University HRM Essay: Psychological Contracts and Absence

This essay explores two key aspects of Human Resource Management (HRM): the psychological contract and absence management. The essay begins by emphasizing the importance of proactively managing high levels of employee absence, detailing its far-reaching effects on organizational productivity, finances, and employee morale. It identifies various causes of absenteeism, including workplace harassment, stress, and disengagement, and suggests proactive management strategies such as creating and enforcing attendance policies, addressing unscheduled absences, and fostering open communication. The essay then outlines the differences between the psychological contract, which encompasses informal expectations and mutual beliefs between employer and employee, and the formal contract of employment. It highlights the increasing importance of the psychological contract in modern organizations, emphasizing its role in fostering employee engagement, loyalty, and a positive work environment. The essay concludes by stressing the need for organizations to understand the underlying causes of employee absence and to prioritize open communication and fair treatment to maintain a healthy and productive workforce.

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HRM
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Some organisations have extremely high levels of absence. Why is it important to
proactively manage this?
Absenteeism in an organisation has a far reaching effect. This is due to the fact that
human resource is the most important asset that a company can process. It is the human resource
which manage the marketing sales advertisement Finance manufacturing and service
departments. When a company is not being able to meet the demands of the employees it faces
absenteeism which ultimately points out how affect the policies are to motivate the workforce.
Absence of employees in and workforce can point out two-way factors that include inability of
the company in one hand and habitual absenteeism from the part of the employees (Soliman et
al. 2017).
Absenteeism is intentional or habit Jewel absence from work while the employer’s expert
their workers to miss a certain number of worked is every year excessive absences equal to
decrease productivity. This can have major impact on the finances of company and morale. The
absenteeism of employees from a workplace can lead to face lost productivity in which the
employers feel pressure to meet the demands of the customer or the market there are different
reasons of absenteeism in the workplace which include harassment, stress illness,
disengagement, depression, injuries, job hunting partial shapes and child care or elder care
(Saruan et al. 2019). People miss work for these reasons and many of these are legitimate and
others less. in an workplace if an employee feel unsecured and face harassment then in order to
avoid the situation he or she chooses to stay back from going to work. The motivation level
therefore gets reduced and the employees do not feel attached with their organisation. in addition
to this when the employees feel that their work pressure is not supportive or acceptable
according to their capability and exceeding their skills then and they feel stressed this situation

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can be managed for few days but when this takes place for a long period of time the patience of
the employees get decreased and they search for other similar jobs with less stress. Along with
the issues associated with the companies the employees also may be responsible for absenteeism.
It can be their illness and disengagement with their jobs they may be injured and not be confident
with their works (Evans-Lacko and Knapp 2016).
In managing absence the management of the companies taking various initiatives. The following
steps can help the managers to deal with employee absenteeism.
 Creating employee attendance policy
 enforcing attendance policy consistently
 keeping track of employee absences
 addressing unscheduled absences immediately
 discovering the causes
 rewarding good behaviour
 Frequent work interviews
 Increasing communication with employees
 Employee assistance program
Employee absenteeism may be a difficult parts to address when it becomes a habit and
accepted by the team the management cannot force the employees to be present to work on
time but instead of allowing it to affect the productivity of the farm they can bring changes in
certain policies.
Creating employee attendance policy can give a fair understanding of what exactly is
taking place in the organisation. It clarifies the scenario and point out the Tenancy of the
employees to stay away from the work. The official attendance policy make Expectations of
disciplinary action and work behaviour clear to all the team members (Magee et al. 2017).
Unscheduled absence, schedule absence and tardiness can be understood on which the
management can take the next step to the employee. New attendance policy can make the

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disciplined employees motivated and others alert so that they can play their role in the
organisation in a proper way. A habit of absenteeism is not developed overnight therefore the
tendency of the employees who take frequent leaves can be understood. The problems from
both the end can therefore come forward. The accepted behaviour of absenteeism reduces
employee model and those who are disciplined cannot feel the value. These people are
motivated if there is no punitive measure taken from the end of the management.
Every time an absence arises the management must make note of it so that they can use it as
employee performance tool. Based on these the management can strategize the reward policy and
find out if there is a serious reason for employee absenteeism. This gives a perfect understanding
whether there is any incident of bullying for harassment is taking place. This can include power
conflict within a team framework. The management must address and Schedule absence
immediately. This can help the management to identify whether there are other things outside the
work impacting the attendance of the employee and leading them to have excessive amount of
absences. Demotivation comes from competition like in case the employees perceive that there is
an importance differences present in their level of effort and that of their fellow co-workers they
will be bringing out equality of effort for each and every one. They keep on adjusting up and
down their performance and take measures for adjusting the level of their subordinates.
Similarly, the relative reward for the efforts are also monitored these messages for the managers
are seen to be rewarded on the equitable and fair basis and the inequalities are adjusted.
Finally it can be said that the management which is facing issues of absenteeism among the
human workforce Mast find out the causes and not just the symptom. This can be habit of the
employees but there can be injuries and illness of the employees and other valid reasoning
behind the absenteeism. Without proper knowledge the management can take wrong decision

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against the employees who have perfect performance and engagement with their
organisation. This can demoralize the Employees with high quality performance and force to
leave the organisation forever (Soliman et al. 2017). This is the reason why the management
must go for frequent meeting with the employees and collect data about the situation in their
workplace. Through this communication system many unknown factors come into front
against which the management can take steps. Therefore increasing communication can solve
many issues and reduce absenteeism in the organisation which will ultimately support the
production and other operations of the company.
Outline the differences between the psychological contract and the contract of employment.
Identify why the psychological contract is so important in organisation today?
Change of time the expectation of the organisations from their employees have changed.
Some of these expectations can be found in a written manner and some are not written clearly.
Employment contract therefore is a kind of agreement which a company does with its employees
from the time of recruitment but the psychological contract is unwritten set of expectations
distinct from codified employment contract (Estreder et al. 2019). Both of these two contracts
define the relationship between the employer and the employee. The psychological contract does
not have formal and tangible document but a set of expectations introduced by the company
before recruitment psychological contract includes informal agreement perceptions between two
parties and mutual believe. This develop as well as he was constantly best on the communication
process between the employer and employee. It can come from the side of the employer or from
the entry the promises over salary increase for promotion can be psychological contract which
the organisation make to their employees at a certain point of time managing expectation has
been an important Behaviour for the employers so that they do not give a wrong perception or

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action to the Employees which they cannot materialize. This can break a good relationship
between the employer and the employee because these promises can develop certain
Expectations in the minds of the human workforce for which day work hard or contribute their
skills to achieve goals. Similarly from the end of the employees understanding of psychological
contract need to be done so that handling difficult situation or critical personal circumstances
which affect the productivity do not take place. The employees can perceive breaches of the
psychological contract made from the end of the Company which leads to this engagement,
workplace divines and reduced productivity. This is the reason why psychological contract need
to be fair and dependent upon equity theory where the employee need can be perceived that they
are being treated fairly. This leads to reduction of any conflicts or confusion in the workplace
and the company can sustain a healthy psychological contract.
Employee contract is completely different from psychological contract because this is a signed
agreement between the employee and the employer. In this case the presence of labour Union
can be seen often this establishes both the responsibilities and rights of the two parties like the
company and the employee. In the employment contract there are certain factors like celery,
schedule for my duration of employment from a General responsibility, confidentiality, benefit,
communication, future competition and qualifications to leave the company (Rousseau, Hansen
and Tomprou 2018). The employee contract firstly discusses the salary or with which will be
agreed upon by both the parties secondly the employment contract includes days and hours the
employee is expected to work. It will also specify the length of time that the employee will be
working for this company. The general responsibilities which the employee must follow during
his employment years will also be included in employee agreement. Confidentiality is another
factor that has gained importance in the employment of people nowadays because of the frequent

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data breaches found in various companies. Here the agreement will be signed non-disclosure
agreement separately where confidentiality will be maintained. The roles and responsibilities of
the employees also include perfect communication and behaviour that will not hamper the work
culture of the company. in some companies non-compete agreement is signed between the
employer and employee because in some cases the employees leave the organisation and join the
competitor which increase issues with the previous company. All of these factors in employment
agreement are well-written and tangible from both sides which reduce any scope for disputes at
work.
Psychological contract has become more important in the current organisations because it
includes mutual believes perceptions and informal agreements (Shen et al 2019). This type of
contract is not modified it exists in in a state of flux. This develops true communication between
employer and employee which ultimately impacts on the eradication of any negative
understanding of miscommunication between the two parties this is effective two-way
conversation that balances the understanding of the employees about their roles and the
employees get to know about the Expectations of the employee. This balanced contract shows
that the workforce has values and respect for their employers similarly find themselves important
in the workplace. This motivate them a great deal and they contribute the skills effortlessly for
the growth of the organisation. Similarly, breaches of contract may led to problem (Karagonlar,
Eisenberger and Aselage 2016).
Psychological contract mandates frequent conversation between the management or the
employer with the employees of every level which increases productivity and positive impact on

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the business. Consistent interactions can improve loyalty from the part of employee as they get
promoted for their utilisation of skills.
There are different types of psychological contract which mainly operate at the individual level.
It never underestimate the impact of diversity nor creates unrealistic expectations. Both of the
parties value their own positions and detail everything what they want to share with one another.
This is an area where the organisation can leverage relationship to encouraging the employees to
discuss critical situations and get a diverse point of view from individual employees. This
enables the employer to understand the actual situation in the workspace and take immediate
measure if there is any problem to take place (Wellin 2016).
Psychological contract there for mandates that both the employer as well as the
employees need to take their own responsibility to grow both personally as well as
professionally. They have separate responsibilities to ensure that there is no potential breaches.
The employer main not be sure to give a wrong perception to an individual employee but perfect
communication can. This immediately. The employers get to know the point of view of the
employees about any situation taking place in the market for that matter the internal workplace
(Wellin 2016). Psychological contract therefore benefits both the sides by clearing
communication process.
Outline the three motivation process theories and discuss their role in the workplace.
The motivation process theories try to explain why the behaviours are initiated in a workplace.
These theories can explain the reasons of motivation and how they are effective in the
maintenance of the employees in the organisations (Ryan 2016). These theories actually focus on

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the mechanism by which the employees chose targets and the efforts exerted are capable to hit
the target. There are four major theories of process motivation which include operant
conditioning, equity, goal and expectancy theories.
Equity theory of process motivation:
The Equity theory of process motivation is based on the equity theory of John Adam.
This theory explains why pay as well as conditions alone do not determine the motivation
process of the employees. This particular theory is also capable to explain which giving one
person a pay rise or promotion can have demotivating impact on the others. In this theory the
employee constantly assess their level of effort against the fellow workers and the recognition
they receive for their efforts.
The equity theory of motivation consists of four proposed mechanisms for motivation and
demotivation. These include:
1. The individuals seek to maximise their results whether the outcomes are defined to be the
rewards minus the costs (Ross and Kapitan 2018).
2. When the individual employees find themselves participating in the inequitable
relationship, they become distressed. The more equitable the relationships are, the more
distress the individuals feel. This theory explains that both the persons who get too much
and the person who gets too little many feel shame or humility, shame and anger.
3. The groups can effectively maximise the collective rewards through developing the
accepted systems of the equitably apportioning costs and rewards among the members.
The systems of equity evolve within groups and the members will be attempting to
induce the other members for accepting or adhere with the systems.

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4. The individuals who receive that they are inequitable relationship attempt for eliminating
their distress through restoring the equity. Greater inequity leads to great feelings of
distress therefore they try to restore equity more effectively (Klein 2019).
The companies apply equity theory of motivation through three ways that include-
1. Employees exact fair return for what they contribute to their jobs that is a concept of
referring as equity norms.
2. Employees determining their equitable returns after comparing their input and outcome
with their co-workers (Jiang 2017).
3. Employees perceiving themselves as an inequitable situation to reduce the inequity either
distorting the inputs and outcomes in their own ways by directly altering inputs and
outputs and by leaving their organisations.
Expectancy theory:
Expectancy theory is an important theory in the history of motivation in the organisation.
This particular theory has highlighted that motivation can be a decision making process which
evaluates the effort for the ultimate outcome expectancy theory highlights that the involvement
of active cognitive process and the choice of the users in the process. It also points out that the
importance of the results represented value revert for the people involved in a task. Expectancy
theory proposes that the people in an organisation can be here for act in a particular way because
they are motivated and influenced to select one particular behaviour over the others due to the
fact that they expect the result of that particular behaviour. This theory details that behaviour
which the employees choose in an organisation will always be that one which will maximize
positivity and minimise suffering (Lloyd and Mertens 2018). Within this particular theory there

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are three variables which include expectancy that leads effort to performance, instrumentality
that leads performance to outcome and valence that leads outcome to reward.
Expectancy Theory operates on the organisation where employees work individually and
they know that they are to perform well in order to get the words within their workplace. This is
the reason why the employers follow the direction through which they can create expectation in
the minds of the employees to perform. They want their workers to put for in particular level of
efforts so that they perform well and get rewarded for achieving defined goals as well as routine
evaluations. Hence the management create scope for reverts to be a need in the workplace that
must be deserved. The employees when see transparent structure of reward they try to behave
their most positive and effective ways so that they rank in the reward structure.
Goal setting theory:
The goal setting theory of motivation steps that challenging and specific goals contribute to a
better and higher task performance. This indicates a perfect direction and development of action
plan that need to be achieved in an organisational scenario. Goal setting is an essential part of
performance measurement of an organisation in which the employees are responsible for
different departments goal setting is guided by criteria like SMART goals and it is a major
component of personal development of the employees and management the theories has
proposed five basic principles of goal setting which include clarity, challenge, feedback,
commitment and task complexity (Aarts 2019). In any process of goal setting participation and
active rule of the employees in an organisation are needed. This is due to the fact that whatever
the time frame is will be e achieved by the human workforce depending upon the better and
appropriate feedback of result direct the employees to contribute their skills to attain higher
performance. The advantages of goal setting theory relates to the fact that inter leads to a better

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performance by increasing effort and motivation of the employees. This is a technique used by
the management to raise incentives for the employees and complete the tasks more effectively
and quickly. This also improve feedback quality depending upon which next goals are to be set.
In a workplace setting goal gives direction for which conflict of power and confusion in the roles
and responsibilities get limited. This is how the employees in an organisation perform better and
remain motivated to achieve all of their short and long goals.