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Managing a Flexible Work Force

Managing a Flexible Work Force. New options for how people work. Objectives for Class. Identify shifts in assumptions about employees and employee relations Discuss types of flexibility and their implications for organizations, managers, and employees

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Managing a Flexible Work Force

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  1. Managing a Flexible Work Force New options for how people work

  2. Objectives for Class • Identify shifts in assumptions about employees and employee relations • Discuss types of flexibility and their implications for organizations, managers, and employees • Investigate the trade-offs this flexibility entails • Explore some strategic design, political, and cultural barriers to change

  3. Adaptability—but with uncertainty and disruption Flexible size and type of work force • Downsizing • Use of temporary workers, subcontractors, consultants, and contingent workers for an elastic labor force • Uncertainty, job insecurity • Less opportunity for employees to develop firm-specific skills • And effects on, e.g., quality, teams, networks

  4. Adaptability—but with uncertainty and disruption Flexible boundaries of the firm • Outsourcing to other firms for a variety of inputs and services • Spinning off entire functions or departments • The “virtual” organization - multiple pieces reassembled as tasks change

  5. Flexible Time, Space, and Division of Labor • Flextime - staggered start & end times • Compressed work week • Regular part-time employment • Job sharing • Phased and partial retirement • Voluntary reduced work time programs • Expanded leave options • Work at home plans

  6. Flexible Skills, Assignments, and Rewards • Multitasking • Cross-training and multiskilling • Job rotation • Redefinition of jobs into task clusters • Pay-for-knowledge, pay-for-skills, pay-for-contribution

  7. Flexible, Life-long Careers • Non-linear view of careers and advancement • Periods of greater/lesser focus on work--coordinated with periods of greater/lesser focus on family, personal life, and civic causes • Not just innovating on the margins of the current workplace • Rethinking the nature of work

  8. Strategic Design Perspective • Changes in how work is divided and careers are shaped • Different types of flexibility • Interrelationships among employment practices

  9. Flexible work arrangements may help a firm… • Retain talented employees • Meet future staffing needs • Build employee appreciation and commitment • Prevent burnout • Identify better performance criteria • Enhance contribution and productivity

  10. Advance planning is important for… • Establishing procedures for performance reviews and flexible arrangements • Being clear about criteria and timing for promotions • Being explicit about building upon or departing from precedent

  11. Political Perspective • Negotiating new arrangements • Perceptions of fairness will vary—and can affect whether employees go along or resist new work practices • Unintended consequences to manage during a change process • Consider where practices are choices, not mandates dictated by market or technologies

  12. Employees’ perceptions of fairness will vary • Know the diverse constituencies involved • Elicit and understand their different perceptions of what’s fair

  13. Employees’ perceptions of fairness will vary • Recognize that new policies that appear beneficial to all employees can make some employees feel like they’ve won • Other employees, unexpectedly and unintentionally, may feel like they’ve lost

  14. Employees’ perceptions of fairness will vary • Be aware of how a new policy may unintentionally conflict with other policies, goals, or norms, rather than optimizing singular programs

  15. Cultural Perspective • Different images of work and what it means to be an employee • Social contract in employment relationships

  16. New images of work emerging… • Both hopeful and disconcerting • Decode the new vocabulary of flexibility • Which aspects are meaningful to employees • Which aspects are likely to evoke cynicism • “Any job is just a bullet on your resume”

  17. Think about... • Coherence - Think in terms of whole systems, rather than piecemeal optimization, and be aware of unintentional contradictions • Legitimacy - Keep in mind perceptions of equity and fairness on the part of multiple stakeholders

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