Psychological contracts and performance management in Mexico

Abstract

Purpose -The aim of this paper is to use psychological contracts theory to explore performance management practices in Mexico paying particular attention to the impact of national culture, social and structural factors. Design/methodology/approach -The paper examines the content of psychological contracts from the viewpoint of both parties in the employment relationship -managers and employees -in the context of performance appraisals. It conducted focus groups and interviews at these two organizational levels in three different organizations. Findings -Findings are organized around three themes: performance appraisal systems, the promises (fulfilled and unfulfilled) and the sources of terms and conditions as the content of psychological contracts for managing and participating in performance evaluation systems. For each theme the paper presents and contrasts the viewpoints of managers and employees. Practical implications -Because of the sensitive cultural nature of performance appraisals, the findings help managers implement this process by explaining the underlying psychological contracts in Mexico. Specifically, employees experience the socio-emotional behaviors that accompany performance evaluation and engage in the process at different levels of commitment. Both managers and employees respond according to their needs and what they perceive to be the company's reward. Originality/value -Performance appraisal has received little attention from studies of psychological contracts, though it is a key practice in which work promises and rewards related to performance are made. In this study, the paper brings these two research streams together and apply it to a culturally unique setting.

Uncertainty, Generic Strategy, Strategic Clarity, and Performance of Retail SMEs in Peru, Argentina, and the United States

“…The degree of familiarity with strategic direction common to middle and lower level managers can vary across nations. For example, when compared with the United States, strategic decision-making in Argentina and Peru remains relatively centralized and autocratic, especially in SMEs (Davila and Elvìra 2007;Galbraith and Nkwenti-Zamcho 2005). A general trend toward decentralization notwithstanding, the knowledge possessed by middle and lower level managers in emerging nations like Argentina and Peru may not be as extensive as in developed econo-mies (D'Andrea et al 2006;Maharajh and Heitmeyer 2005;Weyzig 2006).…”

Special issue ofInternational Journal of Human Resource Management: Danger and risk as challenges for HRM: how to manage people in hostile environments

“…With regard to the challenges posed by drug cartels in Latin America, it is also important to look at HRM in regions of the world suffering from other forms of organized crime and violence. Moreover, the role of psychological contracts, as done by Davila and Elvira (2007), should receive more attention, as they are supposed to help understanding the success and failure of various HRM practices. And finally, there is little research on the impact of culture and different ways of dealing with violent conflict and risk depending on the companies' and the employees' origin.…”

Justice perceptions of performance management practices in a company in the chemical industry

“…The study also verifies the research by Ikramullah et al (2011), St-Onge, Morin, Bellehumeur & Dupius (2009), and Tuytens and Devos (2012, in that employee justice perceptions relating to performance management practices may be explained using organisational justice theories according to the four justice dimensions of procedural, distributive, interactional and informational justice. If employees are more motivated when they perceive their performance appraisals as fair and trustworthy (Froydis, Marnburg & Furunes, 2010;Chen & Eldridge, 2010;Davila & Elvira, 2009;Day, 2011) then ensuring the processes and ensuring that the outcomes from the process are seen as fair can lead to improved organisational performance (Ikramullah et al, 2011).…”