Human factors in organisational resilience: Implications of breaking the psychological contract
Abstract
Employees and employers have established and codified relationships defined within such documents as terms of employment, contracts and organisational Human Resources (HR) policies. Such overt documents represent tangible ‘contracts’ but importantly there is an intangible contract that represents the mutual expectations held by both employer and employee as to how each other should and must behave in their relationship. This is known as the psychological contract, which is underpinned by the concept of mutuality and creates significant risk to business continuity and operational resilience if damaged or broken. In normal times this should be concerning but in times of extreme change and turbulence (such as the current economic crisis) it may prove disastrous. As such, the state of the psychological contract should be of extreme interest to those charged with developing and maintaining organisational resilience.
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Author's Biography
Jackie Mccoy is Professor of Management Development and Director of The Business Institute at the University of Ulster. Jackie joined the faculty at Ulster in early 1990 following ten years in retail management. She has been responsible for the design and delivery of a significant portfolio of management and business development initiatives including in-company director development programmes. Jackie has wide international experience and has led executive development initiatives and consultancy projects in the USA, Europe and the Middle East.
Alan Elwood is a Director with Risk and Resilience Ltd, providing guidance on risk management, crisis management and business continuity to both public and private sector organisations, including blue-chip companies and those operating in high-risk environments. He has years of experience planning for and responding to crises and emergencies at the strategic, tactical and operational levels in demanding environments. He has also been involved the drafting of some of the leading guidance in these areas. He is a Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute and the Institute of Civil Protection Emergency Management, and a Member of the Emergency Planning Society.
Citation
Mccoy, Jackie and Elwood, Alan (2009, August 1). Human factors in organisational resilience: Implications of breaking the psychological contract. In the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Volume 3, Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.69554/UKLE4609.
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