I summarize Schein’s concept of psychological contract, relate it to workplace motivation, and introduce psychological covenant as an even deeper aspect of a client’s lingering concern about the worth assigned to her work and the way in which she justifies her commitment to long hours of labor in her organization.

Nearly a century ago, Edward Thorndike (1917) published his findings of a connection between work and satisfaction in the Journal of Applied Psychology. The precursor to Thorndike’s research on job satisfaction was his studies of animal behavior, which led to the formulation of his Law of Effect (1911). The Law of Effect states: 1) responses that are followed by satisfaction …