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Flood, Deirdre (2009) An Exploration of the psychological contract in a contemporary multi-national organisation in Ireland. Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.
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Abstract
This dissertation seeks to explore the psychological contract in a contemporary multi-national organisation in Ireland from the employees perspective.
The general structure and nature of multi-national corporations (MNCs) in Ireland is changing. The IMI 2008 survey of MNCs in Ireland reported that Irish subsidiaries of many foreign multinationals have evolved from an initial focus on manufacturing to an increasing involvement in the servicing of their European and Global Markets. This has resulted in significant change affecting employees as the foreign owned MNC's continue to downsize, outsource and restructure their operations in Ireland and elsewhere.
According to the survey of which 122 multinationals took part (24% of which were in the Technology and Electronics sector), China is the number one threat to Ireland's competitive position with 36% of respondents reporting they expect the numbers they employ to decrease over the coming year.
This study affords the opportunity to take one organisation heavily affected by these tremendous changes and explore the domain of the psychological contract as viewed by the employees of that organisation. It is important to note that the results of the study will not claim to make standardised or systematic comparisons with other multinationals in this industry.
The organisation chosen to conduct this research has suffered the typical fate of many MNCs in recent times having shut two manufacturing plants in Ireland in the last four years with job losses in excess of 400 people.
The name of the organisation will be concealed in this report as far as possible for confidentiality purposes given the nature of the research and will herein be referred by a pseudonym i.e. Pseudo Electronics Ltd. This organisation in its current form came into existence in December 2005 when 'Pseudo Electronics Corporation,' acquired 'Pseudo Total Systems Ltd'. During the business rationalisation, and resulting job losses described already, manufacturing was transferred to China, Malaysia and Mexico as part of a major cost cutting strategy to maintain competitiveness by optimising low cost labour markets these regions.
What remains of the workforce in Ireland today are primarily the senior engineers, account management functions and customer service in Europe totalling a mere 14 employees who together form the knowledge centre for global manufacturing for Pseudo Electronics Ltd employing over 2000 people worldwide. Pseudo Electronics Ltd in turn is just one division of the American organisation Pseudo Electronics Corporation which is made up of around 70 different entities servicing various technology, electronics and telecom markets.
Bligh and Carsten (2005) discern that the body of literature promulgated recently, focus on the ways in which organisations can avoid the adverse effects of breach or contractual dissonance of the psychological contract. However, fewer studies have focused on the precise content, directionality and renegotiation of psychological contracts in the context of organisational change. This study will therefore take a manifold approach to the psychological contract seeking to explore a broad range of researchable aspects of the psychological contract in the chosen organisation.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Undergraduate) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Specific Industries > Multinational Industries H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > Industrial Psychology > The Psychological Contract |
| Divisions: | School of Business > BA (Honours) in Human Resource Management |
| Depositing User: | Timothy Lawless |
| Date Deposited: | 04 May 2010 14:02 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Apr 2012 10:40 |
| URI: | https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/168 |
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