The Employment Relationship: A Psychological Perspective - Softcover

"Herriot tackles an important problem in organizations-the viability of the employment relationship in the face of mergers, downsizing, global competition, and economic downturns. ... [H]is important contribution is to examine more closely the essence of the employer-employee relationship, particularly the negative aspects, which tend to be downplayed in the popular business press, and to seek new means of bring in employers and employees together to talk about the problems and then formulate possible solutions." -Stephen Knouse, Acting Dean, B. I. Moody III College of Business Administration, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA

The Employment Relationship presents a controversial perspective on an area hitherto dominated by industrial relation experts and radical sociological theorists. Exploring some of the metaphors commonly used to describe the employment relationship, Peter Herriot argues that it is often their dark rather than their bright side which best expresses how employees really feel. Human resources sometimes feel like human discards! The main culprits in this situation, he suggests, are the top managers who fail to treat employment as a relationship and employees as individuals. He concludes that management rhetoric must be replaced by real dialogue and points to three issues where this is most crucial: employee compliance, contractual inequalities and the need for organisational change. The Employment Relationship will make essential reading for all managers and occupational psychologists. It will also be of interest to students of work psychology, human resource management or organisational behaviour.