However, the efforts to achieve the goals depend on the condition that performance will produce the reward and that reward is valued by the employee (Vroom, 1962), these elements of a psychological contract and motivation are fully aligned with John Lewis’s Total reward model (Purcell, 2007).
LEADERSHIP STYLE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HRM PRACTICES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT
If we just merely look at John Lewis’s constitution, we actualize one common theme repeating within it “Partnership”. The firm bond of partnership exists because of the extraordinary vision of its Founder John S. Lewis, and this Vision has provided a sound basis for constitution framework which defines how a partner should operate, this partnership includes all the employees including leaders (JLP Constitution, 2015). The chairman is the head of partnership board but all 88,900 partners (employees) across 48 John Lewis and 351 Waitrose supermarkets, share the partnership and ownership (JLP, 2016)
This sets the tone of organisational leadership, this can be referred as a participative leadership where all partners have a part in profit shared and have a voice within the organisation as explained by (Bass, 1985). However, the Principal 1 of constitution draws three key elements 1) Build relationship powered by our principal, 2) Take responsibility for our business success 3) Create real influence over our working lives (JLP Constitution, 2015) , explicitly directs us to concept of transformation leadership styles, (Bass and Avolio, 1993), in addition, being in a highly competitive environment of retail business it is unlikely to avoid the transactional leadership style which can be seen in JLP total reward model, an approach of “give and take” (Burns, 1978). As we know that there are different layers of leadership embedded within the organisation, therefore, the main focus is centred around organisational leadership rather than on individuals; it is also fair to say that the constitution is the main drive behind leader’s and partner’s behaviour.
This amalgamation of different leadership styles influence HRM practices in many different ways, but the heart of the HR strategy are values set known as “powered by our principles (PbOP). They can broadly be divided into soft HRM and hard HRM practices (Guest, 1987). John Lewis ‘training and development’ program or ‘profit share’ can be seen as soft HRM practices, where the focus is to gain employees commitment. This is accurately aligning with a transactional constituent of the leadership style.
