Answer to Question 1
The characteristics of the target that impact perception are ambiguity, social status, and the use of impression management. Ambiguity is a lack of clearness or definiteness that makes it difficult to determine what a person, place, or thing is really like. Social status is a person's real or perceived position in society or an organization. Use of impression management is a person's efforts to control others' perceptions of him or her.
Answer to Question 2
Massive layoffs by both major corporations and smaller start-ups and high-tech companies have caused employees to question how committed their organizations are to them. Today, it is probably more the exception than the rule to expect to spend one's entire career in a single organization. Moreover, the outsourcing of work to countries with lower-cost labor such as China and India is becoming pervasive in more and more industries. While outsourcing is not a new phenomenon, what is new is a dramatic increase in the outsourcing of white-collar jobs. Although outsourcing has resulted in less job security for U.S. workers, many multinational organizations believe they must outsource at least some white-collar work to reap the benefits of low labor costs and remain competitive.
When employees perceive that their psychological contracts have been breached or broken due to the failure of the organization to live up to its promises, motivation and performance can suffer. Breached contracts can also result in employees experiencing more negative moods and emotions, being more dissatisfied with their jobs, and looking for employment elsewhere. When contracts are intentionally breached by an organization in significant ways, employees' levels of trust in the organization plummet.
Sometimes observing other employees having their psychological contracts breached can cause people to be concerned about their own future in an organization. Thus, whenever organizations take actions that have the potential to affect their members' psychological contracts, what the action was, why it was taken, and what the future is likely to hold must be communicated openly and honestly. Moreover, how an organization treats workers whose contracts have been broken can have profound effects on how survivors of the layoff view their own psychological contracts.