Psychological Contract: Argyris Social Exchange Theory

An order theorist desires stability, predictability, and harmony (Durkheim & Halls, 1997). The Great Depression was anything but stable, predictable, and harmonious. In an effort to equilibrate social order, President Roosevelt proposed a series of social and economic programs beginning in 1933 (class notes, 2015; Stern & Axinn, 2011). Over the course of five to six years, the United States experienced everything from immense failures to great successes as FDR tried to rebuild the economy. To understand the changes that occurred from 1929 to 1939, Emile Durkheim—the most notable order theorist—can offer a unique perspective (Russell, 2014).

Issues about power and control are encompassed within the context of social exchange. Power allows for being less dependent and more necessary. Unfortunately, terminally ill patients lose control over their health, money, knowledge, and face debilitating diseases that ultimately lead them to be economically and socially dependent. Within the social exchange model social relations are established and sustained because individuals offer reciprocal benefits to each other; terminally ill patients have very scarce resources to give in change for valued resources and this can lead to caregiver burn out. From my experience, when caregivers feel they are not getting enough out of the relationship and see taking care of their loved ones as too mentally

Limitations that could be identified in the study were the small sample size that included only managers, was conducted only in New Zealand and therefore may not be able to be generalized to other countries (Cable, 2010). Results and discussion suggests that future research could expand the understanding on how the fulfillment of the psychological contract could impact an individual employee’s attitudes and behaviors (Cable, 2010).

Commitment is frequently associated with an exchange relationship. From the employees’ perspective, they commit to an organization in return for certain rewards that can be extrinsic (pay) or intrinsic (belonging, job satisfaction) (Meyer & Allen, 1990).

When parents send their children off to school, they are placing immeasurable trust in our educational system to academically and intellectually develop them. However, in many cases teachers too often act as authoritarians, and not as agents that encourage independent thinking. Sadovnik (2006) describes the atmosphere in the classroom by citing Dewey’s work, saying that he believed that the schools, teachers, instruction, and curriculum all had a role in a students’ development. “In a progressive setting, the teacher is no longer the authoritarian figure from which all knowledge flows; rather, the teacher assumes the peripheral position of facilitator. The teacher encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study” (Sadovnik, 2006).

In 1969, Travis Hirschi developed what is known as Social Bond Theory. Hirschi built on the work of other social control theorists and was able to provide a better picture of what social bond is. In Social Bond Theory there are four basic elements that make up social bonds. They are attachment, involvement, commitment, and belief. It is these four bonds that all humans hold and ultimately determine conformity or deviant behavior(Agnew, 1985).

Parsonian theory focuses on the social system as the means for binding the individual to society through a series of interconnected levels that all have different functions but stress the social norms and values (Layder, 2006). Central to these social functions was adaption, goal-attainment, integration and latency (Layder, 2006), which connect the external environment to internal organisations within society through a number of sub-systems that connect functions to various pattern variables (Baert, 1998). This Parsons argues is achieved through ‘social roles’, that establish a connection between the individual and society, by enabling people to meet their so-called needs through a number of social arrangements (Layder, 2006). This essay will look at sex-roles and the sick role, as a way to understand how this concept functions as means to hold society together, but also the some of the criticism that the concept faces by examining the ideas put forward by Parson. The concept of ‘social rule’ in Parsonian theory is considered important in understanding how individuals interact but as a means for getting a true understanding of society it falls relatively short.

According to him there are three types of lenses: strategic lenses, political lenses and the cultural lens. He notes how strategic lens are driven by bottom line goals putting little consideration into employee significance in exchange to task flow. On political lens, it defines elements of power and influence within the company’s hierarchy. The cultural lens, deals with the impact of organizational change management on policies that already shaped employee’s assumptions and have affected their future actions. (Kline,

It is important to maintain a competitive workforce. To ensure effective retention, employees need to have a clear vision of what the organisation wants from them and deliver it. On the other side, the organisation needs to know exactly what their employees want and also deliver this. When employees do not deliver what is expected, the organisation seeks for someone else and when an organisation does not fulfil the expectations of employees, they are likely to move away. This can be translated in terms of psychological contracts. Keeping agreements will result in a strong psychological contract, what will increase the employees’ commitment and decrease staff

The social exchange theory is prevalent in the three main characters in Road Ends by Mary Lawon. The exchange theory is the idea that an individual makes a choice by weighing out the costs and benefits of a situation (Families in Canada, 2007. Pg. 42). Megan, Edward, and Tom all find themselves in very troubling situations, where they must examine what they have to offer and make a decision according to the pro’s and con’s. Megan often finds herself putting the benefit of others above what is best for her. Her Father, Edward, tries to shelter others from himself, but he only ends up hurting them more, instead of contributing all of his affection to them. Tom has a more selfish view on the world, which impacts his ability to properly examine all the factors that affect his situation. Occasionally, people misjudge their costs and benefits, and end up make the wrong choice; however, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the outcome is unsatisfactory.

By understanding what research has been conducted in the past in the field of the psychological contract, it allows future literature to unearth more complex and innovative findings. Argyris (1960) first used the term ‘psychological work contract’ to describe the values held by both the organisation and individual in relation to the employment relationship. This concept has evolved through time and now the psychological contract encompasses pay for performance, training, duty of care and promotion opportunities,

9.Out of the organizational characterization and social exchange theories, the LMX theory was formed and that it concentrated solely on the relationship between the supervisors and each of their subordinates. The nature of the LMX relationship has been the focal point for research studies, especially those that are correlated with quality of the subordinate performance (Chen, Yu, & Son, 2014). The LMX theory was utilized to assess the two-way (dyadic) approach of looking at relationships. These LMX relationships are exclusively grounded in the social exchanges between supervisors and subordinates. These social exchanges enhance the quality of the LMX relationship and likely make the relationship stronger. This results in a high-quality LMX

An important aspect of the notion of a psychological contract is that it can be continually re-negotiated, changing with an individual's, and an organisation's, expectations, and in shifting economic and social contexts. It is not static, but dynamic and shifting. However, most research provides only a snapshot of one point in time thereby capturing only one stage in this social process.

Psychological Contract is an abstract contract that affects both employers and employees, a subtle contract without speaking or writing, contains assumptions and expectations from each party towards the other (Rousseau 1989). Compared to the past centuries, people tend to change jobs frequently and pay more attention to employees’ rights. It is a critical element in human resource management and plays a big role in modern society. This essay has been organized in the following way. At first, this essay will define the psychological contract meaning

Given the importance to the employee–employer relationship of the psychological contract, attention will now be