Employee Relations: An International Journal

Wolfgang Mayrhofer

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710193081

Notes that achieving flexibility for organizations is one of the key issues of management efforts. However, making organizations more flexible may reduce the organizations’ ability to survive unless sustainable flexibility is introduced. Sustainable flexibility tries to find a balance between softness and structuredness, diversity and coherence, and reserves and tight fit. Shows how these three dimensions are characterized and how sustainable flexibility can be reached in organizations.

Olga Tregaskis

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710193090

Looks at how the rise in the use of non‐permanent employees has stimulated much debate concerning the long‐term impact on the success of organizations and skill development at the organizational and national level. Draws on internationally comparable data from 12 countries to explore the relationship between non‐permanent work and organizational profitability, workforce expansion and investment in employee training and development. Argues that national contextual conditions, in terms of employment legislation and training traditions, and the management of non‐permanent workers are important factors affecting the efficiency outcomes associated with using this particular flexible employment option.

Noreen Clifford; Michael Morley; Patrick Gunnigle

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710193108

Seeks to contribute to the flexibility debate by addressing the following research questions: What are the European trends pertaining to the use of part‐time workers? How has the situation changed over the past three years? To what extent do organizational characteristics, such as size, unionization and sector, impact on the nature and extent of part‐time employment? Despite recent attempts by the European Union to bring to the fore the issue of working time, it has a rather long pedigree in labour management literature. The main arguments dictating the direction of change in working time arrangements are associated with discretion/choice debates, labour force changes, equality issues, technology and organiza‐tional efficiency and the unemployment/work‐sharing argument. Focuses specifically on one workforce variable, namely part‐time work. Believes that the classification of the labour market into the core (typical) and periphery (atypical), in the context of labour flexibility, is far too simplistic. Refers to how it has been argued in the literature that the components of the peripheral workforce possess different characteristics and cannot be lumped together.

Paul N. Gooderham; Odd Nordhaug

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710367916

Discusses critically the concept of numerical flexibility arguing that strategies for numerical flexibility may in part be viewed as “emergent” strategies. Argues further that “emergent” strategies evolve as responses to the national institutional context. This context comprises laws and regulations which constrain firms from introducing numerical flexibility and trade unions which, acting on behalf of their members, will attempt to limit the scope of numerical flexibility. Demonstrates that since the 1980s the institutional contexts in which Norwegian and UK firms operate have diverged significantly, leading to expected differing rates of increased use of numerical flexibility. This is tested through a multivariate analysis of variations in numerical flexibility at the firm level on the basis of data from the 1995 Euronet‐Cranfield Survey.

Nancy Papalexandris; Robin Kramar

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710193126

Observes that historically, family and work were not separated in pre‐industrial societies in which life was a united whole, but that family and work are gradually becoming separated in industrial societies, as work becomes dependent, production becomes centralized, and the relationship of the individual with work impersonal. In Greece there is still some evidence of close relations between family and work due to the large number of very small family firms and the high proportion of the population working in small family farming lots. However, a large percentage of the population work in full‐time traditional jobs. Flexible working patterns such as part‐time, flexi‐time, annual working hours, parental leaves, job sharing, variable working time, telework, condensed working week, as well as contract, pay and task flexibility are not so extensively used in Greece and it is only since 1990 that they are gaining ground. Flexibility at work is a major tool in enhancing economic performance, fighting unemployment and promoting competitiveness. Apart from that, flexibility is needed because it can prove very useful in harmonizing family life with work obligations, provided it takes into consideration family needs, parental obligations and the right of employees to a better quality of life. Presents the current situation on work flexibility in Greece and examines these aspects of flexibility which can prove useful not only in enhancing economic performance but in providing better conditions for the reconciliation between family and work.