There is therefore a strong case for exploring the impact of HRM on employees or,
to put it another way, how employees react to HRM. There is an even stronger case
for incorporating this into the study of any link between HRM and performance to
test for any full or partial mediation eVect of employee attitudes and behavior.
These issues are explored in some detail elsewhere in the book and we will therefore
not pursue them further here. Instead we will focus more directly on outcomes of
primary concern to employees. These include intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, job
satisfaction, well-being, and the wider issues of work–life balance, health, and life
satisfaction. The framework of the psychological contract, which is introduced in
the next section, implies that a positive deal may result in beneWts for both the
employer and the employees; in other words, while the focus is on employee-
centered outcomes, they may be linked to employer-relevant outcomes as well.
Before moving on, it is important to clarify two central terms used in the
remainder of this chapter. First, a distinction has been drawn between approaches
to HRM. As other chapters highlight, there is no clear consensus in research and
writing about either the conceptual or operational deWnition of HRM. Reference
will be made to studies that address ‘high-involvement,’ ‘high-commitment’ and
‘high-performance work systems.’ As implied above, these overlap considerably.
Irrespective of the term used, the focus will be on their association with employee
attitudes, behavior, and well-being.
The second term that is extensively used in this chapter is ‘worker well-being.’
This goes beyond job satisfaction to cover the mental and physical health of
workers. Therefore, while it includes job satisfaction, it also covers work-related
stress and in the context of current debates, and insofar as there is spillover, can
also be extended to include work–life balance and satisfaction with life as a whole.
These are issues of central concern to many workers but of more marginal interest
to organizations. They have not been a typical focus of studies of the impact of
HRM.
7.3 The Role of the Psychological
Contract
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
The aim of achieving both organizational and individual goals—of gaining both
high performance and high employee satisfaction—implies some form of exchange,
a deal in which both sides can win. It is in this context that the psychological
contract may help to provide some insights. There have been three main reasons
for the growth of interest in the psychological contract as a potentially useful
analytic framework. TheWrst is the belief that the core of the deal is changing
132 d a v i d e. g u e s t