disruption.
The most commonly cited causes of psychological contract breach and
violation in the literature are:
• organizational downsizing and restructuring (see for example Eby and Buch,
1998; Cortvriend and Sparrow, 2003; Edwards et at., 2003; Gakovic and
Tetrick, 2003);
• loss of job/redundancy (see for example Rousseau and Anton, 1991);
• organizational change, which may also incorporate restructuring,
downsizing and redundancy (see for example Robinson, 1996).
In recent years many employees including professional workers may have
experienced one or more of these.
It is difficult to assess the extent of psychological contract breach. It is
generally agreed that various organizational circumstances may create
changes in the employment relationship. These circumstances include a variety
of organizational changes such as downsizing, reorganizations, mergers and
acquisitions, restructuring, and compulsory redundancy. It is also likely that
these changes subsequently increase the likelihood that the psychological
contract between the employee and the employer will be violated (Kickul and
Lester, 2001). The majority of writers appear to assume that psychological
contract breach is rife. Several writers state that prior research has
demonstrated that breach and/or violation are relatively common (Turnley and
Feldman, 2000; Baccilli, 2003; Pate eta!., 2003). Robinson (1996: 574) noted 'the
apparent prevalence of perceived contract breach'.
Some studies have tried to quantify the extent of violation or breach.
Robinson and Rousseau (1994) found that approximately 55 per cent of
employees believed that their psychological contract had been breached or
violated by their organization during the past two years. Coyle-Shapiro and
Kessler (2000) reported that 78-89 per cent of UK public sector employees
experienced contract breach to varying degrees. Turnley and Feldman (2000) in
a study of over 800 managers found that the majority of respondents (52 per
cent) experienced some degree of psychological contract violation. In the same
study 81 per cent of respondents reported receiving less (or much less) than
they were promised. Conway and Briner (2002) demonstrated that breach
occurs on a day-to-day basis and is, according to Guest (2004), part of
organizational life. Psychological contract breach is experienced throughout the
organization (Hallier and James, 1997) even among highly skilled new entrants
into the workforce (Turnley and Feldman, 1999). In a study which took place in
British Telecom (BT), Newell and Dopson (1996) found evidence to suggest that
the psychological contracts of many of the managers who had been at BT for
more than five years had been breached. Contract breach is not only
experienced by workers in the West. Lo and Aryee (2003) found that Hong Kong
Chinese employees perceived their psychological contracts to have been
breached to a varying extent by their employers.
The extent to which contracts are violated would appear to depend to some
degree on employment status (i.e. whether employees are permanent or
temporary) and on the nature of the psychological contract (i.e. relational or
transactional). McDonald and Makin (2000) in a study of 797 customer service
staff found that 81.6 per cent of the permanent staff reported a contract
violation compared with only 36.6 per cent of non-permanent staff. Kidder and
Buchholtz (2002) note that relational contracts are violated most easily and
most often because the ambiguity inherent in relational contracts creates
differing interpretations of promissory obligations (Rousseau and McLean Parks,
1993).
However, not all of the research supports the premise that breach and
violation are both inevitable and widespread. Lester et al. (2002) found, in their
study of supervisor-subordinate dyads mentioned earlier, that most employees
claimed to receive at least as much as they were promised by their
organizations. They concluded that in general both subordinates and super-
visors perceived that their organization had done a relatively good job of
fulfilling the commitments that make up the psychological contract. Sutton and
Griffin (2004) found in a study of occupational therapists that the majority of
respondents (68 per cent) did not report psychological contract violation,
suggesting perhaps that professional workers are less prone to perceptions of
psychological contract violation and breach, which may be due to their dual
relationship with both the organization and the profession. Guest et al. (1996), in
a general assessment of the state of the psychological contract in
organizations, found that 55 per cent of employees believed that their
organizations have always or to a large extent kept their promises.
Consequences of breach and violationSupposing contract psychological breach and subsequent violation have
occurred, what are the likely consequences? The literature would appear to
indicate that there are five broad types of consequence:
• emotional reactions on behalf of the employees who perceive that
their contract has been violated;
• possible changes to the nature of the psychological contract (i.e.
from relational to transactional);
• changes in work attitudes;
• changes in work behaviour;
• effects on the organization.
Emotional reactionsPate et al. (2003) look at three levels of reaction to psychological contract
violation. The first level, probably experienced immediately after violation,
consists of feelings of disappointment, frustration and distress (Robinson and
Morrison, 1995; Pate and Malone, 2000). The second level consists of more
extreme emotional responses including anger, resentment, bitterness and
indignation (Rousseau, 1989; Pate and Malone, 2000}, with the third and final
level consisting of behavioural outcomes such as lower organizational citi-
zenship, reduced commitment, satisfaction and trust with an increase in cynicism
(Robinson and Rousseau, 1994; Robinson and Morrison, 1995; Robinson, 1996;
Herriot et al., 1998; Pate et al., 2003). Few writers talk about the first level of
responses but Robinson and Rousseau (1994) and Kickul (2001) mention a sense
or feelings of disappointment. More writers mention what have been described
as the more extreme emotional responses such as anger, hurt feelings, a sense
of betrayal, disillusionment, resentment, frustration, trauma, deception,
bitterness and hostility (see for example Robinson et al., 1994; Turnley and
Feldman, 2000; Kickul et al., 2002; Chrobot-Mason, 2003). Several researchers
also talk about the erosion of trust following psychological contract violation.
Changes in the nature of the psychological contract
There is also a suggestion that violation changes the nature of the psychological
contract, moving it from relational to transactional (Rousseau and McLean Parks,
1993; Robinson et al., 1994; Herriot and Pemberton, 1996; Anderson and Schalk,
1998; McDonald and Makin, 2000; Pate et al., 2003). In addition it would appear
that the violation of different types of psychological contract might have different
effects. Violations of transactional contracts may lead to a sense of economic
inequity (Robinson et al., 1994), which itself might lead to the performance of
negative organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) or to workers actually
leaving the organization (Blancero et al., 1996; Thompson and Bunderson, 2003).
On the other hand, violation of relational contracts may lead to a decrease in the
inherent value of the social relationship in which they are embedded, resulting in
reduced commitment and an increased emphasis on transactional components
of the contract. Thus someone who was at one time a committed member of an
organization begins to focus only on 'what's in it for me'. There may be mere
compliance with prescribed role behaviours and a withholding of positive OCBs.
Changes in work attitudes
Much of the research also suggests that psychological contract breaches or
violations can have a negative impact on employees' attitudes (see for example
Turnley et al., 2003). Those attitudes that have typically been associated with
psychological breach and violation include job satisfaction, commitment and
trust. Other negative attitudes associated with psychological contract violations
include increased cynicism, a careerist orientation to work, emotional
exhaustion, negative affect and intentions to quit. However, it might be expected
that many professional workers have a careerist orientation to work but is this
orientation necessarily predicated by contract violation?
Changes in work behavior
As well as affecting attitudes, breach has been found to have a direct and
negative influence on work behaviour. The behaviours which are most widely
associated with breach and violation are commonly categorized as employee
exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect behaviours (EVLN) (Rusbult ct al., 1988; Turnley
and Feldman, 1999; Thomas and Au, 2002). A brief review of tire literature in this
area would suggest the addition of a fifth category -aggression. Table 1.5 lists
examples of these five categories of behaviour,
Exit describes the actual departure of the employee from the organization or
an increase in job-searching behaviour. An employee exhibiting this response is
unlikely to leave the organization straight away but will leave at the first
available opportunity. A less extreme response is that of voice, where employees
either voice displeasure to management or develop a tendency to find fault with
many aspects of the organization. Following breach there may be a reluctance on
the part of the employee to 'go the extra mile'. The management of many groups
of professional workers is often referred to as 'herding cats', hinting at the
importance of autonomy in professional life.
Thus professional workers who perceive any breach or violation of their
organizational contract may be quick to voice their reactions to this situation.
Employees may be more likely to adhere strictly to specified tasks and con-
tracted hours of work. This may cause particular problems for employers of
professional workers who behave in this fashion as much professional work is
complex and thus requires flexible work behaviours. Some employees may even
become neglectful and fail to carry out their duties to the best of their ability.
Some may become aggressive towards the employing organization and indulge
in explicit acts of retaliation such as theft or sabotage which for professional
workers is likely to conflict with the values of their professional body.
Effects on the organization
The behaviours described above have negative organizational effects. There may
be problems with the retention of staff who perceive that their psychological
contract has been breached. Those who remain may be disengaged and
unwilling to fulfill anything but the tasks and duties outlined in their contract of
employment.
Ho et al. (2004) talk about three general categories into which responses to
breach can be grouped: emotive, cognitive and behavioural. The overemphasis
Table 1.5 Behavioural responses to contract breach____________________________________________________________________________________________
Exit • Employees attempt to or actually leave their organization• Employees' intent to remain with the organization is reduced
Voice • Employees voice their displeasure with organizational practicesto
upper management
• Employees find fault with what the organization is doing
Loyalty • Employees decrease the energy they put into performing extra-role
or organizational citizenship behaviours
• Employees show reduced willingness to engage in voluntary
behaviour supportive of their organization
• Reductions in civic virtue
Neglect • Employees engage in 'lax and disregardful' neglect behaviours• Employees intentionally neglect their in-role duties and
responsibilities
• Reductions in customer service
Aggression • Employees perform explicit acts of retaliation• Employees engage in anti-role behaviours such as negativism, theft.
harassment, sabotage and vandalism
• Direct interference with co-workers
• Disrespectful treatment of supervisors
on violation and breach whilst partly due to Rousseau's reconce-pualization of
the construct is also due to the fact that this is the point when the psychological
contract is seen as becoming critical for organizational behaviour.
Critique of the concept
The aim of this book is to look at the developing careers of professional groups
using the concept of the psychological contract as a framework. However, in
order to do this the reliability of the psychological contract as a construct needs
to be examined.
Rousseau (1989) talks about the psychological contract being in the eye of
the beholder; this is also true to a certain extent of the entire psychological
contract construct. Whilst it is possible to criticize the concept for not being
psychological enough in some conceptualizations (e.g. Boxall and Purcell, 2003),
others have criticized it for being too managerialist (Cullinane and Dundon,
2006). Guest (1998) criticizes the concept in eight key aspects:
• its definition;
• its development and scope;
• the appropriateness of using a legal metaphor;
• agency;
• its key dimensions;
• its content;
• the concept of the changing contract;
• contract violation.
The first area of criticism has already been partially discussed at tire
beginning of the chapter. Despite a substantial body of research on the psy-
chological contract there is no universal definition (Anderson and Schalk, 1998;
Cullinane and Dundon, 2006). There are issues about the development of the
psychological contract. However, several writers agree that organizational
socialization has an important part to play in its development (e.g. De Vos et al.,
2003). Others even suggest that the process may start earlier in tire case of
professional workers, for example during their professional training. This does
make it difficult to pinpoint precisely the moment when the psychological
contract was first formed. There is also a potential problem with the scope of the
concept. Arnold (1996) asks whether everyone in employment has a
psychological contract and Guest suggests that tire psychological contract might
'transcend the employment relationship' (1998: 652). There are for example
some professional groups for whom иt is difficult to assess whether or not they
have psychological contracts as there is no obvious employing organization.
Rousseau (1998) refutes the description of the psychological contract as a
legal metaphor although it is described as such by Conway (1996) and others.
Boxall and Purcell (2003) argue that if the contract is psychological then it cannot
be contractual but MacNeil (1985) argues that all legal contracts are
fundamentally psychological. The issue of who the contract is with is pro-
blematic. Writers talk about 'the organization' but as Rousseau and others have
pointed out this leads to reification and anthropomorphism. There is also the
issue of those professional workers who do not work in a recognizable
organization.
Key dimensions of the psychological contract are outlined earlier in relation to
transactional and relational contracts. These dimensions are listed by Rousseau
and McLean Parks (1993) and Guest (1998) raises the possibility that this list is
not complete and there is little evidence as to the origin of these five
dimensions. On the content of the contract Guest's main point here seems to be
that there has been undue focus on career issues, by which he appears to be
referring to studies on 'the old' and 'the new' psychological contract and the
apparent move from 'jobs for life'. However, this is also covered by what he
terms the 'problem' of the psychological contract where it is pointed out that
reports of the death of the 'old' psychological contract may have been
exaggerated (Guest, 1998: 654; see also statistics on job tenure provided by the
Office for National Statistics in Table 1.6). In support of Guest's argument, Table
1.6 provides statistics which appear to suggest that organizational tenure
changed little during the years in question.
Source: Labour Force Survey (Office for NationalStatistics)
Table 1.6 Length of service of UK employees 1986-
1986 1991 1996 2000
Less than 3 months 5 5 S 53 months but less than 6 months 4 4 5 56 months but less than 1 year 9 10 9 101 year but less than 2 years 11 1 3 12 1 32 years but less than 5 years 20 24 19 2 15 years but less than 10 years 2 1 IÖ 21 1 51 0 years but less than 20 years 20 19 19 2020 years or more 9 9 11 11Total number of employees (in millions) 21.0 22.0 22.0 24.0
Finally there is the issue of contract violation which has been found in some
studies to correlate highly with job dissatisfaction. The research has almost
universally focused on employee perceptions of contract violation. There has
been little research on violation of contracts by employees and on the over-
fulfilment of promises.
Cullinane and Dundon's main criticism of the psychological contract is
ideological. It is true that concentration on individual employees' perceptions of
the employment relationship hits more closely with a unitary rather than with a
pluralistic approach to employee relations. There is little room for example to
consider the role of trades unions, or 'class-based dimensions of social
relationships if the psychological contract becomes the focus of employment
relationships' (Cullinane and Dundon, 2006: 124). However, there are examples
of psychological breach even within unionized organizations as unions are
primarily concerned with breaches of the employment rather than with the
psychological contract.
Despite these deficiencies there is some agreement that the psychological
contract remains of interest in organizational research and that there are many
possible areas of future research within the field. One important area of research
is the role of HR in the development and maintenance of the psychological
contract of employees. Increasingly there is organizational interest in the
management of psychological contracts.
Thus whilst there are many problems with the overall concept of the
psychological contract, it remains a largely under-researched construct. This is
especially true in relation to professional groups whose intricate relationship with
their professions and their employing organizations makes the development and
maintenance of professional workers' psychological contracts particularly
complex.
Subsequent chapters examine the development of the psychological
contracts of professional workers, looking at the influences of society, education,
organizations and professional bodies.
2 Professional careers in the UK
In this chapter the process of becoming a professional worker in the UK is
outlined. The chapter opens with a discussion of the future of the professions and
professional work. Career patterns in the professions are discussed with
emphasis on socialization into the professions and the developing professional
psychological contract. The links and tensions between professional socialization
and organizational socialization are explored. The chapter concludes with a
discussion of organizational and professional careers.
In terms of the psychological contract professional workers present an
interesting case. With whom do professional workers have their psychological
contracts? Do they identify mainly with their profession or with their employing
organization? Is this distinction between the employing organization and the
profession a clear one or are the differences blurred? Does it depend partly on
the type of employing organization or on the type of profession? Some
professional workers are closely linked with a specific type of employing
organization (e.g. school teachers) but others may be found in a range of
organizational types (e.g. accountants).
Future of the professions
During the late 1990s and beyond there has been discussion amongst many
professional bodies about the future of professional life. Those who entered their
profession some time before emphasize changes in professional life, usually
citing a reduction in autonomy and job security. The perception of the professions
has changed over the last fifty years. In the 1950s they were characterized by
altruistic public service especially in the US (Devine et al., 2000). Parsons (1954)
talks of professionals performing their work according to high standards of
confidentiality and trust. However, looking at the professions in the 1960s,
writers such as Johnson (1972) and Parkin (1979) emphasize the self-interest of
the professions, challenging their ideology of public service.
There is a tendency in many if not all of the professions to look back to a
'golden age' characterized by job security, autonomy and respect from clients
(Devine et al., 2000; Dingwall and Allen, 2001). However, it appears unlikely that
this golden age ever existed or that things are quite so different now from how
they were ten, twenty or thirty years ago. Devine et al. note that the power and
autonomy enjoyed by professionals in the past should not be overstated 'since
the majority are employed in organizations and have long been subject to the
business objectives and ends of their employers (Abbott, 1991; Friedson, 1986,
1994; Whalley, 1990)' (p. 522). Burchell et al. (1999) note that perceptions of
change in the professions are often greater than the actual substance of change.
However, many of the senior managers and partners interviewed by Devine et
al. felt that job security had disappeared for professionals at all levels, claiming
'nothing is for life anymore' (p. 531).
Dingwall and Allen (2001) comment on the role of occupational myths in the
socialization of professional workers. Occupational myths are 'the stories that are
told to new recruits about the origin of the occupation, about its glorious
achievements, its gains and losses in struggles against competitors, its heroism
under difficult environmental conditions and its general worth to humankind'
(Dingwall and Allen, 2001: 66). For most professional groups the 'loss of the
golden age' has become one such occupational myth, its possible function being
the development of a professional self-identity by defining in-groups and out-
groups. An area where change has been perceived is in the relationship between
professionals and their clients, a relationship that is in many cases now seen as
more of a 'service encounter' rather than a client-professional relationship. The
major underlying difference in the relationship can be identified as a perceived
shift of power from the professional as expert to the client as customer.
The introduction of end-user charters in the 1990s illustrates this shift in the
balance of power between professional workers and their clients. Health
professionals are to a certain extent governed by patients' charters. For some
university lecturers and school teachers there are student charters with tire
possible addition of parent charters in schools. The purpose of these charters
was to delineate the rights of the client and the obligations of the requisite
professional workers. This can be interpreted as a loss of autonomy in pro-
fessional employment or an attempt on behalf of the wider society to manage
the psychological contract between the client and the professional by making the
implicit more explicit.
However, despite the apparently worsening conditions of the professional
worker, the number of jobs in the professions in the UK increased by 50 per cent
between 1981 and 1998 and was forecasted to expand by a further 20 per cent
in the years up to 2009 (Skills Task Force, 2000; Gold et al, 2003: 46). This
growth has been explained by the growth in the service sector and also by the
emergence of new professions (see for example Wheelwright, 2000). Professional
work has been affected by technological advances. Pearson (1999) suggests that
in instances where the potential of technology is used to provide access to
professional sources of knowledge or to replace professional expertise,
professional work will have to change or risk becoming obsolete.
Developments in technology, in particular information and communication
technology (ICT), are having and will continue to have a significant impact on the
work of professionals. On the one hand, developments in ICT have given rise to
the emergence of new areas of expertise and the potential for more professional
work. However, it could be argued that ICT is also threatening the status of some
professions through making expert information, which was previously part of the
professional's expertise, more widely available to clients.
In addition, increased use of the internet allows clients to bypass the need for
professional services in some instances (Pearson, 1999; Gold ctat., 2003). Medical
websites often based on expert systems allow patients to look up their
symptoms and provide a potential diagnosis prior to or instead of going to a
general practitioner. As well as the increased availability of information, new
areas of expertise have arisen, resulting in a new generation of knowledge
workers in knowledge networks making new claims for professional status, for
example in areas such as nanotechnology (Gold el at., 2003: 48).
In the past the professions in the UK have been very powerful institutions.
Gold et ah (2003) note that professionals and their 'institutional guardians', the
professional associations, have dominated UK society for much of the last
century. There are over 400 professional associations in the UK which have been
responsible for the strategic development of their profession and the continuing
professional development of their members. Entry to and continuance in
professions are controlled in various degrees by these professional associations.
Professional workers are increasingly organized and coordinated in new ways
(Gold etai., 2003: 48). In the private sector the trend is towards more business-like
formations (Brock ct ah, 1999) and new management structures. Within the
professional associations themselves there is a greater emphasis on strategy and
planning in an attempt to become more business-like (Cooper ct at., 1996}.
Changes in emphasis have been observed in the medical profession (Fitzgerald
and Ferlie, 2000}, the computing profession (Dahlbom and Mathiassen, 1997)
and in the area of financial services (Devine el ah, 2000). Many professionals,
particularly those working in the public sector, have complained about an
increase in 'managerialism' associated with a decrease in professional control
and discretion. In organizations where decisions are made by a management
team with the use of targets to monitor the performance of professional staff (for
example in the NHS) there is a danger of 'a deterioration of relationships
between professionals and their managers' (Gold el a!., 2003: 51). This
deterioration may take the form of sabotage on behalf of the professional
workers or may result in loss of trust and alienation, A lecturer who felt that
standards were being jeopardized by managerial decisions which sought to
restrict academic discretion reported the situation as he saw it to a local
newspaper. The subsequent bad publicity led to the resignation of senior
managerial staff including the Vice Chancellor, a drastic reduction in the
numbers of undergraduate students, and the first of many rounds of 'voluntary
severance' amongst the academic staff.
Another change noted by observers is the increasing distrust and suspicion of
authority figures including many of those working in the professions such as
senior police officers or senior medical professionals (Scase, 1999). In addition
the increased access to information means that the work of professionals is
increasingly subject to scrutiny. Gold et al. (2003), in a study of professional
associations in the UK, concluded that a more purposeful and strategic approach
is now required. They also predict that the possibility of the simplification of
professional knowledge so that it is easily understood and accessed by non-
professionals may lead to the deskilling of professional work, the possibility that
it can be carried out by less qualified professionals or even non-professionals, or
the replacement of professional workers by technology. Examples of the latter
can be found in accountancy in the area of auditing, in some medical diagnoses
or even in case work in law.
Devine et al. (2000) found that some employers were claiming that changes in
the nature of professional work meant that a different type of person was now
required in the professions. The type of person now being sought needed social
skills, charisma and the ability to maintain good relationships with clients as well
as being academically able, suggesting, as Brown (1995) noted, that graduate
employers are increasingly showing a preference for the charismatic personality
over the bureaucratic careerist. Other changes noted by Devine et al. (2000)
included a decrease in employee loyalty, an increase in employee mobility and
an intensification of work with most people working a relatively long day of
around nine or ten hours, generally without a lunch break. However, they also
comment on the importance of organizational culture in shaping the working life
of the professional.
It is inevitable that changes have occurred in the life of professional workers
over the past twenty or thirty years. However, the extent of some of these
changes may have been exaggerated and it would appear that the working life of
professional workers remains in many instances pretty much as it always was. As
Gold ct al. (2003) state at the conclusion of their study, 'the future of professionals
is partly in the hands of the professionals' (p. 52).
Career patterns in the professions
MacDonald (1995) defines the professions as 'occupations based on advanced, or
complex, or esoteric, or arcane knowledge'. Most of the major professions are
knowledge-based occupations. Professional practitioners have usually gained
control of their own training, regulating admission to practice and the evaluation
of standards of performance (Torstendahl, 1990). Most professions have
professional bodies with some degree of state regulation. Within the UK there is a
tradition of strong professional bodies which are directly responsible for providing
their own qualifications (Becher, 1990).
Entry into the professions is usually dependent upon a professionally
recognized university degree followed by a period of professionally supervised
practice. Professional bodies attempt to ensure that all future entrants have
passed through an appropriate system of selection, training and socialization
(MacDonald, 1995).
Patterns of recruitment and retention
The annual survey report of the CIPD on Recruitment and Retention for 2008
finds that 86 per cent of the organizations included in the survey were
experiencing recruitment difficulties. The health professions were highlighted as
having vacancies that remain particularly challenging to fill in an earlier survey in
2005. Across all organization types, the group of vacancies that organizations
were finding most difficult to fill were managerial and professional vacancies. The
average length of time taken to fill a managerial/ professional vacancy was 12.3
weeks. Organizations also reported difficulties in retaining
managerial/professional workers. The key reasons given by this group for leaving
were change of career, obtaining a promotion outside the organization, oi lack of
development or career opportunities. Employee development and career
progression are factors often cited in cases of psychological contract breach. It
could be that problems with the retention of professional workers are directly
related to perceptions of psychological violation and breach.
Characteristics of the professions
Professions typically determine their own standards of education and training
and professional practice is often legally recognized in some way. Boards or
committees concerned with entrance to the professions are usually serviced by
members of the profession. Most legislation concerned with the profession is
shaped by the profession and the professional practitioner is relatively free of lay
evaluation and control. Socialization into the professions tends to be a more
intense experience than socialization into other occupations or into an
organization, with the norms of practice enforced by the profession often found
to be more stringent than legal controls (Du Toit, 1995). This might result in a
situation where the professional worker develops a stronger psychological
contract with the profession than with the employing organization.
Professional socialization
The relatively lengthy training period associated with most professional jobs
enables professionals to become socialized into their profession. Professional
socialization is a complex process that can be seen as a developmental process
of adult socialization (Cohen, 1981; Du Toit, 1995). During professional
socialization individuals selectively acquire the values and attitudes, the
interests, skills and knowledge of their chosen profession - that is to say, they
accept the prevalent professional culture (Melia, 1987). Professional socialization
also involves the acquisition of a sense of occupational identity and the
internalization of the values and norms of the group into the professional
worker's own behaviour and self-conception. This forms the basis of the
professional worker's developing psychological contract.
Development of a professional identity
The consequence of professional socialization is the development and cultivation
of a professional identity. Professional identity may be developed through
mentoring (Kram, 1985} or through the exploration of multiple selves,
relationships, or organizations (Kram, 1996; Hall et al., 1997; Ibarra, 1999).
Professional identity development occurs over the course of time and may be
influenced by the various forms of assistance that individuals receive in their
careers (Dobrow and Higgins, 2005). It is defined as 'the relatively stable and
enduring constellation of attributes, beliefs, values, motives, and experiences in
terms of which people define themselves in a professional role' (Ibarra, 1999:
764-5). The concept of professional identity development fits in with the notion
of alternating stages and transitions proposed by traditional adult development
researchers such as Levinson (1978) and Super et at. (1996). Within the adult
development approach the development of professional identities occurs as a
natural by-product of a progression through each career phase (Dobrow and
Higgins, 2005).
According to some writers (e.g. Shuval, 1980) the process of professional
socialization consists of three main stages:
1. Pre-socialization stage
This is dependent on early experiences within the family and within
primary and secondary school. It is also influenced by the image of the chosen
profession in the surrounding culture. However, some writers see professionals
at this stage as 'naive newcomers' who go on to make sense of their strange
new environment (Louis, 1980; Weick, 1995; Thomas and Anderson, 1998).
2. Formal socialization stage
This takes place during professional training, for example at university, and
can be seen to consist of cognitive and interactional activities. Cognitive
activities involve the search for professionally relevant styles and means of
problem solving. Interactional activities involve learning to behave in an
appropriate professional manner, which may take place at a formal level as
part of a professional training course or informally via interaction with peers
and informal sanctions.
3. Post-socialization stage
This refers to the period after formal socialization until retirement. Some
individuals at this stage will display the characteristics of 'ideal professionals'
(Du Toit, 1995) i.e. those who have internalized the profession's culture
completely.
Others see professional socialization as a process of acculturation during which
the values, norms and symbols of the profession are internalized. Du Toit
(1995) suggests that acculturation can be so strong that it may cause
personality transformation. However, Guimond (1995) notes that 'the majority
of empirical studies carried out within the military, an organization having one
of the most sophisticated systems of socialization, reveal few psychological
effects due to socialization' (p. 253}.
In Figure 2.1 the three stages of professional socialization are outlined. At
stage one, on entry into professional work, the professionals are characterized as
naive newcomers attempting to make sense of this new environment. At stage
two the by now more experienced professionals have developed a repertoire of
solutions in order to solve problems. They have also learned how to reframe and
rename difficult problems. At this stage old values not in line with those of the
new profession are unfrozen and new values are developed. This transformation
may be a painful experience for many professional workers and is described in
the model as 'an intense period of suffering'. By stage three the professional
worker is able to rely on tacit knowledge and as a skilled performer in the
professional arena there is a degree of routilization of action.
Exercise 2.1
Think of a profession with which you are familiar. How would you describe people in thisprofession?How is this profession generally portrayed in the media?How far does the media's description match with your own description?
Professional socialization and the psychological contract
Do the psychological contracts of professionals differ from those of non-
professional workers? During the period of professional socialization to what
extent is a professional psychological contract developed? Limited research has
focused on professional development and the development of the contract. Many
vocational courses involve some aspect of work placement (e.g. health
professionals) and this may offer an important opportunity to shape the
psychological contracts of potential professional workers. It could be considered
that for professional graduates the contracting process begins before the
individual even joins the organization, mediated by expectations and
experiences whilst still in higher education and further influenced by the
recruitment and socialization practices (George and Kelley-Patterson, 2002).
On entry into the organization it is assumed that new professionals will further
elaborate the rudimentary psychological contract they hold at entry in line with
organizational reality (Levinson et al., 1962; Dunahee and Wangler, 1974; Nadlei
et al., 1983; Shore and Tetrick, 1994; Hiltrop, 1995; Anderson and Ostroff, 1997;
Thomas and Anderson, 1998). Then, as Thomas and Anderson (1998) note, it
seems likely that as newcomers become more knowledgeable, their
psychological contract will develop and change. This change could be fairly
fundamental if substantial new knowledge is gained during the socialization
process. Thomas and Anderson (1998) go on to state that the psychological
contracts of newcomers are likely to change to resemble those of experienced
insiders as they become accepted as an integral part of the organization (p.
751). This is suggesting a social-constructionist approach to organizational
knowledge and reality with the newly appointed professionals adjusting their
rudimentary psychological contracts according to their own understanding of the
organization and in line with the understanding held by experienced
organizational members.
Entry into the professions is thus a multi-stage process whereby individuals
are socialized both into their chosen profession and also eventually into an
employing organization. Thus an assumption might be that professional workers
hold a psychological contract with both their profession and with their employing
organization, and that the nature and the state of these psychological contracts
could differ.
Organizational socializationThe decision to enter a profession is followed at some stage by entry into an
organization as a newly qualified professional worker. Professional socialization is
a by-product of most professional training. However, on entry to their first or
even to subsequent organizations, professional workers will also be socialized
into their employing organizations.
According to Cooper-Thomas and Anderson (2005), organizational
socialization refers to the period of newcomer adjustment and learning to meet
organizational standards and norms that follows selection and assessment. Many
studies have investigated aspects of organizational socialization but it is difficult
to identify a clear theory of or a dominant approach to the area. As is the case
with professional socialization, there are several studies examining the stages of
organizational socialization (e.g. Van Maanen and Schein, 1979; Nicholson, 1987;
Wanous, 1992). However, perhaps the most common theoretical framework
behind much of the research into socialization has been uncertainty reduction
theoiy (URT) (see for example Lester, 1987; Falcione and Wilson, 1988).
Looking at three stages in the process of organizational socialization, a
gradual reduction in uncertainty on behalf of the newcomer can be assumed.
These three stages are:
• entry;
• adjustment;
• performance.
At the entry stage, newcomers are described as experiencing high levels of
uncertainty which they are motivated to reduce, making the work environment
more predictable, understandable and ultimately controllable (Saks and Ashforth,
1997). It has been suggested that newcomers' successful passage through this
entry stage is dependent on their ability to obtain sufficient information to
reduce uncertainty (Mignerey et al., 1995). This process of sense making can be
seen to coincide with the development of the professional workers' psychological
contract with their new organization. However, some of the features associated
with this psychological contract such as expectations, promises and obligations
may have developed as a result of their previous experience both during their
professional training and from other sources.
During adjustment uncertainty is reduced through information provided from
a variety of sources, particularly social interactions with colleagues and
superiors. Competence in performance comes as uncertainty decreases,
accompanied by increased job satisfaction and decreased intention to quit
(Morrison, 1993). The role of socialization or induction programmes in this
process is to reduce newcomers' high levels of uncertainty and anxiety.
Another influential approach to organizational socialization and one closely
connected to uncertainty reduction theory (URT) is that of Louis (1980). Louis
proposes a cognitive approach with an emphasis on the sense making of
newcomers. Sense making is defined as 'a thinking process in which newcomers
interpret and impute meanings to surprises through interactions with insiders,
attributional processes, and the alteration of cognitive scripts' (Saks and
Ashforth, 1997: 238). Newcomers are seen as coming to understand their
organization's culture by decoding certain 'critical incidents' (Gundry and
Rousseau, 1994), 'socialization turning points' (Bullis and Bach, 1989) or
'epiphanies' (Denzin, 1989). These socialization turning points or epiphanies
have also been found to have an effect on employees' psychological contracts.
Hindal (2007), in a study of IT professionals, found that the line manager was a
key influence on employees' psychological contracts. When asked about their
relationship with their employer, 43 per cent of respondents stated that the
relationship with their employing organization had improved over the last twelve
months with only 9 per cent stating that their relationship had 'got much worse'.
For more than half of all respondents (57 per cent) this change in the
employment relationship had been triggered by a particular event. For example,
a female member of staff stated 'A change of manager made a huge
improvement to my working day; makes a change to feel supported by my
manager rather than that he may as well not be there' (p. 33).
Case 2.1
Whilst working for a private American university as part of the Business Faculty I went in one day wearing
turquoise leggings and a jumper that matched the leggings in colour perfectly. I had been really pleased at
achieving the exact match. I was thus horrified when a student commented that he did not think that I was
suitably dressed for a business lecturer. At the lunch break I looked carefully around the staff room. I saw a
variety of dress styles. One person was wearing shabby looking shorts and an orange tee-shirt. However, all
the business lecturers, both male and female, were wearing pin-striped suits! I never wore my turquoise leg-
gings to work there again.
During organizational socialization newcomers need to acquire information
and knowledge in a number of content domains. Chao et al. (1994) identified six
such domains:
• Performance - consisting of performance proficiency in association with the
tasks and knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for the job.
• People - achievement of successful working relationships.
• Politics - information about the formal and informal work relationships and
power structures in the organization.
• Language - the technical language and jargon unique to both one's profession
and the organization.
• Organizational goal and values - the mission and means of the organization.
• History - the organization's traditions, customs and stories.
Chao et al. found that organizational goals and values were most strongly
related to career effectiveness and (low) organizational turnover. For professional
workers it may also be important that the organizational goals and values match
their professional goals and values acquired during earlier professional training
(Chatman, 1991}. It has been noted that organization-based values may take
much longer to acquire than apparent desired performance behaviours
(Morrison, 1993).
Several writers have suggested that, as organizations move towards the 'new
psychological contract' with a higher proportion of contingent workers and a
higher level of individual job change, the locus of commitment and identification
appears to be shifting from the organization to the occupation/ profession and
work group (e.g. Handy, 1994; Saks and Ashforth, 1997). Thus for professional
workers their key commitment and identification could be increasingly with their
profession rather than with their employing organization.
Van Maanen and Schein (1979) produced a typology of organizational
socialization consisting of six bipolar dimensions. These were:
• collective vs individual socialization;
• formal vs informal;
• sequential vs random;
• fixed vs variable;
• serial vs disjunctive;
• investiture vs divestiture.
Jones (1986) combined the polar ends of these six dimensions into two
'socialization tactics' - 'institutionalized' and 'individualized'. Individualized
socialization tactics consisted of collective socialization; formal socialization;
sequential socialization; fixed socialization; serial socialization; and investiture.
Individualized socialization tactics consisted of individual socialization; informal
socialization; random socialization; variable socialization; disjunctive
socialization; and divestiture. Institutionalized socialization reflects a more
structured and formalized socialization process. Individualized socialization tends
to reflect an absence of structure where newcomers are socialized more by
default than by design (Ashforth el ai., 1997; Gruman etal, 2006).
Table 2.1 combines Van Maanen and Schein's typology of organizational
socialization with Jones's (1986) socialization tactics. The table enables a
comparison to be made between institutionalized and individualized socialization
tactics. It can be seen that in organizations with institutionalized socialization
tactics newcomers have a specific identity and receive clear guidelines in
relation to the organization's expectations. With institutionalized socialization
tactics the organizational identity of the newcomer is gradually built up through
a variety of activities and experiences. In organizations with individualized
socialization newcomers are not given a distinct identity on arrival but are
immediately immersed into their workgroups. The experiences and activities that
they undergo are random and thus the newcomer struggles to impose structure
and to make sense of the new environment. With individualized socialization the
organizational identity of the newcomer is developed by stripping away any
former identity. However, institutionalized and individualized socialization tactics
are ideal types and most newcomers to organizations experience a combination
of both approaches with varying degrees of structure imposed.
In organizations using institutionalized socialization tactics newcomers are
more likely to exhibit information-seeking behaviours whereas individualized
socialization techniques 'result in an ambiguous and unstructured socialization
experience in which expectations and role requirements are unclear' (Gruman
eta}., 2006: 93).
Professional socialization according to this classification is mainly institutional.
The profession provides common learning experiences in the form of detailed
curriculum guidance (see for example professional bodies such as the
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the British Psychological
Society (BPS) or the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Newcomers to certain professions are given a formal status (e.g. student nurses)
Table 2.1 A typology of organizational
Source: Eased on Van Maanen and Schein (1979); Jones (1986); Gruman et al.(2006)
Socialization
Institutionalized IndividualizedCollective Individual
Newcomers go through common learning experiences designed to produce uniform responses to situations
Newcomers have idiosyncratic experiences that permit a variety of responses
Formal Informal
Newcomers are isolated from other organizational members while they learn their roles
Newcomers become part of work groupsimmediately and learn on the job
Sequential Random
Newcomers receive clear guidelines regarding the sequence of activities they will encounter
Newcomers experience an ambiguous sequence of activities and experiences
Fixed Variable
Newcomers receive detailed knowledge of the timetables associated with completing each stagein the socialization process
Newcomers receive no information about completion of a stage of learning
Serial Disjunctive
Veteran organizational members act as role models for newcomers
Newcomers are required to make sense of their experiences on their own
Investiture Divestiture
Confirming and reinforcing newcomers' self-identities and providing social support
Stripping away newcomers' self-identities through negative communication and rebuilding them in the form that the organization desires
which isolates them psychologically if not materially from more established
members of the profession. The training for professionals often involves a
number of graded activities which are delineated within a sequence. Stages of
the socialization process may be marked by some form of formal accreditation.
New professionals may embark upon a period of development where they are
supervised or mentored by senior members of their profession. Whether
professional bodies reinforce newcomers' self-identities or seek to strip them
away is debatable.
However, professional workers are usually faced with a series of organi-
zational as well as professional socialization tactics and could be described as
'experienced newcomers' who have acquired substantial knowledge and personal
know-how concerning the process and experience of being a newcomer in an
organization (Blenkinsopp and Zdunczyk, 2005). This is due to the
developmental stages imposed as part of professional socialization.
Organizational socialization occurs to some extent regardless of the formal
structures of socialization employed by the organization and, in situations where
there are no formal programmes, newcomers will be socialized by the informal
organization (Nelson, 1987; Garavan and Motley, 1997).
Organizational careers
The traditional concept of the organizational career consists of a sequence of
roles within an organization starting at a relatively junior level and moving
gradually through supervisory management, to functional management, to
general management and thence to senior executive positions. Expensive and
intensive management courses at prestige business schools such as London
Business School and Henley were designed to prepare successful functional
managers for more strategic general management roles. Success is measured by
how far up the hierarchy an individual has reached. Individuals also invest a
great deal of their working life into relatively few organizations and in some
cases remain in the same organization for the majority of their working life. Case
2.2 outlines the career progression of someone who has spent all her working life
within one organization.
Case 2.2
Joan left school at 18 with A levels but not with good enough grades to go to university. She managed to
obtain a junior job with a local authority and continued her education part-time. She was eventually awarded
a Master's degree and gradually rose up the organization, finally achieving a senior management position.
After several reorganizations and restructurings Joan feels that her position within the organization is not very
secure. However, after fifteen years in the same organization Joan's skills are very organizationally specific
and it may be difficult for her to find a similar job elsewhere. Joan has several options:
She can remain where she is possibly by emphasizing her tacit knowledge of the organization.
She can develop more general skills with a view to moving to another organization.She can retrain and pursue a totally different career.
In recent years a great deal has been written in the career and general orga-
nizational literature about the death of the organizational career. This is seen as
part of the new psychological contract. The old contract consisted of loyalty both
on behalf of the individual and the organization. The organizational hierarchy
provided the opportunity for career advancement within the organization and
development provided by the organization in preparation for senior roles. Career
development was the responsibility of both the individual and the organization.
The delayering that took place in many organizations in the 1980s and 1990s led
to a restriction of career opportunities as supervisory and middle management
roles were removed. There was a supposed movement to the new psychological
contract where responsibility for career development moved from the
organization or from a joint responsibility of both the organization and the
individual solely to the individual. In organizations where there was a continuing
threat of redundancy the onus moved to individuals to keep themselves
employable.
The new psychological contract demands from employees long hours, the
assumption of added responsibility, the provision of broader skills, a toleration of
change and ambiguity, and flexibility. In return the employers are obligated to
provide high levels of pay, reward for performance, and a job. The old
psychological contract provided employees with job security, career prospects,
training and development, care and trust in exchange for loyalty, conformity,
commitment and trust. Perhaps for the individual employee the old and new
psychological contracts as delineated in the literature are also ideal types with
many workers, professional and otherwise, experiencing a combination of the
two within their organizations.
Individuals enter organizations to fulfil a particular role. Their selection for this
role may be in part due to their membership of a particular professional group, to
their employment history and to their individual characteristics. Individuals with
the same professional background and ostensibly fulfilling the same role may
actually be performing very different jobs. They may 'craft' their jobs to suit their
individual preferences. This individual crafting of jobs may lead to different
organizational experiences and may open different organizational opportunities
(Wrzesniewski and Button, 2001).
As part of the 'old contract' many professionals would spend the bulk of their
professional life within one organization, perhaps starting in a role that was
entirely dependent upon their professional background and gradually moving to
more senior managerial roles where the emphasis was more on 'people
management' than on professional expertise. Modern matrons were introduced
to the NHS in 2002. The role of the modern matron is to provide strong
leadership on wards and to be highly visible and accessible to patients (DoH,
2003: foreword). A study of matrons in one particular trust revealed that
individual matrons tended to pursue their role very differently depending on their
previous employment experience, their educational experience and the context
within which they were working (George, 2007).
Professional careersFor many professionals, their organizational career is intertwined with their professional career.
After a period of basic professional training, often consisting of an undergraduate degree course,
professionals begin entry to their professional career. In professions such as accountancy and law,
further professional training is acquired by entry into relevant organizations. Thus the newly
qualified professional has to learn not only more applied professionally relevant information but
also organizationally relevant information.
For some professionals there may he a conflict between behaviour expected by the
organization and behaviour expected by their profession. For example, a trainee occupational
psychologist was asked to provide names of interviewees - information that was supposed to be
confidential - to senior management as part of an employee satisfaction survey. Refusal to do this
caused problems with the trainee's immediate manager but the trainee felt that this request went
against the professional body's ethical code. Professionals often believe that they have a right to
ignore management decisions when these conflict with their professional standards. A
consequence of this is that many professionals 'co-exist' within an organization and may behave as
if they are freelancers (Vermaak and Weggeman, 1999). Some organizations try to impose
organization-specific controls on their professional workers with varying degrees of success
dependent on the organization-profession fit.
The profession forms a key part of their self-identity for some professionals whereas their
position within a particular organization is seen as transitory. Thus there is sometimes a resistance
on behalf of the professional to embrace a managerial career or to proceed too far along the
management path to the extent that they become distanced from their area of professional
specialism. For example, academic managers in universities may submit themselves to high
workloads by combining professional academic duties such as research and teaching with
administrative/managerial tasks.
The new entrant to a profession has the dual experience of being socialized into a profession
and being socialized into an organization. At times it may be difficult for the new professional to
discern the differences between the requirements of the profession and the requirements of the
organization. In terms of the psychological contract, the professional worker has to decide whether
to develop a psychological contract with the employing organization, with the profession or with
both.
During socialization in terms of the knowledge base, the professional is developing tacit
knowledge of both the organization and the profession. In terms of career development models
(e.g. Super, 1980; Levinson, 1986), trainee professionals who have entered their first organization
should have as a main focus the process of mastering the technical aspects of their jobs and
learning the norms, rules and values of their employing organizations (Blau, 1999). According to
this view the development of professional identities occurs as a natural by-product of steady
progression through each career phase (Dobrow and Higgins, 2005). However, the stage of
professional development and organizational development may not concur. Blenkinsopp and
Zdunczyk (2005) cite the example of an experienced accountant making a lateral move between
organizations who is likely to have reached the stabilization stage in terms of occupation but will be
moving through the preparation/encounter stage in terms of the organization.
As the world of employment has changed so has the career of the professional worker. The
introduction of new technology and other changes has seen a rise of new professions and changes
in the old professions. On entering their profession, professional workers have to be socialized into
their chosen profession and their first employing organization. It may be that, with the apparent
changes in the psychological contract, for professional workers socialization into their profession
has become more important than socialization into their employing organization(s). Thus the
professional psychological contract may prove an important influence on the working lives of
professional workers. The nature of that psychological contract with the profession may differ
substantially from that with the employing organization. The next chapter looks at the developing
professional identity of the professional worker and the emerging professional psychological
contract.
3 Contract formation and development: early socialization
This chapter examines early influences on the development of professional
identities and the emerging psychological contracts of professional workers. It
begins by looking at the portrayal of the professions in the media and per-
ceptions of the professions. It then examines models of career development with
reference to the careers of professional workers. The chapter ends with a
discussion of career development models which focus specifically on professional
workers.
Portrayal of the professionsEarly decisions to enter the professions are influenced by many social factors
such as family influences/expectations/pressures, educational experiences and
media influences from film, television, literature, newspapers, etc. To some
extent these early influences may be seen to have an impact upon the
development of professional workers' psychological contracts.
Most professions appear dissatisfied with their portrayal in the media. Some
professional bodies are concerned that negative or stereotypical portrayal in the
media will deter people from entering their professions (see for example
Goldacre et al., 2003). Professions popular in the media vary according to times
and fashions. For example, since the 1990s, there appears to have been an
increase in the portrayal of psychologists on the television, usually forensic
psychologists (e.g. Cracker) but also psychology lecturers (e.g. Afterlife).
Psychologists also regularly appear in 'reality programmes' such as Supemarmy
and Big Brother. Other professions appearing regularly on television include the
police, various medical professionals, lawyers, clerics, firefighters and 'scientists'
(see for example Gibelman, 2004).
If media portrayal of professions has an impact on people entering those
professions, another important source of influence could be the portrayal of the
professions in children's literature. However, many of the most popular children's
books are largely profession-free zones. The Harry Potter series, for example,
portrays teachers, who are also wizards, mainly in a positive light. There is also a
matron, Madam Pomfrey, who is described as 'a nice woman, but very strict'
(Rowling, 1997: 218) and some rather unpleasant goblins who work in the bank.
Hany Potter's uncle, the nasty Mr Dursley, is the director of a firm called
Grunnings which makes drills. Another popular children's author, Jacqueline
Wilson, mentions teachers, social workers and a very unfriendly and somewhat
unprofessional hotel manager (Wilson, 1995). In Tiie Story of Tracy Beaker, Elaine, the
social worker, is described by Tracy as 'a right pain' who talks to Tracy about 'all
sorts of boring things' (Wilson, 1991). Teachers are also described by Tracy
Beaker as 'all boring' (p. 20).
The medical profession has always attracted a great deal of media attention.
Both nurses and doctors appear regularly in all forms of the media. The portrayal
of nurses has often tended to be stereotypical or iconic (Dar-byshire and Gordon,
2005). Muff (1982) suggested six major nursing stereotypes:
• Angel of mercy
• Handmaiden to the physician
• Woman in white
• Sex symbol/idiot
• Battleaxe
• Torturer
Focusing on tabloid newspapers, Dunn (1985) came up with three prominent
images of nurses, namely the 'Angel', the 'Battleaxe' and the 'Nymphomaniac'.
Darbyshire and Gordon (2005) note that 'The persistence of old, hackneyed
stereotypes does nothing to enhance the attractiveness of nursing as an
occupational option and hampers nurses' ability to make nursing a long-term
satisfying career' (p. 74). Stereotypical representation of nurses can be traced
back to Victorian times with predominantly female nurses in the role of servants
of the male doctors (Brook and Crouch, 2004; Ferns and Chojnacka, 2005). In an
article concerned with the television programme Casualty, Jacques Perretti
describes Charlie as 'that creased-up old doctor who's seen 'em come and seen
'em go' (Perretti, 2007). However, Charlie is in fact a nurse. As the usual
stereotype of a nurse is female perhaps the writer assumed that any male
character must be a doctor. Nursing, like HR, is a female-dominated profession
where males are the exception. However, it is interesting to note that in both of
these professions men are often found in the more senior roles.
Ferns and Chojnacka (2005) note the role of the media in the prevalence of
nursing stereotypes. Table 3.1 outlines some of the prevailing stereotypical
portrayals of nurses from the 18ti0s onwards. The early stereotype comes from
the Florence Nightingale era with the nurse seen as the 'Doctor's handmaiden'.
The female nurse was portrayed as assisting the male doctor dressed like a
parlour maid and thus emphasizing the apparent master/servant relationship.
During the period of the Second World War the dominant image is seen to shift to
the more ethereal 'Ministering Angel'. This was reinforced by films such as the
'Nurse Edith Cavell' (1939) mentioned by Kalisch and Kalisch (1982). In the
1950s and 1960s, the era of the 'Cany On' films, the stereotype is seen to shift to
that of the 'Battle-axe matron' based on Hattie Jacques' iconic portrayal. In the
21st century the focus has moved to the media portrayal of nurses as 'hard-
working professionals'.
This could be seen to be illustrated by 'Tess' a senior nurse in the television
programme 'Casualty'. However some stereotypes seem to be stronger than
others. For example in a series of interviews concerned with the perception of
the role of the 'modern matron' all interviewees referred to Hattie Jacques and
the 'Carry On' films at some stage in the interview, including the modern
matrons themselves (George, 2007).
In a newspaper search of images of various professional people, nurses were
found to be most often described in a sexual manner, followed by 'dedicated',
'professional' and 'caring'. In contrast lawyers and doctors were more likely to be
described as 'professional'. Table 3.2 compares the newspaper representation of
a range of professional workers based on the Ferns and Chojnacka (2005) study.
According to the newspapers surveyed, nurses and actresses are more likely to
be associated with sexual imagery and text than other professionals such as
doctors, physiotherapists and social workers. The adjective 'professional' is most
likely to be associated with doctors and actresses. Medical doctors are also more
likely to be described as 'caring' than are other professionals. However, nurses
and doctors are both often described as 'dedicated' and 'hardworking'.
Ferns and Chojnacka are concerned that the perception of the nursing
profession in wider society 'will be an important factor in relation to how it can
attract, recruit and retain quality individuals of the future' (2005: 1038).
Doctors are also dissatisfied with their portrayal in the media. Recently
qualified doctors make comments such as 'Getting a bit disillusioned with
.
Source: Based on Ferns and Chojnacka (2005)
Table 3.2 Representation of the professions in national
Profession Sexual Professional Caring Dedicated Hardworking
Nurse 462 I87 129 256 82Medical doctor 46 355 237 207 84Physiotherapist 3 47 2 9 iSocial worker 1 I 31 12 41 6Lawyer 19 227 1 3 16 1 1Architect 2 125 2 S 1Actress 533 320 S 16 36
Table 3.1 Media stereotypes of the nursing profession through
Period Prevailing stereotype1 860s onwards Doctor's handmaiden
(Brook and Crouch, 2004)
1940s Ministering angel(Jinks and Bradley, 2004)
1950s and 1960s Battle-axe matron(O'Dowd, 1998)
Twenty-first century Hard-working professionals(Payne, 2000)
constant negative press coverage' or 'I often feel very guilty about being a
doctor, or sometimes ashamed, as we have such a bad press' (Goldacre et ai,
2003: 630). These doctors also feel that this portrayal has led to a loss of respect
for the medical profession as a whole on behalf of the general public. One
respondent to Goldacre et ai.'s survey states: 'Respect has gone, media medic
bashing has done its job' (p. 630), relating back perhaps to another aspect of the
'golden age' myth mentioned in the previous chapter.
Other professions also complain of their media portrayal. Teachers are aware
of their stereotypical portrayal in the media. As early as 1958, Foff commented:
'... to succeed as a teacher, one must fail as a man or woman'. However, as
noted earlier, teachers appear more frequently than other professionals in
popular children's books, although their portrayal is not always positive. It is
interesting to note that Ken Barlow, one of the most established characters in the
television soap Coronation Street, was at one time a teacher and is often seen by the
other characters as pompous and boring.
Librarians as a profession are also acutely aware of their portrayal in the
popular media. Brewerton (1992) concluded that librarians tend to have a
negative image in the media with the apparent exception of two television
programmes: Inspector Morse and Lovejoy. Brewerton found that the common media
perception of librarians was that either they were 'dragon-like', 'shrinking violets'
or just plain 'boring'. Brewerton cites as an example a report in the Daily Express
which stated that people with brown cars are 'downright boring ... probably
working as librarians'! Another profession commonly described as 'boring' is that
of accountancy (see Byrne and Willis, 2005 later).
In addition, Gibelman (2004) complains that television conveys an anti-
professional, disrespectful image of social workers. She is also concerned that
this negative portrayal of the profession may deter potential recruits. Even if a
profession is not seen as boring this does not mean that media coverage is
positive. More recently established professions such as public relations also
complain about negative portrayal in the media; there have been fairly recent
negative portrayals of aspects of public relations in films such as The Devil Wears
Prada.
Perceptions of professional people
Some of the studies mentioned earlier indicate that there is an assumption, and
perhaps some supporting evidence, that the perceptions that people hold of
potential career destinations are an important influence on their career
decisions. Perceptions of the professions attract some to professional careers and
deter others. In a study of perceptions of the work of an accountant and the
accounting profession amongst Irish secondary school students, it was found that
students held traditional views of the profession, considering it to be boring,
definite, precise, and compliance-driven (Byrne and Willis, 2005). Experience of
studying accounting made students' perceptions less negative. Male students
were found to have a more positive perception of accountancy than female
students. Byrne and Willis suggest that these students' perceptions were
influenced by the study of the subject at school, the factual media and teachers.
This might suggest that expectations of the characteristics of some professional
work are developed either prior to the start of secondary school education or in
the early stages of that educational experience. These expectations and
experiences may form the basis of the pioto-psychological contracts of
professional workers.
A study of pre-registration house officers and general practitioner registrars
found that 48 per cent expressed regrets about choosing a career in medicine
due to working conditions and stress (Blades et ai., 2000). Both groups felt that
they had not learned enough about career options in medical school. Both of
these studies emphasize the importance of career-related information and also
the influence of tutors and role models. A further study to investigate negative
perceptions regarding surgery found that negative perceptions were developed
and reinforced by the media, particularly television where it was felt that
surgeons were often portrayed as 'jerks' and that there must be some truth to
the stereotype portrayed (Kozar et ai., 2004). Preceptors such as 'You're too nice
to be a surgeon' and the perceived characteristics of fellow students who wished
to become surgeons, who were seen as arrogant and aggressive (Kozar et ai.,
2004), deterred some students from seeking a career in surgery. Kozar et ai.
concluded that the career choices of these medical students had been made
prior to entering medical school. Amongst professional workers medical
practitioners in particular have had a history of making their career decisions and
career plans at a relatively young stage in life (Doherty, 2004). This early
decision making may be seen to influence the type of professional and
organizational psychological contract that is developed. The longer term aspects
of the attachment to the profession can be seen to enhance the likelihood of the
development of a more relational professional psychological contract.
Contracting into the professions
There would appear to be an underlying assumption that the psychological contract of professional
workers is essentially relational. However, there is some evidence to suggest that in the early
stages of professional socialization, the focus of the new professional's psychological contract may
actually be more transactional than relational. Kelley-Patterson and George (2001), for example,
found important differences between new entrants to the hospitality, leisure and tourism sector
and more established professionals in the sector in terms of contract expectations. They found that
whereas the established professionals perceived the newcomers' psychological contracts as mainly
relational in nature, the perception of the contract on behalf of the newcomers themselves was
mainly transactional with a focus on a number of fundamental hygiene factors such as health and
safety, pleasant working conditions, payment of expenses, holiday flexibility and fair pay (as
indicated by regular performance reviews, performance-related pay and overtime pay) (p. 319).
This may be a feature both of their time in the profession and also in the organization, as other
studies have found that employees who have been with an employer for less than three years are
more likely to perceive their psychological contract as transactional (Rousseau, 1995; George and
Gaffney, 2006).
One way of outlining the development of professional psychological contracts is to look at the
various stage theories of career development and align them with stages in professional
development. Levinson (1978), for example, outlines four career development stages:
• Early adult stage
• Midlife transition
• Middle adulthood
• Late adulthood
The experiences of the new professional correspond to Levinson's (1978) 'early adulthood stage'
and as such it would be expected that professionals at this stage should be establishing a direction
and trying to gain a certain degree of stability (Baruch, 2004). In most professions this early
adulthood stage would combine with the achievement of professional status through a combination
of qualifications and experience. HR professionals, for example, might start off as an HR assistant
with no professional qualifications but would often be encouraged by their employer to obtain
professional status. Many middle-range and senior HR jobs in the UK require qualifications from the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
At the end of the early adult stage comes the midlife transition, sometimes referred to as the
'midlife crisis'. For some professionals this is a time to reflect on their career to date within their
chosen profession. Some may decide that this is an appropriate time to change their career focus
and perhaps also their professional identity. Many women's magazines contain articles about
women who have changed professional direction at around tire age of 40. As a director of an MSc
Occupational Psychology course, I have observed that a percentage of students each year will be
coming on to the course in order to change their career direction completely from one profession to
another.
Case 3.1
A successful sales director in a large multinational organization changed career direction in her early forties,
leaving an extremely well-paid job to study organizational psychology. She went on to run a successful
business psychology consultancy.
Levinson's next stage of 'middle adulthood' is proposed to be when people
come to terms with their career. For professionals this should be when they have
achieved their main professional goals. This is followed by a final stage of Tate
adulthood', which at the time that Levinson was writing would have
corresponded to the retirement phase. In the late 1980s and the 1990s,
managers from the professions were often able to take early retirement. Many
head teachers, for example, took early retirement during this period. However,
current professional workers in their fifties will now probably only have the option
of early retirement in the case of organizational change which involves some
degree of downsizing. How might these changes have affected the psychological
contract of the older worker? If the literature on psychological contract breach is
to be believed, these older workers will have experienced a series of
psychological breaches and violations which might lead one to expect that their
psychological contracts may be more transactional. Instead of a series of neat
stages there may be a collection of different careers throughout the professional
worker's working life. For example, an individual could move from a management
career in the hospitality industry to midwifery and then on to social work,
retraining in the new profession as he or she goes along.
There are several other well-known models of career stages including Schein
(1978) and Super (195 7, 1980). Schein's model consists of eight stages:
• (up to 21) growth and search;
• (16-25) entry to the world of work;
• (17-30) starting full-time career;
• (25+) mid-career;
• (40+); late career;
• (40+) decline;
• retirement.
Although ages are specified in the model there is considerable overlap at the
various stages. In terms of the professional career, the growth and search stage
often takes place during early professional qualification. In most professions this
would correspond with the stage of selecting examination subjects at school and
studying for the first part of a professional qualification, which is increasingly a
specified degree usually accredited by a professional body. Entry to the world of
work corresponds with the first professional job, which may take the form of a
placement year or an internship. At the start of the full-time career, professional
workers will have completed their membership into their profession. Por
example, teachers may have acquired their first job as a newly qualified teacher
(NQT). By the mid-career stage some professionals may have moved into a
managerial position. A nurse may have become a Senior Sister, a Ward Manager
or a Modern Matron. The late career brings for some professionals a move into
more senior management positions and at times a move away from their original
professional base. Decline may take the form of 'downshifting', where a
professional makes the decision to move from a managerial position back to the
professional 'front line' or away from the profession altogether. The career is
seen to come to an end at retirement. However, it is difficult to see how the
model can be continued to be applied in the era of the protean career (Briscoe et
al., 2006) and the proposed new psychological contract.
Super's model contains five stages which are also age-related and where
there is also some chronological overlap in the stages:
• (0-14) childhood and growth;
• (0-25) search and inquiry;
• (25^5) establishment;
• (45-56) continuity or maintenance;
• (56+) decline or disengagement.
Putting this model into the context of professional careers, during childhood
and growth one is obtaining information about possible careers from the media,
one's family and role models. In a study of career choice, one respondent talked
about her early career aspirations to become a teacher: I think that when I was
very young I wanted to be a teacher, I think. I think that from my age group,
traditionally females, I think in very female worlds anyway, teaching was a
possibility. Then of course I've got that [role] model right in front of me every
day. (George, 2009a)
The search and inquiry stage may be problematic for some professional groups
where the decision to enter the profession is traditionally taken very early, for
example medical practitioners or members of the armed forces (see for example
Bachman et at., 2000). As in the Schein model, the establishment stage may
correspond with the professional worker's first experience of the management of
others. During the continuity or maintenance stage professionals establish
themselves within their professional field. This may involve commitment to the
profession at the expense of commitment to their current organization or a move
away from their profession to become more organizationally focused (Aranya and
Ferris, 1984). The decline and disengagement stage is a particularly important
one for some professions, for example the clergy who will often also have to
make alternative living arrangements prior to their retirement from the church.
Table 3.3 outlines the career stage theories of Levinson, Schein and Super in
relation to professional career development. The professional career can be seen
as a series of transitional stages. The first stage, entry into the career, involves a
range of activities beginning with the obtaining of relevant careers information
followed by the gaining of relevant qualifications and experience and the
eventual achievement of professional status.
The next stage could be seen as the early transition stage where the recently
qualified professional reflects on his or her career to date. This may lead to a
possible change in career focus. For example, a promising young musician enters
the extremely competitive field of fashion PR after graduation. This involves
obtaining a number of paid and unpaid internships before getting accepted as a
trainee in a small fashion PR company. However, after a year's experience of
working in this professional role the trainee decides to pursue a career in music.
It is at this stage that the developing professional and organizational
psychological contracts may diverge.
The mid-transitional stage marks the stage in the professional worker's career
where he or she may have achieved some of his or her main professional goals.
This is also the point in the career where professional workers may move into
management roles usually in charge of fellow professionals. There is the
increasing possibility of a conflict in interests between the profession and the
organization. This may lead to changes in both professional and organizational
psychological contracts due to the level of commitment to the organization and
the profession. It can also be seen as a contributor to the 'silo' style of
management found in many large organizations, with each
professional group led by their manager seeking to pursue the interests of their
profession within the wider organization.
The late transitional stage may coincide with the end of the professional
career and retirement. However, increasingly we are led to believe that rather
than a step-wise organized number of career transitions, it is more in the form of
a spiral with each transitional stage leading to a possible change in orga-
nizational or professional identity. Thus having pursued a successful career in
one profession, the professional worker may retrain and restart the transitional
cycle in another profession. Alternatively, at any time within tire professional
career the professional worker may decide to seek less or different
responsibilities. In recent years many professional workers have sought early
retirement and moved to countries like France and Spain.
Whilst the previous works outlined have dealt with careers in general, Dalton
ct ai. (1977) concentrate on the developmental stages of professional careers in
particular. Their findings were based on interviews with 550 professionals
employed within four organizations. On the basis of these interviews they
postulated four career stages:
• Stage 1 - helping, learning, following directions
• Stage 2 - contributing independently
• Stage 3 - training, interfacing
• Stage 4 - shaping the direction of the organization
Table 3.4 depicts Dalton ctal.'s (1977) four stages of professional careers. The
table looks at the key learning at each stage, the key characteristics, main
activities, important relationships and psychological issues. Not all professionals
will go through all four stages. Many will reach stage 2 and remain there for the
bulk of their career. In stage 1, professionals have to learn to perform at least
some of the main organizational tasks competently and get things done using
both formal and informal channels of communication. In stage 2 professionals
need to develop their technical competence and in stage 3 they need to be able
to take responsibility for the development of others. The key learning in stage 4
revolves around influence.
Professionals in stage 1 typically lack expertise whereas in stage 2 they are
beginning to develop independence. By stage 3 they have broader interests and
capabilities which lead to influence over the direction of the organization in stage
4. The duties performed in stage 1 are fairly routine. By stage 2 the professional
has developed an area of specialization or a number of specialist skills. This
enables the professional to become a mentor, innovator or manager by stage 3
and a policy formulator by stage 4.
The key relationships across the four stages involve the mentor at stage 1,
peers at stage 2, relationships across the organizational hierarchy at stage 3 and
with possible successors at stage 4. Psychological issues that have to be dealt
with include adjusting to dependency and routine work at stage 1, developing
one's own standards of performance at stage 2, taking responsibility for another
person's output at stage 3 and learning to influence others through indirect
means.
Rather than look at stages of career development other researchers have
looked at the different approaches taken by professionals to their careers. In one
study (Smith, 2006} women teachers were found, for example, to fit into three
main categories:
• those who perceived their career paths as largely self-defined;
• those who perceived their career paths as largely contextually
defined;
• those who perceived their career paths as largely serendipitous.
Those teachers who perceived their career paths as largely self-defined
were further subdivided into:
• planners - who take a strategic approach to their career
progression;
• values-led teachers - who display a strong sense of dedication to
classroom teaching;
• values-led managers - who aim for positions of influence.
Those teachers who perceived their career paths as largely contextually
defined can also be subdivided into:
• mentees - who depend on professional sources for support with
career development and/or professional self-esteem;
• pragmatic opportunists - who tend to fit their career around other
priorities such as family responsibility;
• thwarted aspirants - who perceive that their career development
has been blocked by factors largely external to themselves e.g.
discrimination or lack of support.
The final group of women teachers who perceive their career paths as
largely serendipitous are divided into:
• passive drifters - who avoid making conscious career decisions or
planning career moves;
• dissociated achievers - who have pursued opportunities and
successfully attained them but who take no credit for their own
part in this.
Table 3.5 depicts this categorization, which emerged from a
qualitative study of women teachers but which has been generalized to
apply to other professions. Planners are professionals who seek power in
their profession and also in their organizations. The effect on their
psychological contract is likely to be that at certain stages in their career
they may seek a fairly transactional relationship both with their
profession and with their organization.
Values-led professionals put their clients at the centre of their career
and are unlikely to respect the values as they perceive them of senior
managers in their organizations. These professionals are likely to hold a
largely relational psychological contract with their profession but a more
transactional one with their organization,