The Broken Contract

Broken relationships develop over time and with repetition and have a corroding effect on loyalty and commitment, which are the glue that holds people together enough to accomplish mutual goals. Managers need to know if someone important to their work is feeling that way, particularly if the person feels that way about them. A key part of understanding such ruptures is to understand the implicit interpersonal promises, better known as the psychological contract. The psychological contract has five essential components: predictability versus confusion, dependence versus independence, distance versus intimacy, change versus stability, and danger versus safety. This chapters explores these elements in cases about business performance and relationships between supervisors and employees.