Harmonizing the Employment Relationship for Sustainable Organizational and Personal Development

Abstract

For most people working in one organization or the other, work connotes more than just the payment of salaries and incentives. To many it connotes a deeper meaning that conveys psychological tenets of status, esteem, and relevance in the society. In discussing the underlying components to this is the notion of a psychological contract whose suggestion was that between the employer and employee there exists an implicit contractual relationship derived from a series of assumptions on the part of the employee and employer about the nature of their relationship. An organization is by creation an avenue that holds a group of individuals with different characteristics, and as such achieving a working environment devoid of grudges and grievances is quite difficult. Industrial harmony is not the absence of disagreement, but it is when there is an understanding between employers and employees that permits the system to achieve its set goals. It is therefore important to ascertain that in human settings like working organizations, grievances that lead to industrial strife is normal. The paper therefore sets out to give an understanding of the employment relationship and how it could be effectively and conscientiously harmonized for the sustainable all-round development of the employee and the overall development of the organization for which he or she works.