Employment

Relationship
and Career
Dynamics

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dan Schmitt’s Career
Dan Schmitt worked as operations
manager at the Richmond
Coliseum, temporary labor seller at
Interim Services Inc., and marketing
manager at the Richmond Athletic
Club. These diverse job
experiences came together when
Schmitt launched RMC Events Inc., D. Hoffmeyer/ Richmond Times-Dispatch

a Richmond, Virginia-based
entertainment events security firm.

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Psychological Contract Defined

Beliefs about the terms and

conditions of a reciprocal
exchange agreement between
that person and another party.

Inherently perceptual – both

parties may have different
interpretations of the D. Hoffmeyer/ Richmond Times-Dispatch

psychological contract

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Transactional v. Relational Contracts
Transactional Relational
Contracts Contracts

Focus Economic &

Economic
socioemotional

Time-frame Closed-ended Open-ended

and short-term and indefinite

Stability Static Dynamic

Scope Narrow Pervasive

Tangibility Well-defined More subjective

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Three Types of Trust

Highest level of trust

Identification
Based on mutual understanding

Medium level of trust

Knowledge
Based on predictability

Minimal level of trust

Calculus
Based on sanctions

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Job Security versus Employability

Job Security Employability

• Lifetime job security • Limited job security

• Job are permanent • Jobs are temporary

• Company manages • Career self-

career management

• Low emphasis on skill • High emphasis on skill

development development

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Adina Trowhill Smith, Free Agent

As a ‘virtual assistant,’ Adina Trowhill

Smith provides administrative support
to people who are starting their own
businesses or need extra help on
quick notice. Smith has found more
career fulfillment as a “free agent”
than in her previous job as an
employee with a computer firm.
R. Kruyt, Vancouver Sun

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contingent Work Defined

Any job in which the individual

does not have an explicit or implicit
contract for long-term employment,
or minimum hours of work can vary
nonsystematically.

R. Kruyt, Vancouver Sun

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Contingent Workers
High
(Transition to
Temporary
permanent
Temporaries
workforce)
Desire for
Permanent
Employment
Free
Transients
Agents

Low Ability to Get High

Permanent Employment

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reasons for Contingent Work

Provides more flexibility

 Contracting needed skills is faster than retraining
Potentially reduces costs
 Lower pay, fewer benefits, less union power
Easier to contract services
 Information technology supports free agents

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contingent Work Force Issues

Job satisfaction
 Mixed evidence that free agents and temporary
temporaries are more or less satisfied

Job performance
 Transactional psychological contract
 Lower skills and experience
 But may be higher for free agents

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organizational Socialization Defined

The process by which individuals learn

the values, expected behaviors, and
social knowledge necessary to assume
their roles in the organization.

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Stages of Socialization

Pre-Employment Encounter Role

Stage Stage Management

• Outsider • Newcomer • Insider

• Gathering • Testing • Changing roles

information expectations and behavior

• Forming • Resolving
psychological conflicts
contract

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Pre-employment Socialization Conflicts

Individual Organization
Attracts Attracts
Organization Individual
i ctA
nfl
Co
Conflict C Conflict D
Co
nf
lic
t B
Individual Organization
Selects Selects
Organization Individual

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Benefits of Realistic Job Previews

Less turnover, higher job performance

Less reality shock
Vaccination effect
Applicants self-select themselves
Builds loyalty

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Holland’s Occupational Choice Theory

Career success depends on fit between the

person and work environment
Holland identifies six “themes”
 Represent work environment and personality
traits/interests

High Differentiation
 Person is aligned with one theme, not mixed across
two or more themes

High consistency
 Person’s preferences relate to similar themes
(adjacent themes in Holland’s hexagon)

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Lateral Career Development

Career success defined as challenging work,

not number of steps up the hierarchy

Reasons for lateral careers

 Career ladder still clogged with baby boomers
 More consistent with team-based organizations
 More consistent with shift from job status to
competencies

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Boundaryless Careers

Idea that careers operate across company

and industry boundaries, not just in one
organization
Reasons for boundaryless careers
 Downsizing forced job changes
 Employability psychological contract
 Job hopping viewed more favorably

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dealing with Boundaryless Careers

Provide more career opportunities within the

organization
Try to build more loyalty
Recognize that some job hopping is
inevitable and desirable
 keep track of former employees
 welcome back boomerangers

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Andrew Wang’s Career Development

Rather than jumping into a

dotcom start-up, Andrew Wang is
thinking about joining a company
more aligned with his personal
interests. “I’ve had this lifelong
R. Harbison, © Christian Science Monitor
interest in cycling, so I'm now
looking at the recreational
industry for product-management
positions,” says Wang, a recent
MBA graduate.

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Careers: Rules for the Road Ahead

Understand your
needs and values
Understand your
competencies
R. Harbison, © Christian Science Monitor Set career goals
Maintain networks
Get a mentor

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Employment
Relationship
and Career
Dynamics

McShane/ Von Glinow 2/e Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.