Flexible Organization

A proper flexible organization provides its work force arrangements where employees are given greater freedom to balance their work and personal commitments such as family, higher education, community activities, religious commitments, professional development, and general interests.

Above is Atkinson's model of a flexible firm. He argued that firms increasingly seek 4 kinds of flexibility functional, numerical, pay, distancing.

Functional flexibility is a qualitative approach to work, and refers to management's ability to deploy and redeploy particular sections of the workforce on a wide range of tasks in response to market demand as and when required (Sparrow 1998 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 241-242). To ensure that this can be achieved efficiently, employees are trained in a wide range of skills. The volatility of product markets and the blurring of skill boundaries through technological change provide the continuing environment for the development of this form of flexibility (Mathews 1989 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242).

Numerical flexibility is a quantitative approach to labour utilisation that is based on the principle of adjusting the size of the workforce to the levels of economic activity at short notice (Atkinson 1984 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242). As the workload fluctuates, management has the option to adjust or redeploy its human resources accordingly. Casual, part-time contractors and subcontractors typically provide this form of flexibility (Morehead et al. 1995; Burgess 1997 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242).

A secondary form of numerical flexibility is distancing, which relates to the outsourcing of activities that may include core and non-core activities. The outsourcing of non-core activities is well established (for example, cleaning, catering and security) and the increased outsourcing of traditional core activities, particularly in the human resources area (Herriot 1998; Fisher et al. 2002 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242), facilitates the reduction of the core or permanent workforce

Financial flexibility is a compensation system designed to facilitate the development of numerical and functional flexibility. It provides the duality of allowing market forces to dictate relative wage rates for the external workforce and provides the incentive for the core workforce to increase its skill base by relating pay to skill levels (Teicher & Holland 2006, p. 242)

The incorporation work-time flexibility or internal numerical flexibility provides the organization with the flexibility to arrange and adjust work patterns and leads to a closer correlation between labour utilization and production demands without financial penalty or the additional costs of hiring labour (Felstead & Jewson 1999; Ozaki 1999 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242)

The use of flexibility in the business centers on "securing lower labour costs, tighter manning levels, higher machine utilization, greater staff mobility and few interruptions and bottlenecks in production" (Blyton 1992, p.301 cited in Sheridan, Conway 2001 pp. 8)

Flexible work environments also improve employee retention. With the pool of talent in markets becoming smaller as well as companies getting more and more competitive, many current and potential job candidates rather work for a company which allows arrangements such as part-time work, job sharing or work from home. Employers cannot afford to lose its that edge to competitors. Not only replacing staff takes up resources in terms of time and money, there is a cost in loss of continuity and business knowledge.

It has been an upward trend for organizations to shift their focus to giving employees more flexible work arrangements to increase productivity. It not only strengthens employee loyalty and higher returns on training investment; it enhances a company's public image. Companies gain recognition as an "employer of choice"; improving the ability to retain existing and attract potential employees.

Reduced absenteeism is also a major advantage to an employer, through arrangements such as flexi-time, v-time, job sharing, and many more. This lowers turnover rates on jobs, which can be stressful, monotonous or boring.

Due to the stressful nature of certain jobs, employees may lose focus on the job, which can result in serious injury, especially employees in factories. With the right arrangement implemented, employers can avoid this and improve its occupational health and safety records.

Through part-time work, employers can deploy its work force according to market demand. They have the flexibility to better manage peak and slow periods in workloads and staffing.

Flexible arrangements are also an inexpensive way to improve employee morale and reduce burnout without sacrificing productivity. In addition, companies can expand its hours to service customers without incurring overtime cost.

Even thought finding the right partner may be a difficult, through job sharing, companies create the opportunity for job share partners to cover each other if one falls sick or on leave. This even gives them the opportunity to learn from each other; reducing the cost of training and development. One person may want to work three days a week and the other only two; this reduces working hours in high-stress jobs and more time and opportunity for professional development that may later lead to career advancement.

With phased retirement, a company can reduce the sudden loss of experienced personnel and allow a more gradual transition for whoever is replacing the retiree. It is must more cost effective for employees to train fellow employees than putting them through a training program.

Flexible work arrangements has its pros, unfortunately it does have its disadvantages as well. First of all, it is important that employers need to recognize that flexible work arrangements are not always appropriate for all people, jobs or industries. For example, if companies allow its service workers to arrive to work at different hours, customer service may suffer. Potential customers are forced to either wait or seek somewhere else. This also concerns manufacturers; many factory operations rely on employees to arrive at the same time, because they depend on each other for the smooth flowing of production.

In its hard form it can also mean the intensification of work by redressing jobs to include a greater variety of low skilled tasks without any skill development (Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242)

Critics also contend that flexible programs often leave managers in difficult situations. As Martha H. Peak wrote in Management Review (1994) "Far too often, flex is embraced