[PPT] - Managing the Psychological Contract A tool for Supervisors and PowerPoint Presentation

SLIDE 1

Managing the Psychological Contract

A tool for Supervisors and Doctoral Students Sally Sambrook & Clair Doloriert Bangor Business School

SLIDE 2

Who are we?

Professor Sally Sambrook & Dr Clair Doloriert
We’ve been using & revising our PC forms for

a number of years

Our collaborative research between ourselves

and others explores various aspects of doctoral supervision and the PC

We hope our toolkit enhances your

supervision relationships and we welcome your feedback (see supervisor toolkit).

SLIDE 3

What is the Psychological Contract?

Argyris (1960 p22) defines the psychological

contract as, ‘the perception of both parties to the employment relationship, organisation and individual, of the reciprocal promises and

bligations implied in that relationship’.

SLIDE 4

PC and Doctoral Supervision?

The element of the psychological contract (PC) has been generally

neglected in PhD supervision (Wainwright, 2010)

Wade-Benzoni and Rousseau (1998) firmly argue that psychological

contracts do exist between supervisors and supervisees in the doctoral process

Iphofen (2001) has proposed a personal contract from supervisor

to student.

We offer a reciprocal contract informed by our work and extant

literature

SLIDE 5

How does it work?

Breaches of PC occur when a student perceives that

an agent (supervisor, school, university) has failed to fulfil one or more of its obligations comprising the psychological contract.

The emotional ‘fallout’ of a breach is a felt violation

which can break down a supervisory relationship.

Our PC forms help ‘out’ implicitly held expectations

(of both student and supervisor(s) and manage for possible breaches with obligations.

It enables students and supervisors to discuss

violations from an academic perspective, helping all parties take a step back, sometimes, from the emotional side of the perceived breach and work towards a successful resolution.

SLIDE 6

What do you have to do?

2 sets of forms

– Initial meeting: 1 form for student, 1 for supervisor(s) – Review meetings: 1 form for student, 1 for supervisor(s)

Explain basics of PC to student & invite

them to complete Initial meeting form

Supervisors to complete their version of

forms, too

All parties meet to discuss, negotiate and

agree PC

It is important that all parties have a copy of

completed student and supervisor(s) forms

If a felt breach occurs we encourage a

review meeting and that the completed forms are used as a platform for discussion

We also recommend annual PC review

meetings, where changes to PC can be identified and renegotiated.

SLIDE 7

Completing the forms

– The forms consist of closed and

pen questions

– All questions should be answered – Questions can be adapted to suit individual circumstances – All parties are asked to submit genuine responses rather than trying to second guess ‘ideal’ answers – The forms can be used by more than one supervisor – The forms should take around 15 minutes to complete – Student and supervisor should ensure that the details on the form remain confidential between both parties

SLIDE 8

Managing the Psychological Contract A tool for Supervisors and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation