Employee Relations in the BPO Industry

“The concept of the psychological contract, with its focus on the exchange of perceived promises and commitments, is increasingly used as a framework to study the employment relationship (Guest & Conway, 2002).” Armstrong (2014) describes psychological conract as an unwritten and understood set of mutual expectations that exist between employees and employers. Echoing the same, Herriot & Pemberton (1997) describe it as the attitude of employees and employers towards the reciprocal promises and obligations implied in their relationship. Rousseau & McLean Parks (1993) further add that the reciprocal nature of this relationship is of great importance. Guest and Conway (2002) further state that effective organizational communication can facilitate the creation of a more explicit and effective psychological contract. Robinson & Morrison (2000) also point out how important it is to communicate the particulars of the psychological contract at the...

In simple terms, employee relations occur wherever work is exchanged between an employer and an employee in an environment conducive for open market operations. Hence, it can be defined as the paid employment or the pay-work bargaining between the employer and the employee (Farnham, 2000). Rose (2004) states that it is the practice of regulating, collectively and individually, the relations between the two parties: employee and employer. Employee relations are concerned with managing and maintaining the employment relationship, taking into account the implications of the notion of the psychological contract (Armstrong, 2014). Psychological Contract is the set of mutual expectations that exists between employees and employers. These are not written but understood expectations (Armstrong, 2014). Psychological contracts can be further categorized into transactional contracts and relational contracts. Transactional contracts are implications that are time-bound and mone...