Change and the perception of psychological breach : a case study of the impact of change on the psychological contract of senior managers in an acquired organisation

Bibliography: leaves 82-86.With the entrance of South Africa into the global market, companies are facing enormous challenges in competing in a constantly changing environment. Organisations are using strategies such as mergers and acquisitions to ensure their survival. The impact of these organisational changes on employees is high, and the need to understand how employees deal with these changes is critical. The aim of this research study was to discover whether senior managers experience changes that result from the acquisition of their company as a breach of their psychological contract. An embedded case study design was deemed appropriate due to the need to understand the experience of change over a period of time from the perspective of the subjects. Seven senior managers were selected to be part of the longitudinal study, and three indepth interviews were conducted with each of the subjects over a period of six months. The results confirm that psychological contracts are dynamic and resilient in nature. Though changes were perceived as breach of the psychological contract, subjects were willing to re-negotiate their contracts with the organisation. This openness to renegotiation can be attributed to the way in which the organisation generally handled the changes, the nature of the psychological contracts, the high level of trust that subjects had in the organisation, and the personal circumstances of the individual subjects. The perception of and relationship with management also had a significant impact on the outcome of perceived psychological breach