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Understanding the Psychological Contract in Higher Education

The research examines the significance and impact of the psychological contract within higher education, focusing on academics' behaviors. Discussions include the nature of the psychological contract, its measurement, and manifestations in day-to-day interactions. Findings suggest that academics exhibit discretionary effort, autonomy, and academic citizenship, with varying levels of collegiality. The fluid and relational nature of the psychological contract is highlighted, emphasizing the importance of academic collegiality and work ethic. References explore the evolving role of academics in changing university contexts.

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Understanding the Psychological Contract in Higher Education

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  1. The Manifestation of the Psychological Contract within Higher Education Dr Alan Johnston York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk WWW.YORKSJ.AC.UK

  2. Objectives of the research • Consider the significance of the psychological contract • Discuss the impact of the psychological contract on academics and how it is manifests in our day to day behaviours York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  3. The Psychological Contract • “The individuals belief’s about mutual obligations, in the context of the relationship between employer and employee.” Rousseau (1990, p391) • “Provides employees with a mental model of the employment relationship” (Coyne and Gavin, 2013:96) York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  4. Academic Psychological Contract Johnston, 2017 York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  5. General Debates • Idiosyncratic (Rosseau, 1995) or Mutual (Guest, 1998)? • Is it a contract? • Can it be measured? • Current Key Debates around: – Mutuality / Reciprocity – Multiplicity (Marks, 2001) York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  6. Multiplicity of the Psychological Contract Director HR Department Line Manager Psychological Plant Manager CEO Individual Contract Team Leader Regional Manager Johnston, 2017 York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  7. Context Debates • Changing role of academics • Changing context of Universities • Academic / Professional alignment • Ongoing changes in Higher Education – Falling morale (Bryson, 2004) Reduced ‘community / collegiality’ (MacFarlane, 2007) – Measure of academic performance (Inelman et al, 2017) – Leads to being self-centred York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  8. So why is the Psychological Contract important • a key element to helping today’s managers understand the nature and direction of their relationships with employees. • management of the psychological contract can aid job performance, reduce staff turnover and lead to higher job satisfaction. Del Campo (2007) York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  9. Methodolgy • Phenomenological – lived experiences • Three groups of 3 universities • 2 academics per university • 18 case records – Questionnaire based on PCI – Interview York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  10. Findings Manifestation • Multiplicity for academics • Discretionary Effort • Autonomy & Managerialism • Academic Citizenship York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  11. Academics and Multiplicity Research Lead HR Department Line Manager Psychological Dean Individual Contract Head of School / Department Vice Chancellor York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  12. Findings Discretionary Effort • Limited Identification but plenty of evidence – Part of the role York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  13. Findings Autonomy and Managerialism • High level of Autonomy • Managerialism has a negative impact • Individual and group characteristics • Teaching, Research & Administration • Background - context York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  14. Findings Academic Citizenship • Academic Citizenship still evident but – reserved • Many academics are collegiate in nature – understand the value of working together – Teaching highest level of collegiality, however distinctions between institutions – Research – high levels of collegiality – element of who with, what’s in it for me – Service – greatest variation in collegiality, individual based, task based, perception based, who for??? York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  15. Suggestion • Psychological contract remains relational but is – fluid in nature – entrenched in multiplicity • Discretionary effort is internalised and implicit – Academics have a high work ethic for academic work • Academic Collegiality is a key element of behaviour – Why do we do it? York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  16. To finish … • Reed (2017) suggests successful academics focus on their priorities. This does not mean being selfish, but rather knowing what is important. As such being part of the team community is important so long as it is achieving what needs to be achieved. York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  17. References Bryson, C. (2004) What about the workers? The expansion of higher education and the transformation of academic work. Industrial Relations Journal. 35(1) 38-57 Coyne, I. and Gavin, F. (2013) Employee Relations and Motivation. In Lewis, R. and Zibarras, L. (eds) Work and Occupational Psychology: Integrating Theory and Practice. London. Sage.. DelCampo, R.G. (2007) Understanding the Psychological Contract: a direction for the future. Management Research News. Vol. 30 No. 6 pp432-440 Guest, D. (1998) Is the Psychological Contract worth taking seriously. Journal of Organizational Behaviour. Vol. 19, pp 649-664 Inelman, K., Selekler-Goksen, N. and Yildirim-Oklem, O. (2017) Understanding citizenship behaviour of academics in American- vs Continental European- modelled universities in Turkey. Personnel Review. 46(6) 1142-1164 Johnston, A. (2017) The impact of the psychological contract on academics’ discretionary effort. 18thInternational Conference on Human Resource Development Research and Practice. University Forum for Human Resource Development., 7-9 June 2017, Lisbon. Marks, A. (2001) Developing a multiple foci conceptualization of the psychological contract. Employee Relations. Vol. 23, No. 5 pp454-467 MacFarlane, B. (2007) Defining and rewarding academic citizenship: the implications for university promotions policy. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. 29(3) 261-273 Reed, M. (2017) The ‘I’ way to success. Times Higher Education. No, 2327 12-18 October p 30 Rousseau, D. M. (1990) New hire perceptions of their own and their employer’s obligations: a study of psychological contracts. Journal of Organisational Behaviour. Vol. 11, pp389-400 Rousseau, D. M. (1995) Psychological Contracts in Organizations: Understanding written and unwritten agreements. Newbury Park. Sage • • • • • • • • • • • York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

  18. ANY QUESTIONS? York St John University | www.yorksj.ac.uk

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