| A Historical, Cross-Disciplinary Examination of the Construct of Employee Entitlement |
| | Naumann, Stefanie E. | U. of the Pacific | mgnaum@lsu.edu | (225)-388-6155 |
| | Minski, Barbara D. | Louisiana State U. | | |
| | Sturman, Michael C. | Louisiana State U. | msturma@lsu.edu | 225-388-6195 |
| | Individuals' perceptions of what they are entitled to have long been regarded an important area of debate. We trace the history of the various uses of entitlement perceptions across fields in order to develop a typology that identifies two dimensions: level of entitlement and degree of reciprocity. We discuss how our typology informs management practice. In particular, we describe the implications of our typology on employees' reactions to various pay plans. |
| | Keywords: history; entitlement; perceptions |
| The Psychological Contract Then and Now: the Impact of the Contingent Worker |
| | Fenner, Grant H. | U. of Memphis | rdodea@usit.net | (901)-523-1417 |
| | Miller, Thomas R. | U. of Memphis | thmiller@memphis.edu | (901)-678-4563 |
| | The psychological contract between the employee and employer which has prevailed in the United States since the end of World War I has
been dramatically altered by employers' increased use of contingent workers in the last two decades. The employee-employer relationship is
no longer represented by a reciprocal agreement in which the worker provides loyal service, works hard, does a good job, and refrains from
criticizing the employer in exchange for job security and a steadily increasing wage or salary. The forces of innovation, deregulation, and global
competition have caused many companies to downsize with resultant job losses for both blue-collar workers and the middle-management ranks.
The secure or permanent jobs that workers became accustomed to were replaced in part with contingent jobs that are temporary in nature
and sometimes not full-time. As the psychological contract which binds worker and employer together undergoes substantive change, so do
critical elements defining the relationship. At issue is the impact of an altered psychological contract on employee commitment and trust in the
face of the growing contingent workforce. |
| | Keywords: psychological contract; contingent worker; employee-employer relationship |
| Industrial Democracy v. Democratic Realism: Early 20th-Century Philosophical Debates in Management Thought |
| | O'Connor, Ellen S. | Stanford U. | eoconnor@leland.stanford.edu | 650/941-8249 |
| | This paper discusses two different philosophical stances in early 20th-century management thought: the views of the industrial democrats, notably Mary Parker Follett; and those of the democratic realists, particularly Elton Mayo. The former departed from a firm faith in the goodness and value of the human person. This group argued that the individual would flourish by virtue of increased responsibility and participation in the enterprise and that society generally, including firms themselves, would benefit. The latter group held a considerably more pessimistic view of human nature. Drawing from the emerging fields of psychology and its applications in the political domain (e.g., propaganda studies), they held that only an appropriately trained elite should govern the enterprise and its workers.
By studying the philosophical claims involved in these two different strains of management thought, the paper works toward a more pluralist management theory, specifically one that connects management theory explicitly to moral and political philosophy. It is offered towards a closer view of the connections between philosophy and management as disciplinary fields and more importantly towards a better understanding of the relationship between managerial philosophy and practice as evidenced in the works of Follett and Mayo. |
| | Keywords: Mary Parker Follett; Elton Mayo; industrial democracy |