Book review: Egil J. Skorstad and Helge Ramsdal (eds), Flexible Organizations and the New Working Life: A European Perspective. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009. xv + 272 pp
Abstract
Book review Egil J. Skorstad and Helge Ramsdal (eds), Flexible Organizations and the New Working Life: A European Perspective. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009. xv + 272 pp SAGE Publications, Inc. 2011DOI: 10.1177/09579265110220010603 Vittoria Grossi Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Australia An increased focus on competitiveness and the centrality of customer-oriented services in post-modern companies is thought to have given impetus to the need for flexibility. The catchphrase that defines the current work paradigm is the ‘flexible’ or post-Fordist model of organization. Old model organizations typically favoured a hierarchical and rigid system where labour was more clearly demarcated. The new working model is thought to be based less on regulation and hierarchy and more on self-regulating, multi- skilled teams. Atkinson (1984) proposed that modern organizations would have core and peripheral workers. Flexibility could be achieved in four main ways: functional, numeri- cal, financial and distance. Being flexible is widely seen as progressive and more produc- tive. Flexibility, however, is not embraced by all. Whilst flexibility claims to bring freedom, choice forms the rigidity of the old bureaucracy: ‘in fact, the new order substi- tutes new controls rather than simply abolishing the rules of the past – but these new controls