ABSTRACT
The UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) describe the psychological contract as being built on three pillars of fairness, trust and the delivery of the deal between organisations and employees. They also make a distinction between 'transactional' and 'relational' contracts. By contrast, relational contracts are more broad-ranging and diffuse, and stress the 'softer' aspects of the employment relationship, including opportunities for personal development, future employability, a sense of recognition, and work–life balance. Although the concept of academic autonomy remains at the core of faculty work, it is increasingly recognised that innovative and creative work is likely to take place at the interface of disciplines and between colleagues and partners internal and external to the university. Institutional relationships are not only top down and bottom up. The Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE) study explored ways in which institutions are adapting the formal structures that frame their contractual relationships with individuals.
