Human Resources and Public Administration
Deanna Saylor
Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations
Y505 Exam One
5/25/2010
1. In your own words, what is a psychological contract? Why is this concept important to studying human resources? Explain. Give an example of a psychological contract you had with an employer and what, if anything, happened when it was broken.
A psychological contract is what the employee expects to receive from the employer and vice versa. For example, in my job, I expect that my employer is going to acknowledge my accomplishments and give praise and incentives for doing a job performance that goes above and beyond what is written on my job description. I think that this concept is important to studying human resources because it can be used as an incentive to hiring desirable candidates for a position. I believe that every prospective employee is interested in working somewhere that not only pays them a salary but also gives them the respect and acknowledgement from their employer for things that they can uniquely bring to the table. Just like in personal relationships, a person wants to feel needed, secure, appreciated, invaluable and respected, if those things are present in the relationship you can expect to get 100% from both sides.
The concept of psychological contracts is important to studying human resources because a human resources manager that can determine from the potential employee what they think their psychological contract needs are going to be can really use that to their benefit in hiring the candidate that will be the most productive and loyal to the company.
Entering into the position that I hold currently I believe that my psychological contract was more about earning a higher salary and having better benefits than I was receiving from the job that I was doing. Educationally, I am overqualified for my current job just as I was over qualified for the job that I was working at the time. I expected to be able to get my foot in
Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations
Y505 Exam One
5/25/2010
1. In your own words, what is a psychological contract? Why is this concept important to studying human resources? Explain. Give an example of a psychological contract you had with an employer and what, if anything, happened when it was broken.
A psychological contract is what the employee expects to receive from the employer and vice versa. For example, in my job, I expect that my employer is going to acknowledge my accomplishments and give praise and incentives for doing a job performance that goes above and beyond what is written on my job description. I think that this concept is important to studying human resources because it can be used as an incentive to hiring desirable candidates for a position. I believe that every prospective employee is interested in working somewhere that not only pays them a salary but also gives them the respect and acknowledgement from their employer for things that they can uniquely bring to the table. Just like in personal relationships, a person wants to feel needed, secure, appreciated, invaluable and respected, if those things are present in the relationship you can expect to get 100% from both sides.
The concept of psychological contracts is important to studying human resources because a human resources manager that can determine from the potential employee what they think their psychological contract needs are going to be can really use that to their benefit in hiring the candidate that will be the most productive and loyal to the company.
Entering into the position that I hold currently I believe that my psychological contract was more about earning a higher salary and having better benefits than I was receiving from the job that I was doing. Educationally, I am overqualified for my current job just as I was over qualified for the job that I was working at the time. I expected to be able to get my foot in
References: 1. Human Resource Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 3rd edition by Joan E. Pynes. Jossey-Bass, 2009. 2. Public personnel Administration and Human Resources Development classroom handout, source unknown. 3. Zouhali-Worrall, M. (2009, April). When a staffer switches genders. Fortune Small Business http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/27/smallbusiness/workplace_tolerance.fsb/index.htm 4. Navarro, M. (1995, November). Disney’s Health Policy for Gay Employees Angers Religious Rights in Florida. The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/29/us/disney-s-health-policy-for-gay-employees-angers-religious-right-inflorida.html