Understanding the Psychological Contract and its Relevance for Managers Today

Academic Writing Skills

Q:Define the psychological contract and discuss why an understanding of it is important for managers today.

• Academic writing isa  key skill...without it you have no submission, you cannot communicate your thoughts, arguments, results, or develop your ideas.
• Academic writing is a recursive process filled with stops and starts.
• You must create time and space for your writing.
• “Certoin expectotions underpin the way in which academic writing operates. The most (undamental expectation is that when a claim is made, it will be backed up by reasons based on some.

-Formal   (impersonal, no slang, formal sentence structure)
-Reasoned (critical thinking: how and why)
-Impartial  (gives a balanced point of view, more than one point of view)
-Logical    (ideas flow logically from one to another: signposts, topic sentences and linked paragraphs)
-Structured(keeps to the structure of an essay, report etc) F Supported (evidence and examples, referencing)

i.    Being able to write well is a gik
ii.   What matters is that the content and facts are correct. The way it is written, presented and structured does not really matter.
iii.   Writing is just a question of getting down what you know, it will all come together when the time comes
iv.   Writing is what you do last, that's why it is called 'writing up'

• These myths are dangerous -  they are very unhelpful excuses for procrastinating, or for writing to a low standard.

You need to develop your skills to read actively and critically.

• Being selective with the material
• How  does the item relate to others that I have read and to my own research question too?
•  It is an iterative process - You should continue with your revision throughout your research
• Do  not try to fit in everything that you read - some material may undermine the relevance of  our stud
• Do not stop reading!

• Critical reading is an active process.
•  To read critically you must be aware of your own expectations, prejudices and previous knowledge and ALSO be aware of identifying authors' underlying aims and agenda and take them into account in your evaluation.
• To make the texts work for you:

-   formulate a broad central question
-    formulate review questions
-    identify and evaluate the arguments in what your read

Consider five critical synopsis questions —Why am I reading this? What is the author trying to do in writing this? What is the author saying that is relevant to what I want to find out! How convincing is what the author is saying!  What use can I make of this?

• There are three bad reasons to believe something - (i) tradition; (ii) authority; and (iii) revelation.There is only one good reason to believe something: evidence.
Good evidence is:
• Contemporary research evidence — valid and reliable
• Seminal research evidence
• Published in peer reviewed journals
•  Primary research as opposed to secondary citation
•  But do not overlook the value of other forms of evidence.

•  Expert opinion — so some ‘opinion pieces’ may be ‘good evidence’
•  In some instances, practitioner perspectives
•  Your own experiences can also be important provided they are used judiciously.The notion of a‘hierarchy of evidence’ is key here.