| PYSCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT Morale lowest among central government employees Despite benefiting from a wide range of progressive people management policies, central government employees display the most negative attitudes. They are also the least likely to believe that they are fairly rewarded. These are some of the findings from the seventh annual Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development survey of the state of the psychological contract, conducted by the UK academics David Guest and Neil Conway. A definition The psychological contract is increasingly used as a way of exploring and understanding employment relations. It is defined here as the perceptions of both parties to the employment relationship, organisation and individual, of the reciprocal promises and obligations implied in that relationship . Aspect of the organisational climate The study identified three dimensions of organisational climate, labelled:
Private sector and health workers described their organisations as friendly and fairly dynamic, while those in local government and more particularly central government described their organisations as friendly but bureaucratic. Levels of organisational support for workers and perceptions of the fairness of procedures, both of which can be viewed as additional dimensions of organisational climate, were generally high — although they were highest in the private sector. Broken promises Workers are more likely to report that promises have been made to them about fair treatment and about keeping them informed than about substantive issues such as pay, careers and job security. Only a minority say that promises have been fully kept. They are most likely to be kept with respect to job security (65% fully kept) and least likely with respect to involvement in and consultation about change (39%). Trust in management As many as 58% of respondents trust their immediate manager a lot to look after their interests, but only 24% trust senior management a lot . Trust in senior management ranges from 41% in private industry to 12% in central government. The fairness of the deal The CIPD survey looks at whether workers feel that they are fairly rewarded for what they do — the so-called effort-reward bargain — and whether they feel that they are fairly rewarded compared with other people doing similar kinds of work — the social comparison dimension. According to the results, somewhat over half the workforce accept that they are fairly rewarded on both criteria, although more say probably than definitely . The remainder, a little over two-fifths, believe they are not fairly rewarded. Once again responses in the private sector are much more positive than among public-sector workers in general. Fairness of reward
Sample size: 2,000 public and private sector workers. Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Want to know more? Title: Public and Private Perspectives on the Psychological Contract, by David Guest and Neil Conway, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2001. Methodology: The data was gathered by telephone interviews in July 2001 Survey sample: This research is based on responses from 2,000 workers drawn in equal numbers from private industry, central government, local government and health Availability: Contact Plymbridge Distributors, tel: 01752 202301, quoting ISBN 0 85292 950 1. The CIPD web site is at www.cipd.co.uk. Posted 4 December 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||