A case study of the implications of a workplace closure for the psychological contract

Ellis, Cecilia (2016) A case study of the implications of a workplace closure for the psychological contract. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

In this thesis, I report my findings in relation to the implications of a Workplace Closure Decision (WCD) for employment relationships. I adopt the Psychological Contract (PC) as a framework through which to analyse employment relationships and conduct an in-depth case study of an animal research laboratory (hereafter referred to as Tox Lab) that announced its intention to close in September 2006. Tox Lab was a subsidiary of a global agrichemical company (hereafter referred to as AgCo). As a former HR practitioner at Tox Lab, I observed and subsequently undertook preliminary research that indicated that the detrimental implications of the WCD were limited. This was surprising and contrary to the extant literature which suggests that a WCD will be perceived to be a Breach of the PC (PCB) which is likely to be interpreted as a Violation of the PC (PCV) with detrimental implications for the state and outcomes of the PC due to the norm of reciprocity. I argued that the dominant conceptualisation of the PC as a single PC at the level of the individual was inappropriate for this case study due to the dominant role played by management in the context of a workplace closure and because the WCD constructed a division between the on-going organisation (AgCo) and the closing subsidiary workplace (Tox Lab). My proposal was that a broader conceptualisation of the PC at the level of the relationship between the organisation(s) and its employees with the possibility of multiple PCs was more appropriate for this case study. I conducted interviews with senior managers and employees in order to understand and explain their interpretations of the WCD and their perspectives on the implications of the WCD for the state and outcomes of the PC. I found that the implications of a WCD for the PC were complex and departed from PC theory because they were not necessarily entirely detrimental. My overall contribution is a framework for analysing the implications of a PCB for the PC which extends the existing theory by integrating the development and possible implications of PCV across multiple PCs from multiple perspectives.