On Target: The psychological contract at the heart of managerial communication practices

Purpose: This paper reports the results of research on the psychological contract (PC) of employees and the managerial communication practices of immediate supervisors in the context of mergers of healthcare institutions.Methodology: To gather information on these practices, data collection using a mixed methods approach was conducted in two stages: (1) 17 semi-structured interviews with managers were conducted in 2013, when the merger of three Quebec healthcare facilities was announced; (2) 12 semi-structured interviews with managers were conducted in 2018, after the merger, and 25 employees under their supervision completed a questionnaire to measure their psychological contract (PC).Results: The results provide a portrait of the gaps in management communication practices between two key phases of organizational transformation. Likewise, it presents the results obtained and highlights the management communication practices that protect the PC.Originality: Offering transferable knowledge, this study lays the groundwork for other studies on change management practices by offering a categorization of the communication practices encountered. A handful of writings address human resources management under leadership and managerial styles. None offers a structured variation of management practices. The research here takes a step in this direction while setting the stage for a better understanding of the impacts of practices on PC. Keywords: Management practices, Merger, Psychological contract, Organizational changesDOI: https://doi.org/10.58869/EJABM10(2)/1