Verbalization of the psychological contract in Polish enterprises

A psychological contract is an unwritten agreement between an employee and the employer, an idiosyncratic set of mutual promises, expectations and undertakings to which an employee and the organisation are committed (Rousseau 1989). In organizational terms, a contract defines dynamic relations between an employee and the employer (Pate 2006), and regulates the behaviours of organisation's employees within the framework of changing mutual behaviours, expectations and promises (Coyle-ShapiroiShoreilaylor/Thtrick 2004). A gap between employee's expectations and the organisational reality may lead to hani-to-solve conflicts or make employees adjust their behaviours to organisational values and goals, as long as they are willing and ready to verbalise their expectations. The verbalisation of the psychological contract means that the members of an organisation are ready to reveal their expectations, to confront their perception of mutual liabilities, and to negotiate them (Adamska/Retowski 2011). The notion of verbalisation was introduced by Adamska and Retowski (2011), when they constructed the Verbalisation Scale of the Psychological Contract for measuring the degree to which social relations could be described as good or poor. The scale seems to be the only diagnostic tool far investigating relationships farmed in relation to psychological contracts in the Polish enterprises. This article seeks to determine the frequency of psychological contracts being verbalised in Polish organisations (verbalisation of the psychological contract consists of openness in communication, power distance and contribution) and measures employers' and employees' readiness to express their expectations towards the other party. The article discusses also how the type of the psychological contract influences employee's readiness to verbalise it. The theoretical underpinning of the article includes the concept of the psychological contract, the possible tyes of contracts in organisations (relational, transactional, balanced) and the significance of its verbalisation. The conditions that may respectively strengthen or weaken the readiness to verbalize a contract are also discussed. The information necessary for the analysis were obtained from the surveys of 178 representatives of large and medium-sized organisations based in Poland and of 800 of their employees. The article ends with conclusions concerning conditions that can either amplify or weaken one's readiness to verbalise a psychological contract.