Quiz slides

Multiple Choice

Q1. Is it true that due to the vast amount of research on High Performance Work Systems, the term is very precisely defined across scientific literature?

• True

• False

Q1 - False

​Why?

“Despite the vast amount of research on HPWS, there is little consensus regarding a precise definition of such systems (Datta et al ., 2005). Multiple terms have been used interchangeably to describe employment relationships where employees are expected to contribute beyond clearly defined contract terms (e.g., high commitment , high involvement , and high performance; Wood et al ., 2003)”

Multiple Choice

Q2. Is it true that bundles of HRM programs are expected to generate a more consistent messages than individual practices due to employees considering them as ongoing investments?

• True

• False

Q2 - True

​Why?

“bundles of programs and practices are expected to generate more consistent messages than individual HRM practices […]. As a result, it is possible that employees will look to these bundles as ongoing investments and not individual and stand-alone contributions that they will keep track of as “kept” or “not kept”.

Multiple Choice

Q3. Which two types of psychological contracts are presented in the article?

• Employee and Employer

• High performance and Low Performance

• Transactional and Relational

• Entrepreneurial and Hierarchical

Q3 - Transactional and Relational

​Why?

"A common typology in organizational research is to differentiate between transactional and relational contracts in order to examine the factors underlying the individual psychological contract (Conway and Briner, 200").

Multiple Choice

Q4. According to The Social Exchange Theory, parties enter into relationship when:

• They are both required to do so by the psychological contract

• They switch transactional psychological contract to the relational one

• They both perceive it to be beneficial.

• Organizations invest in High Performance Work Systems

Q4 - They both perceive it to be beneficial.

​Why?

The concept of psychological contracts is rooted in social exchange theory, which suggests that parties enter into relationships when they both perceive it to be beneficial to do so (Blau, 1964; Gouldner, 1960)”

Multiple Choice

Q5. According to the article, employer investments in High Performance Work Systems lead to:

• Fewer perceived psychological contract violations

• More transactional contracts

• Reduced job satisfaction

• Tendency for employees to develop their own unique and subjective contracts.

Q5 - Fewer perceived psychological contract violations

​Why?

“Specifically, the results indicate that organizational investments in HPWS are associated with fewer perceptions of psychological contract violations.”

Multiple Choice

Q6. Is it true that employees with different psychological contracts respond the same to organizational changes but differently to contract violations?

• True

• False

Q6 - False

​Why?

“Research findings indicate that employees with different psychological contracts respond differently to contract violations and even planned organizational change”

Multiple Choice

Q7. Why is manager tendency to exaggerate the benefits of human resource management practices to individual employees a problem?

• HRM practices become much less effective

• This leads to employees forming more transactional psychological contracts

• HPWS costs increase

• It leads to inflated expectations

Q7 - It leads to inflated expectations

​Why?

“One problem with organizational communication is that managers have a tendency to exaggerate the benefits of human resource management (HRM) practices to individual employees, which again leads to inflated expectations (Grant, 1999). Such expectations can lead to psychological contract breach[…]”

Activity

Instructions: split up into groups of FOUR. You will all receive a job title. Please discuss your expectations as mentioned on the sheet.

Activity

Instructions: split up into groups of FOUR. You will all receive a job title. Please discuss your expectations as mentioned on the sheet.

Group 1&2: employees & managers

Group 3&4: students & school admin

Activity

Now you are told this:

Group 1&2: Techhealth has been under pressure to meet deadlines for a major project, and management has been pushing employees to work longer hours without adequate breaks.

Group 3&4: the school has implemented new policies aimed at improving academic performance by introducing grades and removing on-campus recruitment due to budget cuts.

Guiding Questions

Have any contracts been broken?

How would this have impacted your work?

From your position, what steps could have been taken to mitigate these actions?
Have you been through similar experiences in your workplace?

Takeaway