It is important for corporation to maintain ¡§flexibility¡¨ in order to enhance core competitive edge and to respond to market change quickly. So to have flexible human resource measures is an important organization strategy. Since high-tech industry is going to be the trend for Taiwan, the research will begin with the high-tech industry and explore the relations between ¡§financial performance resulted from flexible work arrangement¡¨ and ¡§overall organization performance¡¨. In addition, the research will also discuss, with different organizational characteristics and various extent of manpower allocation measures, whether the financial outcome resulted from flexible human resource measures would have an impact on the overall organization financial performance outcome. Therefore, 344 questionnaires were distributed in Hsinchu Science District and high-tech companies in greater Taipei area. 69 valid questionnaires and 3 not valid questionnaires were collected in Hsinchu while 43 valid questionnaires were collected in northern Taiwan. There were in total 112 valid questionnaires. The research will analyze organization characteristics and conditions (such as the scale of business, total month of existence of the company since it was founded, capital structure, number of departments and number of rankings) with frequency distribution, descriptive statistics, and matrix. In addition, the research will also use ¡§linear association¡¨ to examine the influence ¡§the interrelations among organization background, measures¡¦ extent of flexibility, flexible measures and the extent of flexibility¡¨ has toward ¡§organization overall finance performance¡¨. On the other hand, we use ¡§related analysis¡¨ to explore the association between ¡§flexible measures¡¦ financial performance of job capacity, quantity and salary¡¨ and ¡§overall flexible finance performance¡¨. The findings are as below: 1. In the various flexible high-tech industry human resource measures, it is correlated from both the profit performance resulted from developing multi-task staff, and the overall organization profit performance. 2. It is negatively correlated between the performance resulted from non-typical employee or the fluctuated salary, and the overall organization profit performance. It can be found in the interviews that depending on the industry characteristics, the outcome of high-tech companies to out-source non-core operation and to adopt fluctuate salary is not as good as the outcome of conventional industries. 3. The more the number of departments is, the more detailed job specification is. So, by assigning these non-core operations to the non-typical employee, the cost of time and manpower can be saved and the effectiveness and efficiency can be increased. 4. The cost of hiring a foreign employee is way lower than that of hiring a native employee with similar work experience. Therefore, it can lower the human resource cost for high-tech industry to adopt high proportion of foreign employees. 5. The human resource cost here refers to ¡§salary cost, welfare cost, training cost, dismissal fee and retirement fee¡¨. In high-tech industry, it is highly emphasized on the employees¡¦ welfare and training. Employees¡¦ salary is pretty good, too. So, it should be carefully evaluated the cost of downsizing and retaining extra employees. From this we can see the significant influence of downsizing on the decrease of human resource cost. Although downsizing might jeopardize the morale, it is still a form of warning in certain way. 6. The more the number of departments is, the larger the scale of organization is. Many training cost or welfare measures can be cost-effective under the situation of larger economic scale. 7. On the other hand, from the valid questionnaire collected, we found that most non-typical staff is in the position of non-professional operations. This is different from what we found in the literature review ¡§to react to environment with flexibility, we should simplify organization design and manpower allocation, or outsource those non-core operations¡¨. Further exploration on this is required for future researchers to explore.

Flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are widely implemented in organizations today. Yet very little information exists about why individuals are attracted to organizations that offer FWAs. The purpose of the current study was to tease apart the influence of the dimensions of FWAs: flextime and flexplace (both structural and perceived), as well as the combination of the two on organizational attraction and anticipated organizational support. Individual difference variables that have the potential to impact individuals’ attraction to organizations that offer FWAs were also examined as moderating variables. The mediating effect of anticipated organizational support was also examined. Upper level undergraduate students (N = 190) participated in a 3x3 within-subjects experiment in which they rated nine hypothetical organizations that varied in flextime and flexplace. Results from multilevel analysis indicated that significant variance in organizational attraction as well as anticipated organizational support is attributable to the type of work arrangement offered (both flexibility in time and place), with flextime having a stronger effect than flexplace. Contrary to expectation, effects were independent; there was not a significant interaction between flextime and flexplace. The relationship between (both structural and perceived) flexplace and organizational attraction was stronger for individuals who prefer to integrate their work and nonwork roles. Additionally, the relationship between (both structural and perceived) flextime and organizational attraction was stronger for individuals who reported a stronger need for medical treatment. Finally, the relationship between perceived flextime and organizational attraction as well as the relationship between perceived flexplace and organizational attraction were stronger for those who reported more role demands. Contrary to expectation, sociability did not moderate the flexplace-organizational attraction/anticipated organizational support relationships. Limitations and future directions for research on FWAs are discussed.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Co-Chair: Hayriye Ayhan; Committee Co-Chair: Sigrun Andradottir; Committee Member: David M. Goldsman; Committee Member: Douglas G. Down; Committee Member: Robert D. Foley. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

With the increasing need for highway maintenance and the decreasingly available funds, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Austin District has sought to better utilize maintenance section employee resources by implementing a compressed workweek. The primary goal of this thesis is to establish a framework and methodology to study the effects of a compressed workweek on maintenance crews in both rural and urban environments. Secondly, this thesis will provide a background of best practices of popular flexible work arrangements, including compressed workweeks, telework, and flextime. The compressed workweek is a type of flexible work arrangement that allows employees to work longer days during a part of the week in exchange for a partial or full day off later in the week. Compressed workweeks can offer numerous benefits to maintenance crews, including increased production, less set up and shut down time per week, decreased operating costs, reduced overhead, and increased employee morale. TxDOT will implement a six-month pilot project in two rural maintenance sections and one urban section. Compressed workweeks have proven to be successful in other districts with rural maintenance sections, but application of a compressed workweek in an urban maintenance section has yet to be studied. Therefore, maintenance crew activity data from previous years will be compared to data collected during the trial period to understand changes in productivity and to estimate vehicle operating costs. Lastly, surveys of maintenance employees will be conducted throughout the study to solve any personal issues that arise as well as determine employee satisfaction with the new schedule. / text

Interest in flexible work arrangements has proliferated in the last years, fuelled by technological advancements that allow people to work from anywhere at any time. This systematic literature review explores the impact of flexibility in time and place of work on intra-group relations and subsequent effects on group-level outcomes. Findings suggest that flexibility in place of work has positive effects on employee-supervisor relationships but negative effects on co-worker relationships. Although teleworkers remain well connected to their co-workers and overall workgroup communication does not appear to change, informal socialisation processes are affected. Knowledge sharing and creation is subsequently challenged. Furthermore, managers of mixed workgroups face issues of fairness and justice as well as challenges of creating and maintaining group cohesion when some of their employees are not always present. However, little is known of how flexibility in time of work impacts intra-group relations and group outcomes from groups containing flexible workers have not been explored. This paper therefore identifies significant gaps in the literature and presents opportunities for further research.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Workers who request a flexible schedule to accommodate their biologically-determined sleep-wake cycle (chronotype) may face prejudice if supervisors perceive them, particularly “night owls”, as lazy or unconscientious. Such bias may be exacerbated in organizational cultures characterized by stability and control. Thus, chronotype bias was examined in a 2 (rigid vs. flexible organizational norms) X 3 (morningness chronotype, eveningness chronotype, educational pursuit/control as reason for a flexible schedule request) online scenario study. Participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (N=398) and were instructed to act as managers to decide whether to approve a fictitious employee’s request for a flexible schedule. Organizational culture and reason for schedule request were orthogonally manipulated in the scenarios. Ps completed measures of schedule approval (including an open-ended justification item), beliefs about the employee’s performance (job-specific task performance, contextual performance, personal discipline, and conscientiousness), and manipulation checks, as well as measures of their own chronotype. Ps were less likely to approve a flexible schedule request for employees with chronotype-based requests (both morningness and eveningness) compared to control (educational pursuit/control request). Task performance beliefs mediated the effect. Organizational norms had both a direct and moderating effect on schedule approval, such that approval was higher and chronotype bias was weakened in the flexible norm condition compared to the rigid norm condition. Ps’ own chronotype had no direct or moderating effect on schedule approval. Qualitative content analysis of Ps’ justification for the schedule approval decision revealed that Ps justified their decision on the impact of schedule approval on the organization.

The goal of this investigation was to examine personal and environmental factors that may influence levels of daily physical activity in a sample of university staff employees who use flexible work arrangements (flextime or telework). Our first aim was to investigate the link between self-efficacy, perceived barriers, and flexible work arrangements on daily physical activity. Our second aim was to investigate the link between work stress, job burnout, work-to-family conflict and flexible work arrangements on physical activity. Lastly, we investigated if the use of flexible work arrangements buffered the relationship between barriers, as well as job burnout, on physical activity. University staff employees who worked full-time, currently used a flexible work arrangement, lived with at least one family member were eligible to participate. Using a daily diary design, data were collected from 61 university staff employees. Participants completed an initial survey followed by daily diaries over the course of one workweek, resulting in 281 diary days. Data were analyzed with multilevel negative binomial models. Daily barriers and use of flextime were associated with lower physical activity. Self-efficacy, telework, work stress, and work-to-family conflict were not significantly associated with daily physical activity. Flexible work arrangements did not moderate the association between barriers and physical activity. However, flextime moderated the association between job burnout and physical activity. Individuals with high job burnout engaged in more physical activity on flextime days compared to non-flexible workdays. Implications regarding physical activity, flexible work arrangements, and workplace wellness programs are discussed. / Doctor of Philosophy / The goal of this study was to examine minutes spent engaging in physical activity each day among university staff members who use flexible work arrangements. Flexible work arrangements can help employees have more control over their work hours and schedules. In our sample, we were interested in exploring how personal factors, such as the confidence in their ability (i.e. self-efficacy), and barriers influenced the amount of time staff spent engaging in physical activity each day. We were also interested in exploring how work factors, specifically stress from work, feeling burned out from work, and feelings of work interfering with family, influenced the amount of time spent engaging in physical activity. Lastly, we examined how the time spent engaging in physical activity differed on workdays staff used a flexible work arrangement and on days they did not use a flexible work arrangement. We collected data from 61 university staff employees. Participants completed an initial survey followed by short surveys each night for one workweek. We found that the more barriers an individual reported, the less time they spent on physical activity. In addition, on workdays when staff used a flextime arrangement (i.e. control over when work is completed), they engaged in fewer minutes of physical activity than on days they worked typical hours. Self-efficacy, work stress, feeling that work interfered with family, and telework (i.e. control over where work is completed) did not influence physical activity. Interestingly, we found that on workdays that flextime was used, staff with high levels of burnout from their job engaged in more physical activity compared to standard workdays (i.e. no control over their schedule). Implications regarding physical activity, flexible work arrangements, and workplace wellness programs are discussed.

M. Tech. Business Administration / Working from home is a worldwide trend and effect companies in various ways. With advancement of the information technology and Internet the virtual organizations have become a trend with more and more professionals working from home. Several studies have focused mostly in developed nations with little or no research found in the South African context. This study focused on South African circumstances and examined the cost saving implications for Business Connexion and their employees if they would be able and allowed to work from home. Further, relationships between operational and professional factors, with virtual work were studied.

In this study, the way how the new challenges faced in the post-Fordist period affected labour work arrangements and European social policy making is analyzed. In this regard, the formation of flexible work arrangements and forms of flexibility are examined. The attempts of the European Union to produce effective strategies to connect economic developments to social progress are discussed.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka ledarskap på distans och urskilja skillnader från traditionellt ledarskap i en svensk storbank. Covid-19 penademin förändrade storbankens förutsättningar och tvingade fram en strukturförändring från kontors baserat arbete till distansarbete. Studien utforskar hur förutsättningar för arbetet hos medarbetare och ledare inom storbanken påverkats. Vidare identifieras risker och utmaningar med virtuellt ledarskap i samband med distansarbete. Frågeställningarna som ligger till grund för studien lyder följande “På vilket sätt har ledarskapets förutsättningar förändrats från arbete på kontor till arbete på distans” samt “Hur kan ledare anpassa sig för att kunna leda medarbetare på distans?” Arbetsmarknaden har utvecklats snabbt och i samband med den digitala utveckling har nya arbetssätt tillkommit. Pandemin påskyndade utvecklingen ytterligare och på grund av restriktioner tvingades organisationer ändra arbetsstruktur för att kunna fortgå. Distansarbetet medförde helt nya förutsättningar samt risker och utmaningar för ledare. Genom att identifiera förutsättningar inom distansarbete samt urskilja skillnader mellan traditionellt ledarskap och virtuellt ledarskap kan man möta risker och utmaningar i distansarbetet. Ledare kan få bättre förutsättningar och en ökad förståelse om hur man leder medarbetare på distans. Det empiriska underlaget har samlats in genom intervjuer och respondenter som legat till grund för dataunderlaget är anställda inom storbanken. Av totalt åtta respondenter har sex stycken rollen som ledare och två medarbetare. Den teoretiska referensramen har legat till grund för vår analys av dataunderlaget. Resultatet indikerar på att ledare behöver strukturera en interaktionsplan med medarbetare som arbetar på distans. En individualisering av sociala utvärderingar kan tillgodose medarbetarens behov efter stöd och motivation. Utöver dessa insatser är det viktigt att ledare implementerar sociala icke arbetsrelaterade aktiviteter för att skapa gemenskap och stärka relationer inom organisationen. / The aim of the study is to examine remote leadership and distinguish differences from traditional leadership in a swedish bank. The pandemic known as covid-19 forced the swedish bank to organizational structure change from office based work to remote work. The study investigates how coworkers and leaders in the swedish bank were affected as their conditions in the bank changed to virtual leadership. Furthermore identifying risks and challenges with virtual leadership in a remote working environment. The issue for the base of this study is “In what way have the conditions for leadership changed fromwork in the office to remote work” and “How can leaders adapt to lead employees remotely?” The labor market has developed rapidly and in connection with digital development, new working methods have been added. The pandemic further accelerated development and due to restrictions, organizations were forced to change their workstructure in order to survive. Remote work brought completely new conditions as well as risks and challenges for leaders. By identifying conditions in remote work and distinguishing differences between traditional leadership and virtual leadership, one can meet risks and challenges. Leaders can get better conditions and an increased understanding of how to lead employees. The empirical data has been collected through interviews and respondents who formed the basis for the study are employees of the Swedish bank. Out of 8 respondents, 6 are employed as managers and 2 employees at the major bank. The theoretical frame of reference has formed the basis for our analysis of the empercial data. The results indicate that leaders need to structure an interaction plan with employees who work remotely. An individualization of social evaluations for employees can satisfy the employee's need for support and motivation. In addition to these efforts, it is important that leaders implement social non-work-related activities to create unity and strengthen relationships within the organization.