Abstract ¡@¡@Being in a fast-changing medical market environment, hospitals usually face high uncertainty. The best strategy of keeping survive is being flexible. Human resource is the most important resource in hospital, so it is critical to realize the relationship between workforce flexibility and hospital performance. ¡@¡@The purposes of this study are discussing about the workforce flexibility in hospital. Questionnaire was mailed to 568 hospitals are accredited as district hospitals or above in Taiwan, and the answers are 117 with 21.0% answer percentage. Data is processed with the statistic software SPSS. The results of this research indicate that: 1. Different organization characteristics are significantly different in numerical flexibility in hospital. 2. Different organization characteristics are significantly different in wage flexibility in hospital. 3. Different organization characteristics are significantly different in soft performance in hospital. 4. Different organization characteristics are significantly different in the average growth rate of doctor in hospital. 5. Different organization characteristics are significantly different in the average rate of patient occupied in hospital. 6. Different organization characteristics are significantly different in the average productivity of employee in hospital. 7. The workforce flexibility has significantly positively influences on soft performance in hospital. 8. The workforce flexibility has significantly positively influences on the average growth rate of patient. 9. The workforce flexibility has significantly positively influences on the average rate of patient occupied in hospital. 10. The workforce flexibility has significantly positively influences on the average productivity of employee in hospital. Key words: workforce flexibility, functional flexibility, numerical flexibility, wage flexibility, performance

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Firms are reliant on a suitable fit between the firm and their business environment. Simultaneously environments globally become increasingly unpredictable, jeopardizing firms’ ability to develop and implement strategic directions to achieve a suitable fit. To tackle this challenge theorists call for increased flexibility in strategic processes by increasing strategic flexibility. However, the two concepts of strategy and flexibility work as opposing forces of change and stability. This study aims to explore the complex interplay between the two detached concepts in two large Swedish companies Saab and Ericsson. This paper embraces a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews combining deductive and inductive approaches to analyze the interplay between strategy and flexibility. Earlier theorists within strategic flexibility academia primarily focused on providing a resolution of definitional differences; therefore this study provides a new theoretical framework, comprised of a strategy as a plan approach combined with acknowledging strategic decisions in various intra-firm levels. Findings from this study indicate that firms should constantly consider four different trade-offs: decentralized versus centralized control, valuing short-term versus valuing long-term strategies, relying on individual experience versus planning to manage changes and product- versus market-driven strategies to achieve a beneficial interplay between strategy and flexibility.

Previous findings on the relationship between self-esteem and psychological outcomes are inconsistent. Therefore it appears that self-esteem, while related to crucial variables, does not provide a clear, direct, and comprehensive prediction of psychological symptoms. Thus, it was hypothesized that the relationship between self-esteem and symptomatology would be moderated by broader measures of how one interacts with emotional and cognitive stimuli.The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of self-esteem, psychological flexibility, and cognitive flexibility on psychological symptomatology. A sample of 82 undergraduate students at the University of North Texas completed self-report questionnaires measuring low self-esteem, psychological flexibility, measured inversely as inflexibility, cognitive flexibility, and psychological symptoms. Results of the study suggest that self-esteem (?= -0.59, p < 0.001) and flexibility (both psychological (?= 0.36, p = 0.001) and cognitive (?= 0.21, p < 0.05) are significant predictors of psychological symptoms. In other words, self-esteem is positively correlated with psychological symptoms, while psychological and cognitive flexibility are negatively correlated with psychological symptoms. Neither form of flexibility moderated the relationship between self-esteem and psychological symptoms in this sample. The findings of the current study are discussed as well as suggestions for further research related to self-esteem, psychological and cognitive flexibility, and their impact on psychological outcomes.

The flexl.bility to change product and processes quickly and economically represents a significant competitive advantage to manufacturing organisations. The rapid rise in global sourcing, has resulted in manufacturers having to offer greater levels of customisation, thus a wider product range is essential to an organisation's competitiveness. The rate at which new products are introduced to the market has also increased, with greatly reduced development times being essential to a new product's market success. Hence there is a strong need to have a flexible manufacturing system such that new products may be introduced rapidly. These drivers have made the need for flexibility within manufacturing systems of great importance. However, there are many types of flexibility and to ensure that organisations correctly target these types of flexibility there is a need to measure fleXlbility, because, measuring fleXlDility allows manufacturers to identify systems which will improve their performance. This research, therefore, has focused on the development measures for two types of flexibility ie. mix fleXlDility and product flexibility. These represent the ability to change between the manufacture of current products i. e. mix flexibility and the ability to introduce new products i.e. product fleXlDility. In order to develop effective measures for these types of fleXlbility a conceptual model has been developed, which represents the current and potential future product range of manufacturing systems. The methodology developed for measuring mix and product flexibility has been successfully applied in two companies. These companies represent diverse manufacturing environments. One operates in high volume chemical manufacture and the other in low to medium volume furniture manufacture. Through applying this methodology in these two companies it has been demonstrated that the methodology is generic and can be used in a wide range of companIes.

<p>Rapidly changing and growing market made entering to the market change a really hard venture. The assortment offered by competitors rose. To keep up challenges it is necessary to apply strategies and techniques which let the company to reach high position on the market. Still rising group of competitors made demanding of customers also rose. Surviving on the market started to be connected with ensuring high quality products, but with still keeping the </p><p>same price of it. How company can achieve it? From the side of company it is connected with quick reaction to the customer needs and to gain it company has to take care after its flexibility. This paper is structured to answer the question why it is significant to be flexible on the market and also how to become a flexible company. To create cognitive perception of this issue, analyse of flexible company - an example of still prospering, a leader company HMS Industrial Network, is presented. The paper firstly identifies the research problem by presenting the theory gained from various literatures and then viewing prior researches concerning values of being flexible company, and secondly shows the methodology of the study. Next, the empirical findings from investigation of one, known as very flexible, company, are presented. Finally the conclusion is presented to see if reality support the thesis developed in paper.</p>

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Rapidly changing and growing market made entering to the market change a really hard venture. The assortment offered by competitors rose. To keep up challenges it is necessary to apply strategies and techniques which let the company to reach high position on the market. Still rising group of competitors made demanding of customers also rose. Surviving on the market started to be connected with ensuring high quality products, but with still keeping the same price of it. How company can achieve it? From the side of company it is connected with quick reaction to the customer needs and to gain it company has to take care after its flexibility. This paper is structured to answer the question why it is significant to be flexible on the market and also how to become a flexible company. To create cognitive perception of this issue, analyse of flexible company - an example of still prospering, a leader company HMS Industrial Network, is presented. The paper firstly identifies the research problem by presenting the theory gained from various literatures and then viewing prior researches concerning values of being flexible company, and secondly shows the methodology of the study. Next, the empirical findings from investigation of one, known as very flexible, company, are presented. Finally the conclusion is presented to see if reality support the thesis developed in paper.

This research focuses on the relationship between workforce flexibility and organizational performance of the cooperative subcontractors in the Steel Industry, and compares the differences between ¡§S¡¨ and China Steel Corporations. The questionnaires were mailed to 161 of the ¡§S¡¨ Steel Co.¡¦s subcontractors and 77 were returned; so the response rate is 48 %. Other 108 data were from survey data of the China Steel Co.¡¦s cooperative subcontractor, which are from my advisor. I deleted the overlapping cooperative subcontractors between the two steel corporations. Total survey size is 181. The results are shown as follows: 1. Deployment of workforce flexibility Characteristics of the functional flexibility of the Cooperative Subcontractors include development of multi-skill, horizontal and vertical mobility. The numerical flexibility is represented by the fact that average 80 percents of temporary workers among all the full time jobs, but there exists substantial difference. 16 percent of the subcontractors contracted out at least part of their jobs. The design of wage structure had flexibility. The ratio of variable wage is about 20 %. The subjective organizational performance was above average. As to the objective organizational performance, the contracting ratio of steel sales was nearly 50 %. The main reason for obtaining the deal were quality, customer satisfaction, delivery speed, and price. The turnover rate on average was not low (nearly 10 %). The reasons for the high turnover rate were the high proportion of temporary workers, and rapid change in demand, but the turnover rate was negatively related to the amount of capital and the number of regular workers. 2. The relationship between the organizational characteristic, the use of workforce flexibility and the performance of organization The different characteristics of organization including the number of divisions, the types of subcontractors, the number of regular workers, and the amount of capital have caused significant differences on the proportion of temporary workers and subcontractors. The smaller the size of regular worker of cooperative subcontractors is, the more likely the use of temporary workers will be. The labor subcontractors were more likely to use temporary workers, but the engineering subcontractors were more likely to outsource. The amount of capital and the dependence of subcontractors upon the steel company caused significant differences on the design of wage flexibility and the proportion of variable wage. The amount of capital of subcontractors has significant impact on the organizational performance, and the turnover rate. The number of regular worker caused significant differences on the operational performance and the turnover rate. The proportion of subcontracting from the steel company caused minor difference on operational performance. These show that the larger the amount of capital, the size of employees, the better the subjective organizational performance; whereas the smaller the organization, the higher the turnover rate. 3. The relationship between the use of workforce flexibility, other influential factors and the performance of organization The functional flexibility and the wage flexibility had positive association with the subjective organizational performance. The horizontal and vertical mobility had positive association with the turnover rate. The numerical flexibility was not associated with the organizational performance, but the proportion of temporary workers has significant positive impact on the turnover rate. The influential factors such as horizontal and vertical mobility, the dependence of subcontractors on the steel corporation, and the flexible wage design would influence the organizational operational performance. The influential factors such as wage flexibility, the amount of capital, and the length of time of cooperation with the steel company will influence the organizational production performance. But the proportion of temporary workers would directly influence the turnover rate.

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