2.  Expectations Affect Work Behavior

We have found in recent research into the psychological contract is that this contract is a powerful determinant of behavior in the workplace.  However, most people do not communicate their expectations clearly, to the appropriate person, and at the most effective times.  Broken psychological contracts between employers and employees are at the root of many workplace conflicts, absenteeism, poor performance, and costly employee turnover.  This silence about the expectations in the psychological contract seems to be the rule, rather than the exception.  So why do we not communicate our work expectations with each other?  First, we often do not even know what the elements of the contract were until we have been disappointed because some important expectation was not met.  Second, the need to actually discuss work expectations is relatively new in many cases.  Until relatively recently workers and managers agreed that workers were expected to keep their jobs until they retired unless they failed to perform in some important ways.  With the rapid changes in workplaces today, this agreement can no longer be taken for granted.  In order to have a high quality employer-employee relationship it is helpful to have more explicit discussions about worker-manager / employer-employee expectations, and to have these discussions regularly.  The process of clarifying and discussing expectations reduces turnover and increases productivity and job satisfaction.  One of the most powerful motivators in organizations is managerial attention.  Discussing expectations clearly helps employees believe someone in the organization cares about them as individuals.

3.  Employer-Employee Expectations

Expectations can be organized in many ways but should cover aspects of work and life important to the people involved – both the explicit expectations for task performance, managerial direction, and organizational resource support, and, more personal expectations each person has for respectful treatment, work environment quality, personal expression and growth.  In each description both the manager (as an individual and a representative of the employer) and the employee have expectations.  Sometimes these expectations match.  The problems occur when the expectations do not match. 

An example of conflicting expectations might be the case where an employee expects clear direction from their manager and the manager expects the employee to work with general guidelines in a more unstructured way.  The manager gives ideas and suggestions thinking they are encouraging the employee’s autonomy, initiative, and development.  The employee is frustrated by the lack of direction and thinking the manager is unable or unwilling to make organization commitments for employee performance and reward.  At the performance review the manager feels the employee has not done as well as they should in the job and gives that employee a mediocre review.   The employee feels the manager has not done their job and is being subjective or idiosyncratic in the review.  Neither the manager nor the employee is happy or productive.  Discussing these expectations and differences in preferred employer-employee style is likely to have made both employer and employee more effective.

4.  Work Structure Expectations

Clear and Engaging Direction vs. Open-ended and Unstructured Work. Employees have expectations about how much information they will be given about what they have to do and why.   Employees-managers who prefer clear and engaging direction expect to have very clearly defined jobs and job responsibilities.   They want to know what resources are available-required to do the work and the specific outcomes that must attained for rewards.   They expect-provide a job description for each job based in job analysis.   This job description delineates exactly which tasks they are to be performed.  They are likely to negotiate objectives they must meet using the job description as a basis.  Other employees prefer more open-ended and unstructured jobs and expect to give-receive an idea of what needs to be done but not much direction about how it needs to be done.   They would find a job description unnecessary and restrictive, perhaps even ineffective when their work requires immediate responses to the information available at the time. 

There are both individual preferences for more or less structure as well as situational-organizational needs for different degrees of structure.  The challenge is not to assume that only one set of expectations is appropriate for every body and every situation.

5.  Relationships between People in the Organization

Valuing Differences vs. Homogeneity: Some people like to work with all kinds of people and enjoy the exchange of different perspectives, even if that means some conflict.  They thrive in environments where differences are sought and utilized constructively.  Other people prefer more homogeneous groups where they have a strong sense of being and thinking like the other people they work with everyday.

Team Work vs. Autonomy: Many people like to work alone. Others prefer to work in groups.   Some jobs even require people to work as a team because the tasks are too complex for any individual alone. 

Work, Life, Balance: Some of us are workaholics – we are willing to put in as many hours as possible to get the job done.  Others of us prioritize our personal lives and work makes it possible to live those lives as we desire.  And others of us seek a quality of life where there is a boundary and balance between the personal and the professional aspects of our lives.  When balance is an expectation people expect flexibility in work hours, limited organization activities organized during personal time, and a reasonable amount of work for the time available to work.

6.  Motivating Expectations: Recognition, Expression, Security and Growth

Recognition: We have discussed the power of recognition as a motivator in several modules.  Everyone likes to be recognized, but some people have very explicit expectations about how, when, and by whom, they want to be recognized.  Whatever way you recognize people, be sure the recognition is explicitly tied to actual work performance.

Expression: For many, work is an opportunity to share their talents, express their creativity and/or enact core values. When personal expression is very important people usually choose and thrive in jobs that align with their motivating interests. For others work is a means to provide resources for expressing themselves do in their private lives.

Job Security: Stability and security matter more to some than to others.  It is helpful to communicate expectations for a stable environment and job security.  It can be challenging to achieve in our current environments, but people who expect this choose professions and organizations where they are more likely to have the stability and security they expect.

Growth: For many the opportunity to learn new skills, take on additional responsibilities in the organization, or lead their organization is some significant way are all meaningful expectations.   Others are content to do their jobs well and contribute, but without taking on additional responsibility.

7. Organizational Commitment

One of the expectations employers have for employees is that they will be committed to the organization.  Organizational commitment is the degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in that organization.   According to our research, the greater the organizational commitment, the lower absenteeism and turnover.  In some studies, organizational commitment is a stronger factor for reducing absenteeism and turnover than job satisfaction. 

What does organizational commitment look like?  A person committed to the organization:

·          Works hard and does and excellent job.

·          Is flexible and available whenever the organization needs them.

·          Strongly identifies with the organization.

·          Supports co-workers and subordinates.

·          Supports and believes in organization values.

·          Goes beyond the job description to pitch in where ever and whenever needed.

·          Implements organization policy and organizational decisions even when they do not agree or like them personally.

Two sets of behaviors are considered to be strong indicators of a lack of commitment to the organization.

·          Being unwilling to make personal sacrifices for the organization (i.e. too strong an emphasis on work-life balance).

·          Performing actions for personal gain (i.e. abusing perks, too much self-promotion, being power hungry, building an internal empire).

8.  Integrating Employer and Employee Expectations

Whenever employees and employers are communicating about their psychological contracts, it is helpful for each party to prepare beforehand:

1.       Decide what your expectations are and prioritize them.

2.       Decide whether each expectation is being met or not. 

3.       Decide who is the person most likely to be able to help you meet this expectation. 

4.       If the expectation is being met, tell that person as a way to reinforce that you wish to see a continuation of behaviors that meet your expectation.  If the expectation is not being met, communicate the expectation and together consider ways it could be met.

5.       Agree on some specific goals with time lines that would help you both know when the expectation is being met.

If you do not believe your expectation can ever be met,

·          Discuss the expectation anyway

·          Determine if you can live with that situation,

·          Gather more information about how meeting your expectation could make the organization more effective, and/or

·          Modify your expectations.

9.  Shifting Expectations

Sometimes there are options to shift expectations that neither the employer nor the employee has considered.  Because of the rapidly changing workplace and changing expectations, few people will be able to sustain work circumstances where expectations are always met.  The pressure of new technologies, globalization, recurrent economic crisis, uncertainty, competition, mergers and acquisitions, flattening and downsizing, reorganizations, outsourcing, etc. all point to significant instability in managing employer-employee relations.  It is helpful to consider various options for managing your work.

Beverly Kaye, author of Up Is Not the Only Way, has suggested several creative responses to these changing workplace conditions.   These options are:

·          Lateral moves: a sideways move

·          Downshifting: taking a less stressful, lower level, lower paying job

·          Enrichment: modifying your current job to align more with your interests and skills

·          Exploration: investigating other job options

·          Promotion: taking on more responsibility in your organization

·          Leaving: finding a job in another organization that is a better match for you

10.  Options

Action Options -- Lateral Moves and Downshifting: A sideways move could demonstrate organizational commitment and expand your opportunity to grow by increasing your breadth of experience.   In some cases the contacts you make as you do these sideways moves position you well for rapid promotions when the organization stabilizes.  Lateral moves make sense when you can see some benefit to widening your network of colleagues in your organization, going into a higher growth area or exploring a different geographic region.   Sometimes it can benefit us to downshift by taking a demotion at work.  A common situation where this arises is with a technical expert who has been promoted to management and dislikes managerial work.  They may decide to return to a position and level where they continue to do what they do best and enjoy.   Refocusing in this way can also be a constructive response when your work unit is being disbanded, or when you are trying to balance your work and personal life (by going back to school for a degree, taking time off to handle family concerns, dealing with a health issue, learning new skills, or changing career fields).  Moreover, less demanding work in a faster growing part of the organization can position you well for future opportunities.

Reframe Options: Job Enrichment and Exploration:  Job enrichment makes your current job more enjoyable and may establish you to achieve mastery in an area that has important future benefits for you and your organization.  Enrichment projects could also provide exposure to key people in the organization while showing you at your best.   Exploring your options can be very valuable.   Often we are unaware of the choices out there. The value in exploration is that it helps you gain a realistic view of your possibilities.  Often we become more content with our current situation, knowing that the grass is not greener on the other side.  And you feel more empowered and less trapped for having taken the time to consider your options carefully.

Common Options: Promotion and Leaving:  Changing organizations and jobs is of course an option.  When your organization is growing and you have the opportunity to take on more responsibility, promotion makes sense.  Sometimes, no matter how you look at it, there is an intense misfit between the jobs you are doing at your organization and your motivating interests, skills and values. It may then make sense to leave. 

Assignment and Test Questions

True False:

1)       The psychological contract is a written agreement that sets out what employers expect from employees and what employees expect from employers.

True                 False

2)       Organizational commitment is the degree to which an employee identifies with a particular subgroup within an organization.

True                 False

3)       Lateral moves make sense when you can see some benefit to widening your network of colleagues in your organization, going into a higher growth area or exploring a different geographic region.

True                False

4)       If you don’t change jobs in the end, exploring your options outside the organization makes you feel more trapped.

True                 False

5)       Most people communicate the expectations in their psychological contract clearly.

True                 False

6)       The need to actually discuss work expectations is relatively new.

True                False

7)       Explicit discussions about worker-manager/employer-employee expectations are helpful because clarifying and discussing these expectations reduces turnover and increases productivity and job satisfaction.

True                 False

8)       Everybody wants a specific job description delineating exactly want tasks they must to and why (clear direction).

True                 False

9)       Everybody prefers to work in environments where they have a strong sense of being and thinking like the other people they work with everyday (homogeneity).

True                 False

10)  It is motivating to tie recognition to actual work performance.

True                False

11)  It is easy for organizations to provide stable environments and job security in the current global economy.

True                 False

12)  People who expect work-life balance are willing to put in as many hours as necessary to get the job done.

True                 False

13)  If you do not believe your job expectations can be me with your current employer it is best to keep those expectations to yourself.

True                 False

14)  Once you have a work situation that meets all of your expectations, it is likely that situation will stay that way.

True                 False

15)  Employer-employee relations are unstable today due in part to the presence of new technologies.

True                False

16)  Up or out is the only way in organizations.

True                 False

Multiple-Choice:

1)       If the expectations between the organization and the employee was not set clearly, this results

a.       Costly employee turnover

b.       Workplace conflicts

c.       Absenteeism

d.       All of the above

2)       Which of the following is not a behavior that a person committed to the organization would exhibit?

a.       Performs actions for personal gain

b.       Strongly identifies with the organization

c.       Goes beyond the job description

d.       Implements organization policies even if they don’t agree with them

3)       Which of the following are common expectations managers have for workers in the psychological contract?

a.       Managers expect workers to treat them fairly

b.       Managers expect workers to give them feedback on how well they are managing

c.       Managers expect workers to provide a fair day’s work for their pay

d.       Managers expect workers to provide acceptable work conditions

4)       Which of the following are common expectations workers have for managers in their psychological contract?

a.       workers expect managers to have a positive attitude

b.       workers expect managers to communicate clearly about relevant organizational issues.

c.       Workers expect managers to show up every day

d.       Workers expect managers to follow directions

Matching the Columns:

1)       Lateral move

2)       Job enrichment

3)       Downshifting

4)       Exploration

5)       Promotion

6)       Leaving

a) Investigating options you would have outside your organization.

b) A sideways job more

c) Redefining the job to match your skills and interests better

d) Taking a job in your organization with less pay, lower status, fewer responsibilities

e) Finding a job in another organization

f) Getting a ‘better’ job (more status, higher level, more pay or responsibility)

Answers:  1-b; 2-c; 3-d; 4-a; 5-f; 6-e.

Summary

Employers and employees have a psychological contract with each other – an unspoken set of expectations that affect their behaviors at work.  Unmet expectations from this psychological contract contribute to workplace conflicts, absenteeism, poor performance and turnover. Both managers and subordinates have work-related preferences for job assignment structure, relationships at work, and motivational approaches.  Communicating about and mutually adjusting expectations can increase commitment, performance, tenure, and satisfaction – even in these times of rapid change in our organizations. When expectations are not being met there are a number of options other than leaving the job.  Proactive options for meeting expectations and increasing commitment include job enrichment, downshifting, lateral moves, and exploration.

Bibliography

Kaye, Beverly.

-“Up is not the only way,” Training & Development, Feb 1996, 50(2): 48-53

Ford Foundation Research Group (1996). 

- Work-Family as a Lever for Change: Linking gender equity, work-family

practices and the structure of work.

Morrison, E. and Robinson, S.

- “When employees feel betrayed: A model of how psychological contract violation develops.” Academy of Management Review, 22. 226-256.  (1997).

Porter, D.M., Jr.

- Gender differences in manager’s conceptions and perceptions of commitment to the organization,” in Sex Roles, Vol. 45, Nos. 5/6, September, 2001.

Glossary

Organizational commitment: The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in that organization.

Psychological contract: An unwritten agreement comprised of what employers expect from employees and what employees expect from employers; the expectations each person holds for those in the role called “manager” and those in the role called “worker.”

Valuing differences.   Working with all kinds of people and enjoying the exchange of different perspectives, even if that means some conflict; environments where differences are sought and utilized constructively.

Learning Objectives:

·          Identifying the ingredients of psychological contracts between employer and employee

·          Acquiring methodological options for reconciling differences in expectations

Q&A

Question 1.  My boss is always micromanaging me.  I prefer to be given the general parameters of a task and then I like to be left alone to do it.  How should I handle this?

Answer 1.  First of all you can initiate a conversation with your boss about your expectations.  Failure to communicate about met and unmet expectations is a major contributor to job dissatisfaction and poor performance.  You have potentially two expectations you may wish to discuss.  First is your preference for more open-ended unstructured work assignments.  It sounds like your boss assumes and / or prefers clear direction.  Explain that you prefer to know the general terms of the job and perhaps would like to be able to ask your boss for assistance or clarification if you need to do so.  The second preference you may have is for autonomy “being left to do it”.  If you work in an organization where there is no need to coordinate tasks or to work in teams, then this task autonomy is a workable expectation.  If you must work with others, then your boss may be trying to make sure everyone is clear about what needs to be done, why, by whom, and by when.  That is the job your boss is expected to do.  In any event, have the discussion with your manager about your expectations.  Be open to your manager’s expectations too.  You can work it out.

Question 2.  I have a strong desire for work-life balance and a strong commitment to my work.  I have family responsibilities as a parent.  I was concerned when you said a desire for work-life balance is seen as a lack of organizational commitment.  What can I do about this?

Answer 2.  This issue was the focus of recent research into work-family issues at work.  Often we presume work and personal lives are not only separate (and should be so) but that work should take priority.  Many organizational managers and members believe this.  While that belief exists it is an issue for people with strong family and/or personal commitments.  The researchers noticed that these people who could not work unlimited hours at work had a tendency to seek ways to work smarter, often anticipating problems and solving them before they needed to be heroes putting out fires by throwing time at tasks.  The most helpful suggestions for handling this situation of work vs. personal commitment included:

a)       Make visible all the smart things you do to keep your team, department, organization running smoothly.  Don’t assume everyone can see and will give your credit for how you make things work well.  Claim your skills for anticipating and avoiding problems.

b)       Focus attention on your TASK performance rather than ‘face-time’ at work.  Develop specific measures of job performance (including the skills in a above).

c)       Demonstrate organizational commitment in the other non-time intensive ways such as strong identification with the organization, supporting co-workers, enacting organization values and implementing policies and decisions.

Question 3. I have a personal expectation for job security and a strong preference for diversity in my work environment.  How would I discover whether those expectations are likely to be met by a prospective employer?

Answer 3.  If you expect job security you would probably do better to join a large, established, and profitable organization with good future prospects rather than a smaller, managerial one.   Some of the smaller, managerial organizations are growing fast and very focused on using talent whatever package talent comes in.   As a result many of those organizations have strong positive diversity records – but they are not as good for someone with job security concerns.  Joining a large organization will not guarantee job security in these turbulent times, but many of the larger organizations make some arrangements for employees if the implicit-explicit employer-employee relationship will change in significant ways.  The financial media report regularly on large, established organizations.   For diversity, you might go to the internet and search for lists and reports of organizations considered “the best place to work for …” and choose the aspects of diversity that are important to you – women, cultural diversity, technological innovation, older workers, etc.  Many organizations with strong records for managing diversity have employee affinity groups and diversity councils whose members will most likely be happy to answer your questions.  And finally, whenever you go to an on-site interview observe how the employees are treated, especially the ‘lower level’ employees.  How organization members treat the so-called lowest among them is usually a very strong indication of whether they truly value every one, rather than just give talk about diversity.

See also Job Satisfaction