Functional flexibility: merely reacting or acting strategically?

Abstract

Functional flexibility 505 strong, temporary team structures gain in importance, starting with the trend that a falling share of jobs can be completely formalised and thus electronically automated, while on the other hand the share of jobs with a high degree of complexity is constantly growing (Ruf, 1991, p. 30). This development has clear repercussions for the company's hierachical structure, the company's internal formalism, the specific communicational structure, and also the spatial and temporal dimensions of human resource management. For the employer, labour flexibility is the ability to quickly reshape the existing supply in terms of configuration, deployment, and cost (Olmsted and Smith, 1989, p. 51). So in recent times, more and more organisations have increasingly sought to adopt work structures which are characterised by their flexibility and adaptability (Wood, 1989). In many instances this has involved redesigning jobs around a functionally flexible worker (

Human Resource Flexibility as a Mediating Variable Between High Performance Work Systems and Performance

“…Due to the rapid process of knowledge obsolescence in current environments, the importance of being "ahead on the learning curve" is crucial in creating flexible employees (Dyer & Shafer, 2002). Extensive developmental activities in the HPWS are likely to favor the abilities needed to perform a variety of tasks effectively, namely, to promote functional flexibility (Friedrich, Kabst, Weber, & Rodehuth, 1998;van Dam & Thierry, 2000). In addition, the focus of HPWS on the workforce's development provides a firm with a skilled workforce capable of ongoing learning (Batt, 2002;Youndt & Snell, 2004).…”

Challenges of Human Capital Development in Islamic Administration Institutes in Malaysia (Iam)

“…Skinner (1999), Sly et al, (1998) and Friedrich et al, (1998) found that efficiency and flexibility play an important role in the organization to achieve its objectives. Comments on the management of Islamic institutions in Malaysia about incompetence, sluggishness, and delays in service delivery by IAM are often revealed by the mainstream media (Rumaizuddin et al, 2011).…”

Does quality management drive labour flexibility?

“…As Cordery et al (1993) and Friedrich et al (1998) suggest, these job enrichment activities increase the skill repertoire of employees and consequently, their functional flexibility. Furthermore, these activities can foster employee functional flexibility through motivation, since enriched jobs may lead to a more satisfied workforce that is more willing to be flexible (Van den Berg & Van der Velde, 2005).…”

“…The service sector provides an appropriate field to study labour flexibility due to the high levels of variability and heterogeneity that characterise services. In addition, certain studies such as that of Friedrich et al (1998) have observed different trends in manufacturing and service sectors with regard to functional and external flexibility. By limiting our analysis to service sectors we are able to avoid confounding influences.…”

“…This is the approach we take in this paper, and hereafter, we refer to internal flexibility as functional flexibility. Cordery, Sevastos, Mueller and Parker (1993); Riley and Lockwood (1997) ;Friedrich, Kabst, Weber and Rodehuth (1998), or Van den Berg and Van der Velde (2005) report that functional flexibility can be fostered through aspects such as job enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation, training programmes and work groups. Whichever aspects the company chooses, their aim will be to increase employees' skill repertoires so that they acquire the capacity to carry out a large number of tasks and to work across traditionally distinct occupational boundaries.…”