1. Human Resources Management T 9 Flexibility and empowerment
D. Borisova

2. Definition
“The flexible working arrangements (FWAs) are different means, by which the organisation adapts itself to a change in the demands made upon it”

3. Need of flexibility
Growth of advanced technology and cellular production systems
Response to, and creation of, higher degree of “customized mass-production” in consumer demand
Shift from production to service economy
Globalization of the labor market
Political initiatives to sharpen competition and create efficiency:
Compulsory competitive tendering in public sector
De-nationalization s of the 1980’s-1990’s

4. Flexibility of what? Labor: Wider range of tasks, jobs or skills;
Variability in the amount of labor force.
Technology: access to know-how, new ideas or different types of machinery
Organizations: general ability to adapt
Systems and processes: national economy, regions, industries, global economy

5. Flexibility for whom? FOR employers – OF employees
FOR employees – in their interest

6. Historical development
Up to 1950’s - scientific management (F. Taylor): fragmentation of work, workers do not participate in the decision making
Up to 1980’s – motivation and employee satisfaction through:
job rotation – horizontal
job enlargement – vertical

7. Later Views of the Flexible Firm
Charles Handy – the Shamrock Organisation
Atkinson’s Flexible Firm Core and peripheral workers
AN ONION VIEW

8. The flexible firm (John Atkinson, 1984)
Core group – primary personnel in the company, provide functional flexibility
First peripheral group – numerical flexibility in order to meet fluctuations in the demand of company products
Second peripheral group – short-term, multi-tasking, job sharing, part time work
Subcontracted and outsourced work
Agency workers (leasing of personnel)
Self employment

9. The Shamrock Organization (Charles Handy, 1996)
Contractual fringe
Flexible workers
Professional core

10. Types of Labor Flexibility
Functional: skill variety & task diversity; multi-skilling – generally reserved for core workers on “permanent” time contracts
Numeric: hiring and firing workers according to business needs – peripheral workers, sub-contracting and self-employment
Temporal: adjusting working hours and times to meet business demand – both core and peripheral workers; used in cyclic businesses

11. Types of Labor Flexibility contd.
GEOGRAPHIC: home working, teleworking, telecommuting, hot-desking; distance-working, “location-independent” working
Approx. 2m teleworkers in the UK today
Mobil Oil, Co-operative Bank, Royal Mail
ATTITUDINAL: flexibility of approach to work; the encouragement of an attitude of adaptability and preparedness to learn new skills and/or change working practices rapidly in line with business need.
The “learning organisation” concept
Ford and the EDAP scheme

12. Ford Britain’s EDAP scheme
Since 1988 Ford Britain’s Employee Development Assistance Programme (EDAP) has sponsored educationally oriented courses outside working time for employees at its 22 plants in the United Kingdom. Courses must not relate to job requirements. The most popular courses have been modern languages, technical skills (bricklaying, computers, automobile repair) and personal health and fitness.
The programme is administered by joint management-union bodies, on which unions enjoy majority representation and can choose their own chairpersons. The fund is generated by a company contribution per employee/year. Employee interest has far outstripped expectation: 45 per cent of employees participate every year; 70 per cent have participated in total.
Although EDAP was partially inspired by the 1982 Employee Development Training Program of the parent Ford Motor Company in the United States, it has spent less on educational facilities, favoured general education rather than remedial education or retraining, and placed fewer restrictions on the use of funds.
Sources: Ford Motor Company (1996); Mortimer (1990); and unpublished company materials.
Extract source:

13. Schemes for Flexible Working
Shift work
Overtime
Weekend work
Annual hours contract
Part-time work
Job sharing, job splitting
Flexi-time
Temporary/casual
Fixed term contracts
Compressed working week
Home-based work
Tele-working
Outsourcing, outtasking, sub-contracting
Working Saturday and /or Sunday
Working one of a set of consecutive periods into which a 24 hour working day is divided
Extra time beyond employees’normal time,added on to a day or shift
Agreement to work number of hours annually
Hours of work defined as part-time by employer or legislation
Dividing up one job between two or more employees
Some working hours may be determined by employees,around fixed “core” time
Workers employed on temporary basis for a number of hours, weeks or months
Workers employed for a fixed number of months or years
Workers whose normal workplace is home but who do not have permanent electronic links to a fixed workplace
Woekers who have permanent electronic links to a fixed workplace
Workers whose working week totals a standard number of hours compressed into a redused number of shifts

14. Types of FWAs Working time Contractual Externalised Part-time work
Weekend work
Overtime
Shift work
Compressed working week
Annualised hours
Flexi-time
Job Sharing /Splitting
Temporary/casual work
Fixed-term employment
Home-based work
Tele-working

15. Bundles of FWAs Non-Standard Work Patterns Non-Standard Work Hours
Work Outsourced
Work Away from the Office
Part-time Work
Compressed Work-week
Annual Contracts
Flexi-time
Fixed-term Contracts
Job Sharing
Shift Work
Weekend Work
Overtime
Temporary Work
Subcontracting
Home-based Work
Tele-working

16. Economic reasons for flexibility
Cut in exploitation, operational and fixed costs
Rise in efficiency and profit
Better distribution of resources
Use of new opportunities
Stimulation of business
Chances for additional income

17. Social reasons for flexibility
Decrease of unemployment
Better opportunities for realization of special minority groups
Better combination of family responsibilities, work duties and free time

18. Advantages for employers
Focus moved from job to tasks and specific assignments
Better use of working time
Decrease of absences and leaves
Better balance between offer and demand of labor force with certain rare or specific qualities

19. Advantages for employees
Opportunities for training and development
Opportunities for realization in new areas
Satisfaction of personal and cultural interests
More freedom and better use of spare time
Attention to family and to special groups

20. FWAs by Proportions Used (CRANET 2003)

21. FWAs by Proportions Used (CRANET 2003) (continued)

22. Approximate proportion of workforce employed on shift work (% of organisations, 2003)

23. Approximate proportion of workforce employed on part time work (% of organisations , 2003)

24. Approximate proportion of workforce employed on flexi-time (% of organisations , 2003)

25. Approximate proportion of home based employment (% of organisations , 2003)

26. Main Findings about FWAs in the CRANET International HRM survey
Traditional forms of FWAs are still dominant over new forms of flexibility.
The use of temporary/casual work and fixed-term contracts has dropped over the 10-year period.
Less than expected rise in some of the well-established forms of FWAs such as shift work and part-time work.
Slight growth in new forms of FWAs. Annualized hours, job sharing, home-based work and tele-working are yet to become major features of working life.

27. Main Findings about FWAs in the CRANET International HRM survey (continued)
Significant region and country variations in use of certain types of FWAs:
Non-standard work patterns are widely used in most regions, although less popular in Asian companies;
Non-standard work hours and work away from the office are more common amongst English-speaking, Northern and Central European regions;
Work outsourced is most common in Mediterranean and Asian companies, while work away from the office is yet to take hold there.

28. Main Findings about FWAs in the CRANET International HRM survey (continued)
The restrictive state regulations in some countries for certain forms of FWAs explain the high use of other forms of flexibility there:
Annual hours contracts in France;
Part time work and fixed-term contracts in Netherlands;
Shift work in Spain and Turkey.
When combined in bundles, FWAs have better results on organisational effectiveness and performance.
There is ample room for an increase in FWAs in future.

29. Empowerment: Definition
Broadly empowerment is about ‘allowing them (the workers) to retain sufficient autonomy over work performance and/or involvement in broader workplace/decision making co-operation and draw upon their latent skills, but not so much as to forfeit managerial control’.
Adapted source: Marchington et. al., 1993 and Wilkinson, 1998, cited in Hales, 2000.

30. Essence Delegation of responsibilities to employees
Employee participation in decision-making
Not redistribution of power, but enhancement of employee contribution to the organization
Emphasizes on quality, flexibility and productivity
Could be both individually and team-based
From employee suggestion schemes to self-managed teams

31. What is it about? Power Information Rewards Knowledge
To make decisions influencing performance
Information
About organisational performance
Rewards
Based on organisational performance
Knowledge
Enabling workers to understand their contribution
Schneider & Bowen cited in Redman & Wilkinson pp347-8

32. Empowerment, changing a dominant philosophy …?
‘ENRICHMENT’ APPROACH
‘CLASSICAL’ APPROACH
Work study tradition
Scientific management
De-skilling and alienation
Prescribed methods
Measured performance
Rewards for achievement
Work psychology tradition
Human relations school
Herzberg, Maslow
Select, train, motivate and lead well
“Willing” performance
“..passive compliance..”
Hales C, 2000.
“..active co-operation..”

33. How to empower? Participation and motivation of workforce
Task involvement and attitudinal change
Focus on quality and productivity
TQM, quality circles
Team working, autonomous work groups
Better communication
Workforce attitude surveys
360° or upward appraisal
“The managerial equivalent of Viagra”

34. Why empowerment?
Workers are closer to work situation and may be able to suggest improvements that management is unable to see
Empowerment increases satisfaction, reduces labor turnover and enhances commitment
Reduces the need for complex control system
Better quality of products and services

35. Applied empowerment
It could be argued that there are a number of application processes, but here is an example:
1. Diagnosis: identify the conditions existing in the organisation that lead to feeling of powerlessness on the part of the organisational members.
2. Implementation: via participative management, establishing goal setting programmes, implementing merit-based pay systems and job enrichment through redesign
3. Action: a two-step element
remove conditions creating ‘powerlessness’.
increase ‘self-efficacy’.
4. Increase the perception of successful performance
5. Increase task orientated job activity

36. 5 Main types of empowerment
Information sharing
Upward problem solving
Task autonomy – restructuring of work units into cells taking some operational decisions
Attitudinal shaping – employees are trained to ‘feel’ empowered and more confident in their interaction with customers
Self-management in relation to a set of work tasks

37. Forms of empowerment in UK, 1998
Participation in teamwork 65%
Team briefings %
Staff attitude surveys 45%
Problem-solving groups 45%
Quality circles 45%
Regular meetings of entire workforce %

38. HRM empowerment initiatives
Open management style
Open-doors days
Flexi-time
Removal of clocking
Payment system based on skill acquisition and individual performance
Two-way communication
Suggestion schemes, etc.

39. Do not forget! Next lecture N10: “Equal opportunities and diversity”
will be held
on 10th of December, Wednesday, from 18:30, for both groups A31 and A32

40. Thank you and Happy Students’ Day!