CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
11 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDYThe higher education sector of India is the third largest in the world, which represents a lot of opportunities and challenges for the today’s youngsters The mushrooming of colleges without emphasis on quality of the education will lead to lower employability of the students Make in India, Served in India will just be slogans if we don’t have adequate skilled graduates On one hand, we have huge number of graduates and colleges in the country, on the other hand, we don’t have adequate number of qualified faculty to teach and train our students Therefore, it is essential to find out the problems pertaining to the faculty so that these can be sorted out to attract qualified faculty It is also essential that the faculty performs extra-role behavior like OCB which is beyond what is mentioned in the job-description to help the students realize their true potential The psychological contract which is an unwritten, mental contract between the employer and the employee is also experienced by the faculty because of the lesser pay when compared to other professionals and there is also the notion that the value of teaching can’t be monetized Therefore it is necessary to study the relationship between psychological contract and OCB in the context of higher education sector in India
12 Psychological ContractA psychological contract, a concept developed in contemporary research by organizational scholar Denise Rousseau, represents the mutual beliefs, perceptions, and informal obligations between an employer and an employee It sets the dynamics for the relationship and defines the detailed practically of the work to be done It is distinguishable from the formal written contract of employment which, for the most part, only identifies mutual duties and responsibilities in a generalized form
Psychological contract are becoming increasingly important in describing the relationship between employees and the organizations as well as employees performance, while psychological contract is built on the basis of trust and represents that employees believe that the organizations can fulfill their obligations and commitments
Psychological contract is a reflection of individual expectations of the obligations between employees and organizations (Rousseau, 1995), containing both aspects of individuals and organizations Psychological contract means that there is an exchange relationship between organizations and employees and needs to consider the expectations and obligations of both parties (Schein, 1980), while psychological contract not only has the nature of expectation, but also contains commitment and reciprocity towards obligations To break the expectations will generate disappointment, while to break the obligation will induce anger, thus making people re-evaluate the relationship between the individuals and the organizations
Mostly, the psychological contract is informal and implicit, rather than open and public Therefore, it is essentially subjective For example, awards for long-term service rarely become a part of a formal contract, but people have expectations on this So most scholars agree that psychological contract is the faith possessed only by employees
Psychological contract breaches refer to employees’ perceptions towards organizations’ failure to the delivery of the obligations in psychological contract (Morrison & Robinson, 1997; Turnley & Feldman, 2000) Rousseau (1989) deemed that when one party of the organizations and employees can’t fulfill their obligations, psychological contract will be breached Although both employers and employees will perceive psychological contract breach, this study discusses the definition of psychological contract breach as most scholars have proposed, that is, psychological contract breach is employees’ unilaterally perception that organizations are unable to fulfill their obligations Such perception is individual and subjective, which reflects employees’ psychological calculation towards their fulfilled commitments In other words, psychological contract breach is determined subjectively rather than factually
Psychological contracts have been often defined according to their particular characteristics For example, Rousseau (1995 and 2000) distinguishes between two types of PC:
• transactional contracts, which are structured with emphasis on material rewards that have a short-term duration and are relatively narrow in their scope; and
• relational contracts, which are structured around less tangible rewards, have a significant duration (often without an implied end-date) and are subject to the individual parties' beliefs
According to Rousseau (1995) there are three main types of contract violation:
• inadvertent, which is the result of divergent interpretations that were made in good faith;
• disruption, which is when both or at least one of the parties wants to comply with the agreement but cannot; and
• reneging, which is when both or at least one of the parties is unwilling to comply with the agreement
The effects of PC violation are strongly dependent on the emotional response they trigger to employees Due to the subjective nature of employee expectations, the reactions in the event of a violation or breach could differ leaving a portion of the employees with a strong sense of injustice on behalf of the organisation and another portion feeling less hurt (Deery, Iverson and Walsh, 2006) As we can see, how will employees perceive a violation to their PC will also be dependent on personal factors such as age, education and past experiences and altogether could create differential perceptions about the employment relationships and perhaps on how to what degree a breach or violation is perceived (Rousseau, 1995; Deery et al, 2006) Equally there can be variations to the way employees will react to a contract violation
According to Rousseau (1995) there are four principal reactions to a perceived violation employees can have:
• exit, which refers to the voluntary termination of the working relationship either from the employer who lays off underperforming employees or from employees who prefer to leave an unreliable organisation;
• voice, which refers to the effort to negotiate the violated parts of the agreement and resolve potential problems that have arisen in a constructive fashion;
• silence, which refers to a passive response with no reaction in hope that conditions will change to more favourable terms in the future but in essence it often ends in perpetuating the existing relationship; and
• destruction/neglect, which refers to passive indifference to one's duties in detriment to the interests of the organisation or more active counterproductive behavior
Reasons for Interest in the Psychological Contract
• Breakdown of the traditional ‘deal’
â€" A career in return for loyalty
â€" A fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay
â€" Loss of professional autonomy
• Individualisation of the employment relationship
• Organizational change and violation
• Search for new ways of managing employment relations to meet the interests and concerns of both employees and the organisation
13 Organizational Citizenship BehaviorEmployees exhibit certain behaviors by going beyond the normal call of duty These behaviors are called Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB) and they contribute significantly to an organization's growth (Organ, 1988) Organ (1977, 1988) defined OCB as â€�“individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by any formal reward system and that in aggregate promotes effective functioning of an organizationâ€Â� Bateman and Organ (1983) developed the first scales to measure OCB According to them, OCB include any of those gestures often taken for granted that lubricate the social machinery Examples like helping coworkers with job related problems, accepting orders without a fuss, tolerating temporary impositions without complaints, helping to keep work area clean or uncluttered, making timely and constructive statements about the work unit or its head to outsiders, promoting a work climate that is tolerable and minimizing distractions created by interpersonal conflict, and protecting and conserving organizational resources, for lack of a better term are referred by the authors as â€�“Citizenship Behaviorsâ€Â�
Research by Graham (1989, 1991) proposes a four dimensional OCB model The dimensions are: (1) interpersonal helping: aiding coworkers in jobs when such help is needed; (2) individual initiative: communications to others in a workplace to improve individual and group performance; (3) personal industry: performance of specific task over and beyond the call of duty; and (4) loyal boosterism: promotion of the organizational image to outsiders
Further to Organ's definition, Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Moorman and Fetter (1990) identified five major categories of OCBâ€"Altruism, Conscientiousness, Sportsmanship, Courtesy and Civic Virtue Relevant literature defines the above five categories as follows: â€�“Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and central to many religious traditions It is the opposite of selfishnessâ€Â� â€�“Conscientiousness is the trait of being painstaking and careful or the quality of acting according to the dictates of one's conscience It includes such elements as self discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, organization, deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting) and need for achievement It is an aspect of what was traditionally called character â€Â� â€�“Sportsmanship is, in a basic sense, conforming to rules and proper spirit of sport This is a term called etiquicy More grandly, it may be considered as the ethos of sport It is interesting that motivation for sport is often an elusive element Sportsmanship expresses an aspiration or ethos that the activity will be enjoyed for its own sake with apt consideration for fairness, ethics, respect and a sense of fellowship with one's competitorsâ€Â� â€�“Courtesy is a consideration, cooperation generosity in providing somethingâ€Â� â€�“Civic Virtue is the cultivation of habits of personal living that are claimed to be important for the success of a community The identification of character traits that constitute civic virtue has been a major concern of political philosophy The term civility refers to behavior between persons and groups that conforms to a social mode (that is, in accordance with the civil society), as itself being a foundational principle of society and lawâ€Â� (Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Moorman and Fetter, 1990, pp 107-142)
Podsakoff etal (1990) extended the research of Organ and have defined the OCB as the sum of the following behaviours â€�“Altruism: Discretionary behaviors on part of employees that have the effect of helping another employee in a specific and an organizationally relevant problem â€�“Conscientiousness: Discretionary behaviors on part of employees that go well beyond minimum role requirements of the organization in areas of attendance and obeying rules and regulationsâ€Â� â€�“Sportsmanship: Willingness of the employee to tolerate less than ideal circumstances without complainingâ€"to avoid complaining, petty grievances, railing against real or imaginary slights and making federal cases out of small potatoesâ€Â� â€�“Courtesy: Discretionary behavior on part of an individual aimed at preventing work related problems from occurringâ€Â� â€�“Civic Virtue: Behavior on part of an individual that indicates that he / she responsibly participates in, is involved in, or is concerned about the life of the companyâ€Â�
William and Anderson (1991) have expanded on Organ's research and identified two broad categories of OCB These are, â€�“organizational citizenship behavior for organizations (OCBO) and organizational citizenship behavior for individuals (OCBI) OCBO is behavior that benefits the organization in general, and OCBI is behavior that immediately benefits other individuals and indirectly through this it contributes to the organizationâ€Â�
Shore, Barksdale and Shore(1995) observed that managers feel that demonstration of OCB is a sign of employees' commitment /emotional attachment by going beyond the normal call of duty They found that managers feel OCB is commitment of employees to the organization /emotional attachment with the organization by going beyond the normal requirements of the role It was also important for researchers to observe the link between OCB and various national cultures Farh, Earley and Lin (1997) explored whether OCB has ethical meaning in cultures in which expectations from employees differ drastically They found that altruism, civic virtue and conscientiousness are relatively universal in nature They did not find dimensions comparable to courtesy and sportsmanship, but added interpersonal harmony and protecting company resources based on Chinese National Culture Podsakoff et al (2000) observed that OCB are discretionary and not formally rewarded by organizations However, they could be expected as part of the role or managers would like employees to display such behavior to be effective in an organization
14 Industry OverviewIndia’s higher education sector, amongst the largest in the world, has experienced unprecedented growth & increased investor focus over the past two decades Yet, as it stands at the threshold of continued transformation, the sector needs to shift gears and evolve with the changing times Despite its size and scope, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Indian higher education continues to be far below the global average The rapid growth witnessed in the higher education sector has generated numerous challenges with the key ones being maintaining quality, improving equity and providing access to each and every student based in any part of the country In terms of global exposure and achieving internationalisation, our country has a long way to go
Gauging the need to catapult this sector to the next level, the governments in the recent past have conceptualized a number of reforms specifically addressed to iron out some of the pressing issues and also prepare our academic institutions to embrace the future In keeping with the objectives of the 12th Five Year Plan of making the Indian higher education system globally competitive and strong by focusing on state higher education system, the ministry launched the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) as a Centrally sponsored scheme in October 2013 With this the ministry has completed the journey which started with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for universal elementary education and graduated to Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan for universal secondary education RUSA is India’s flagship program focused on reforming higher education sector Approved by the Cabinet in October 2013, the RUSA is a landmark initiative to completely overhaul higher education infrastructure of public sponsored universities
The private sector’s role till date has been instrumental in the growth of India’s higher education sector and given the government’s intent to increase our GER to 30% by 2020, people expect the role of private sector to multiply manifolds Increased private sector participation however would need to be given special impetus by taking steps to simplify prevailing regulatory framework and overall higher education ecosystem
The Government has already taken the initial steps to make a strong case for acceptance of Indian educational institutions globally by making accreditation mandatory Although, a bill to make accreditation mandatory in higher education was introduced however it could not receive the parliamentary accord It was then decided to notify regulations to make accreditation mandatory for universities, colleges and technical institutions in the country The inclusion of India as a permanent signatory of the prestigious Washington Accord this year is been viewed as one of the achievements of the Government after taking such a progressive step This recognition would result in acceptance of Indian degrees globally besides opening up doors for employment for graduates overseas
As the third largest education system in the world, in terms of enrolment, and the largest by total number of academic institutions the India higher education sector is considered by many as a ‘sunrise sector’ for investment Indeed, the country has taken significant strides over the years in higher education In FY14, the size of this market has been estimated well above Rs383 trillion (US$6234 billion) with over 38,000 formal degree/diploma granting higher education institutes India’s higher education sector is considered to be amongst the largest of its kind in the world by the sheer number of institutions which currently operating across the country Currently, about 687 universities and 37,204 colleges constitute the country’s higher education sector The state universities constitute the largest chunk followed by private universities
More than 50% of India’s population is under 25 years of age As a result of this favourable demographic, India’s appetite for quality education is on the rise leading to establishment of a large number of private academic institutions Other drivers of growth in this sector are widening demand-supply gap; increasing dominance & public trust on private sector institutions; fast growing IT services sector leading to demand for skilled talent pool; rising FDI in the manufacturing and affiliated sectors and the recent thrust provided by the government on online education With just 1% of the GDP being spent on higher education currently, the government recognizes that it needs private sector to play an active role going forward The National Knowledge Commission has predicted that India needs an investment of about US$ 190 bn to achieve the GER target of 30% by 2020 The Government certainly needs to join hands with the private sector to achieve this daunting task
Education, under the Constitution of India, falls under the â€�“concurrent listâ€Â� making it both a centre and a state subject The primary policy makers for higher education in the central/state government are MHRD, CABE and the State Councils for Higher Education The MHRD lays down the National Policy on Education, while the CABE is responsible for coordination and cooperation between the Union and the States with respect to education In addition, the State Councils for Higher Education coordinates the roles of the government, universities and apex regulatory agencies in higher education at the state level
The higher education sector in India is broadly classified into two segments â€" regulated and unregulated Higher education falls under the regulated segment and includes degree universities and colleges These are governed by multiple regulatory bodies There are multiple agencies which regulate higher education at the central level in addition to agencies which regulate at the state level The regulated segment comprises formal degree-granting universities and their affiliated colleges, institutions of national importance and other institutions offering formal degrees or technical programmes and is regulated by the UGC, AICTE and other regulating and accrediting authorities The unregulated segment include activities such as professional skill enhancement, test preparation, tutorials and coaching centres, text books and content, other services These services though primarily provided by for-profit enterprises to higher education institutions, yet they fall outside the purview of the regulators
Yashpal Committee Report of 2009 pointed out lack of coordination and communication among the statutory authorities, along with the existence of multiple regulators in the sector, has been identified as one of the primary challenges for the higher education sector The complexity of overlapping mandates has further been compounded by archaic regulations that have little or no relevance in the dynamic business environment prevailing today
While India has made important strides towards improving its higher education system, which is amongst the largest in the world, there remain significant challenges to be addressed Access to higher education has increased over the years, but enrolment rates are still well short of developed countries
Regulatory Framework for education sector:
Ministry of Human Resources Development is the highest policy-making body in the country in the field of Higher Education It formulates National Policy on education, develops publicly funded institutes like IIMs, IITs, NITs etc, provide scholarships for the poor and meritorious students, formulate reservation for the minorities and other less privileged groups
The regulatory authorities for the various educational institutes like
• AICTE( All India Council for Technical Education) for engineering and technical institutes, management institutes, hotel management & catering institutes)
• University Grants Commission (for public universities and deemed universities)
• Medical Council of India( for medical colleges)
• Pharmacy Council of India( for Pharmacy colleges)
• Veterinary Council of India( for Veterinary colleges)
• Dental Council of India( for Dental Colleges)
• Bar Council of India( for legal education)
• India Nursing Council( for Nursing colleges)
• India Council for Architecture( for Architecture colleges)
Main problems plaguing the higher education sector:
• Shortage of qualified faculty
• Mushrooming of engineering colleges
• Not enough focus on research and development
• Low employability of students
• Low-level of industry-institute interactions
• Abysmal Quality of education system in our country
• Out-dated curriculum
• Insufficient Funding for research and infrastructure development
• Low usage of technology in imparting learning
• Access to financial resources for the studies to the underprivileged
These problems have affected the ranking of Indian institutes in International rankings There is no single Indian institute in the top 200 list of Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking 2014-15 and QS World University Ranking