Human Resources
Introduction
When dealing with the field of human resources and contemplating the employment relationship, there are several dimensions to be examined and addressed. These include the economic, political, legal, psychological, social and ethical (moral) ones.
The first of which, the economic one, is quite clear and self-evident- when you employ an employee, you have to pay for his services and this is key in the employment relationship. The political aspect covers the demeanour and relationship itself between employee and employer. The legal one covers the duties and responsibilities to the employer as well as to the employee. The psychological aspect covers the emotions felt by both persons and anything relating to this (behaviours, thoughts, etc.).
The social one involves the relationship between the employer and employee with peers and co-workers. Finally, the ethical or moral aspect deals with moral values an employer must uphold for his employees as well as ones employees have to uphold.
The difference between a formal employment contract and a psychological one is that while the first is drawn up clearly and written, the latter actually "represents the mutual beliefs, perceptions, and informal obligations between an employer and an employee" and sets the dynamics between employer and employee and characterizes in detail the work that will be done, while the formal one only identified mutual duties and responsibilities in a general form (Conway & Briner, 2005).