The experience of the employee-organisation relationship by personnel in a South African mining organisation

Abstract

To reach the aim of this article, a literature and empirical research are used. A survey questionnaire is used to measure the experience of the psychological contract, as to determine the correlation and difference in experience by temporary and permanent personnel in a South African mining organisation. The target population is a mining organisation with two main types of employment contracts, temporary and permanent employees, totalling 600 personnel. Random samples of these two groups were used; being 100 permanent and 100 temporary personnel. Mentioned questionnaire determines the personnel's experience of employer and employee obligations. The employee-organisation relationship (E-O R) can he divided into two components, being the psychological contract and the following employment relationship. With the establishment of the psychological contract, obligations and expectations are created through an agreement. The obligations and expectations of permanent and temporary personnel in similar positions and working conditions can differ. The aim of this article is to identify how permanent and temporary personnel experience the psychological contract in a South African mining organisation. The article makes two contributions to the psychological contract literature: it examines the relevance of the psychological contract in a South African mining environment; and it provides added value on the psychological contract literature of permanent and temporary personnel. From the literature it seems that the new psychological contract is more transactional and replaced the old relational psychological contract. Therefore, the use of temporary personnel is more common in organisations with performance determining pay. It was found that each psychological contract is unique and if there is no clear communication, contract breach or violation can occur. A result of the new psychological contract is a trust gap that comes into existence. Therefore, organisations face a new challenge of overcoming this and maintaining loyalty. The empirical investigation showed that permanent personnel experience the psychological contract more positive than the temporary personnel. This can be attributed to the stronger relationship between permanent personnel and the organisation.