contract, suggesting that this need not be a major concern. There is no evidence
that a trade union presence serves to alleviate stress or improve worker well-being
more generally. Nevertheless, where a union is well established, a case can be made
for pursuing a mutual-gains model that might serve to protect and enhance worker
well-being, reinforcing the positive impact of HRM.
7.6 Summary and Conclusion
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This chapter has explored human resource management from the perspective of
the worker. We have been concerned primarily with the non-managerial workers,
but, as noted above, it is important to recognize that the workforce is increasingly
well qualiWed and the proportion of what can be described as ‘knowledge workers’
is growing. This aVects the balance of workers’ orientations and priorities in work
and life outside work. It also gives more credence to the view of HRM as a process
of extending policies and practices directed to managerial and professional workers
to the rest of the workforce.
The chapter has given some emphasis to the question of management control
and the implication of how the challenge to control is resolved through the
approach to HRM that is adopted. This matters because the ‘hard,’ top-down
perspective is more management centered and management controlled while the
‘soft’ bottom-up approach is more likely to result in the high-involvement HR
practices that take some account of workers’ concerns and place employee attitudes
and behavior closer to the heart of the policy framework.
The psychological contract has been used to help to explain how HRM has an
impact on employee attitudes and behavior. Building on social exchange theory, it is
suggested that when the employer oVers promises and makes commitments, these
will be reciprocated by the employee. The evidence presented conWrms that greater
use of HR practices is associated with a greater number of promises in the psycho-
logical contract, a greater level of fulWllment of these, and better levels of perceived
fairness of the deal and trust in management. Fairness and trust are strongly
implicated in the traditional employment relationship and these Wndings,
reinforced by ratings of the state of employer–employee relations, conWrm that a
positive state of the psychological contract is associated with better employment
relations as well as a whole range of additional positive outcomes. This suggests that
even in the absence of a trade union and traditional pluralist industrial relations,
policies and practices designed to ensure a fair exchange within the psychological
contract can promote eVective employment relations. This helps to counter some of
the concerns about exploitation in the absence of a union presence.
142 d a v i d e. g u e s t