曼彻斯特大学dissertation- Employment Management Essay
08-05, 2015
近年来灵活就业形式的数量一直在增加，同时很多机构为了增加他们的员工，也提供一系列灵活的就业机会。研究表明，这些灵活的就业形式保证了对更多员工授权的承诺，这是一个有争议的观点。这篇文章的目的是通过评估企业不同方式灵活性的就业形式，对这一观点进行评价。此外也将对其他作者之前的研究进行探索，关于灵活就业如何为赋权于员工做出贡献。首先定义在本文中使用的关键词，对越来越受欢迎的灵活就业做一个简短的讨论，然后列出提纲，关于本文探索不同方式的灵活就业，且评估它如何赋权予员工。
灵活就业这一术语被用来描述一系列的工作模式，包括非标准工作时间、工作时间减少和各种形式的远程工作(Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 85)。它包括不是在全职工作基础上的任一工作模式，灵活的工作包括远程工作、工作时间减少和压缩工作时间。
In recent years flexible forms of employment have been increasing and the number of institutions offering a range of flexible options to their employees has increased, studies have shown that these flexible forms of employment offers the promise of greater employee empowerment, this is an arguable fact. The aim of this essay is to critically evaluate this view by evaluating the different forms of flexibility in organizations, we would also explore previous research carried out by authors on how flexibility in employment can contribute to empowering employees or otherwise. Firstly we would define the key terms to be used in this essay, give a brief discussion on the growing popularity of flexible employment, and then we would outline the different forms of flexible employment to be explored in this essay and critically evaluate how it empowers an employee and how it can work against empowerment.
The term flexible employment has been used to describe a range of working patterns including non- standard hours, reduced hours and various forms of remote work. (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 85), it includes any work pattern that is not on a full time basis; Flexible working includes remote working, reduced hours, compressed working time which means when employees decide to work their contract hours over a fewer period than normal and also job rotation which is done via functional flexibility. We can describe empowerment as self-management; the heart of the empowerment approach is the recognition of self-management, it paves way for employee management and the idea is for workers to become their own managers (Shipper & Charles, 2001, p. 48). . For lack of a simple definition, Empowerment can be seen as having access to information and resources, having a range of options from which to make choices, feeling part of a group, Changing others' perceptions of one's competency and capacity to act, Learning skills (e.g., communication) that the individual defines as important, Understanding that people have rights (Chamberlin, 2010). Empowerment of an employee suggests the removal of division of labor and hierarchy or dissolution of bureaucratic structures via decentralization, disaggregation, delayering and disorganization (Student Handbook, 2010). Empowerment can be seen as an act of delegating authority and responsibility in order to carry out given tasks, it gives the employee a sense of belonging and satisfaction (Shipper & Charles, 2001, p. 48). A poorly empowered staff usually says "they" instead of "we". (Storey, John; Quintas, Paul; Taylor, Phil; Fowle, Wendy, 2002, p. 1).#p#分页标题#e#
The human resources department is an important unit within an organization and it is responsible for creating paths and conditions for career development of the employees, ensuring that staff gets what they want from the organization and in return the organization gets what it wants from the staff. The strategy used by organizations is to create conditions in which the employees can manage themselves and their actions are guided by motivation, culture and norms of the organization. Ideally a self managing employee should be able to carry out responsibility, be able to monitor personal progress to objectives set and has the resources to pursue the objectives; the employee is given new responsibilities and then they become more committed, flexible practices can then expand an employee's involvement and they become more accountable for their actions. The empowerment of an employee may therefore limit their actions (Gvaramadze, 2008, p. 471). It is highly crucial for an appropriate contract mode to be selected because it is critical in enhancing human resource strategies and organizations performance. (Kulkarni, Subodh P; Ramamoorthy, Nagarajan, 2005, p. 753). Organizations have moved from the era of managers alone making decisions and employee only to follow directives, to the era of self management which involves workers innovativeness in order to increase competitive advantage. Flexible employment may leave a void left as a result of the absence of structure because of its less bureaucratic nature; this void can be filled in by the norms and culture of the organization (Shipper & Charles, 2001, p. 48).
In recent years the number of institutions offering a range of flexible options to their employees has increased, and employees take this as a response to the increasing interest in work-life balance, and need to be ahead of competition in the labor market (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 85). In order to increase the work-life balance, parents of disabled children and parents also who feel the need for more flexibility in order to achieve their personal needs have the right to ask for flexible employment, the most important characteristic of these work arrangements is for the employee to be able choose which is best suitable for them, but at the same time it is good to note that not all flexible work is voluntary (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2008, p. 422).
灵活就业形式—Forms of flexible employment
Using the Atkinson's model there are two groups making up the flexible firm namely; Core which is the group that enjoys job security and possibility of career progression and the second group is the peripheral where numerical flexibility is derived and there are 3 categories of this kind of employee; the ones that perform relatively routine or deskilled tasks which require an element of firm-specific training but offer few career prospects it could be part time or full time and it is vulnerable to market change, secondly is the specialist with non-firm specific skills required by an organization periodically e.g. system analyst, Thirdly is the unskilled employee catering, cleaning etc the pay conditions are likely to be poor (Legge, 2005, p. 175). For the purpose of this essay we shall outline four forms of flexible employment:#p#分页标题#e#
Functional Flexibility: this has to do with the ability of a firm to reorganizing tasks or job in order for employees to be able to broaden their range of skills; this may be through job rotation (Student handbook, 2010). This process encourages multi skilling in the organization and most of the time this is of benefit to full time employees. Management would therefore deploy and redeploy particular sections of the workforce on a wide range of tasks so that they can respond effectively to market demands and to achieve this employee are trained in a wide range of skills; this form of flexibility develops from technological and product changes (Sparrow, 1998). It involves multi skilling where core workers are trained to carry out a variety of tasks and can move from one department to another department or where and when they are needed. Inter-departmental training associated with this flexibility often leads to internal career progression and this progression would be based on learning new skills. These core workers are more likely to be full time workers than the numerical part timers (Sparrow, 1998).
Numerical Flexibility: this form of flexibility has to do with the quantitative way of utilizing labor based on the principle of adjusting the size of the workforce to the levels of economic activity at short notice; as the workload fluctuates management has the option to adjust its human resources according to changes in demand; there are different forms of this flexibility which includes; Casual, part-time contract, remote work, fixed term work, reduced hours, temporal flexible work etc (Atkinson, 1984). A firm is likely to economize on its transaction costs by outsourcing general human assets, which is characterized by less valuable human assets and does not provide competitive advantage (Kulkarni, Subodh P; Ramamoorthy, Nagarajan, 2005, p. 752).
Distancing: relates to the outsourcing or subcontracting of activities that may include core and non-core activities most non-core activities e.g. cleaning and catering are usually contracted out ; it is an alternative to flexibility whereby a company can transfer its workload to another company or an individual (Handbook, 2010).
Financial Flexibility: It could be described as a person based system in which the payment system is more varied and individualized , payment would depend on the work/ effort put in; your rewards would be determined by the contribution and effort put into work (Atkinson, 1984).
Women are more likely to provide numerical flexibility while men perform functional flexibility , Making women occupy the majority of part-time jobs found at lower grades while men perform roles associated with multi-skilling, full-time work and career progression. But with gender equality and other employment legislation this is being reviewed gradually.
Having described the meaning of flexible employment, empowerment and the various forms of flexible employment we would now evaluate in the following paragraphs how these flexibilities can enhance or mitigate empowerment.#p#分页标题#e#
"The European Commission (2001) has identified ten dimensions of job quality, including both objective and subjective elements. These cover: intrinsic job quality; skills, life-long learning and career development; gender equality; health and safety at work; inclusion and access to the labor market; work organization and work-life balance; flexibility and security; social dialogue and worker involvement; diversity and non-discrimination; and overall work performance" (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2008, p. 420). All these are factors that lead to empowerment because job quality plays a vital role in the empowerment of employees. Autonomy is also a very important aspect of job quality; it is the ability of an employee to control their time and place to work to suit their needs in order to achieve work-life balance satisfactory to them; which gives them the feeling of empowerment in that they can choose where and when to work within the organizations boundaries (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2008, p. 421). Greater autonomy and control for most individual is gotten via flexibility and this has a positive effect on job satisfaction, but although this is not always the case for example there is evidence that not all flexible workers actually derive this satisfaction for example remote workers (working from home or out of the office) may have a varied effect on job satisfaction, this may be due to the restricted social interactions that leads to feeling of being isolated, and they usually miss opportunities for development, learning advancement, colleagues mentoring and other activities that take place in the office. Empowerments entails that the worker can relate with other members of the org, this may be restricted especially for remote workers because they do not really get the time to relate with their colleagues. In terms of career progression studies have shown that they were perceived to have lower career progression potential (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 421). It is an arguable fact that flexible employment can contribute to job quality and satisfaction because it allows employees to choose when and where they do their jobs, all is for assistance for a better work-life balance but traditionally flexible jobs are seen as low quality jobs, some employees would rather have full time employment where available (Antecol, Heather; Kuhn, Peter, 2000, p. 702).
Job insecurity can be seen as a mitigating element for employee empowerment and workers especially fixed term and temporary workers experience this because they do not have the opportunity for development on the job, career progression and ability to identifying with the organization and these opportunities are available to permanent workers (Guest, 2004, p. 13). Employees will most times be committed to an organization and ready to take risk as regards innovations when they sense job security and thus willing to go an extra mile for the organization. The workers are usually given the opportunity to make a choice on the kind of employment contract they want, but at the same time they are faced with job insecurity for those that choose temporary work or part time work, so as they gain the so called "empowerment" the lose their job security which they have no control over, and this makes you question whether they are actually empowered in the first place.#p#分页标题#e#
Numerical flexible workers are hardly seen in the office because of the nature of their contract, so with financial flexibility where by measure of performance is usually done by seen effort or contribution to an organization, if you are hardly seen in the office, it would be hard to measure your performance and this mitigates empowerment because it restricts the power employees have over their performance appraisal review and development process, and so they are at a disadvantage (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 86). Productivity also lies on the workers efforts as a team, there is need to be coordinated in order to achieve optimum results; Temporary workers may not be privileged to form effective teams because of the nature of their employment. That is not to say that permanent workers do not also have a disadvantage in this aspect in that, their performance is always being watched under closer surveillance than the temporary workers making them face more threats of being fired for poor performance than a temporary worker because they are almost constantly watched in their teams and may lose in terms of future promotions (Lee, 1996, p. 543). This is to say that under financial flexibility the permanent workers are also constantly under surveillance that they do not necessarily enjoy and have no power over it. In some studies permanent workers also experience high levels of satisfaction that comes with authority, studies also show that permanent workers who would rather work as temporary workers are likely to be more fatigued and stressed at work; and the feeling of being trapped to them is worse than the feeling of job insecurity and as a result may have low levels of support or commitment for the organization and unwillingness to learn new things; So with functional flexibility if the full time workers would rather work on a temporary basis there is likely to be disempowerment, although there is indication and no consistency that temporary workers are less satisfied than permanent workers (Guest, 2004, p. 12).
Despite all the challenges flexible workers face, some still prefer flexible terms of employment and would therefore seek fixed term or temporary contract by choice, and want to have power over how their time is spent on work, this may be because they are also self employed and therefore need time for themselves, or because the desire a better work-life balance, while some other move in and out of permanent employment just as it suits them, They look for contracts that would serve them firstly and the organization secondly (Guest, 2004, p. 13). Mostly females are in flexible contracts and have job satisfaction, especially the ones married with kids, it is important that they have work-life balance and studies have shown that temporary female workers may have more job satisfaction than permanent workers or involuntary temporary workers (Guest, 2004, p. 13). Empowerment is usually enjoyed by these groups of people because they pick this contract by choice and are very willing to forego the opportunities such as job security because they are already satisfied.#p#分页标题#e#
Flexible employment can influence employees in different ways, one in which their lack of skills makes the employee treat them less favorably than the permanent workers and another group of people who are highly skilled and who are in demand and as a result can dictate to the employers their terms for employment, the latter group are obviously more empowered than the former; not all employees that are flexible workers have a choice, most times the unskilled employees do not have a choice and therefore are not exactly empowered by the organization (Guest, 2004, p. 12). Organizations are sometimes interested in individuals who do not have a choice of employment so that their own terms of employment can be given and sometimes this contract is given with conditions that the employee may not like and this may disempower the individual. Studies carried out by Guest, 2004 show that employees on flexible employment have reported lower levels of job security and job satisfaction than those on a permanent contract (Guest, 2004, p. 13).
Most times when employees have a choice over employment patterns they tend to have job satisfaction, although the results for remote workers varies, some find higher level of job satisfaction and increased autonomy whereas some others have found that because of the isolation they experience it has a negative impact on job satisfaction they also report a mixed evidence of strain and stress (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 87).
Flexible work may have its numerous contribution to empowerment but it may also work against it, in that it may add to stress levels for example someone who works reduced hours may be given the same work load as a full timer and this might cause stress, some studies even show that employees who work from home show more signs of mentally ill health than workers in the office (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 87). It therefore makes us question if flexible employment is just a ploy by organizations to intensify the work of their employees. Flexibility helps an organization retain its valued employees, reduced level of absenteeism and greater employee commitment, it also facilitates work intensification which occurs when people work harder as a result to changes in the organization, for instance if a full time employee changes contract to reduced hours the workload still remains the same, this could still result in increased efforts whereby you are working when not supposed to or you are working harder than normal in those reduced hours, flexible working patterns facilitate work intensities because of this increased effort. When this is the case, the employee really does not have control over the time in which they want to work because they find themselves working at hours when they are not supposed to be working so as to stay ahead of the job in order to be productive. In remote working, it just allows them work harder and longer with increased hours because of less distraction that is not to say that some distractions may come from the home. The traditional work day may not necessarily bring out the best in employee effort to work, working fewer hours may have greater efforts by the employee because it is less stressful and less breaks are probably taken (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 86). A number of studies have shown that part time workers are more energetic and eager to work and the offering flexible options has a positive effect on employee commitment; this may also be due to an arguable fact that says an employee taking advantage of a flexible work option feels obligated to the employer because of the opportunity given; it is like a switch of benefits (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 87).#p#分页标题#e#
Multi skilling is another determinant of job quality that many flexible workers miss, full time workers in an organization with functional flexibility develop different skills overtime on the job due to job rotation and the system of functional flexibility. Multi skilling is when employees are able to perform a variety of tasks for the firm. Overtime employees develop and acquire multiple skills on their job and on other jobs that are performed in the firm. Flexible workers may not be able to make use of this opportunity and are usually skilled specific to the job they are doing (Kulkarni, Subodh P; Ramamoorthy, Nagarajan, 2005, p. 753). It is harder for a flexible worker to be multi skilled and this may lead to disempowerment.
Having said all these it is good to note that flexibilities in organization can only be achieved if employees display "high commitment, high trust and high levels of intrinsic motivation" Some flexible organizations specialize in incorporating employees into managerial concerns and business objectives in order for that oneness to be present and for employees and the organization to have a unified goal, through team building, quality circles, multi skilling etc (Legge, 2005, p. 175). Employees in flexible work may also experience different levels of empowerment, for some flexible forms of employment offers empowerment while for some it is just not the case it may be seen as a way for organizations to increase control over their work and work patterns.
总结—CONCLUSION
This essay explores the way in which flexible forms of employment can lead to increased employee empowerment. We look at the different definitions of the key terms; empowerment and flexible employment and then critically analyzed the view that flexible forms of employment offer greater employee empowerment via evaluating the different views of researchers and authors.
Flexible employment has grown overtime mainly because of global changes and technological innovations and these factors have affected the labor market significantly, firms therefore identify particular skills and arrange them to fit their needs; Flexible work arrangements offers organizations a way to manage their personnel (Lee, 1996).
Flexible forms of employment can empower employees by helping them attain a suitable work-life balance, increased independence to an extent, and also gives an individual the opportunity to find a permanent job if the temporary job is not what they would otherwise be doing. Flexible workers are also empowered via protection by employment laws just as permanent workers are also protected. Part time and flexible work is mainly used by those with needs to find work to fit their personal needs or family needs especially women that have kids, older people, people with ill health and students just meaning to work during the holiday also opt for this. Of recent it provides a transition for those who have been displaced from permanent work so that they can still get income and some benefits while in search of permanent work (Lenz, 1996, p. 553) . Employment laws also ensures that flexible workers are treated fairly; because it gives them the right to appeal against any unfair treatment, equal opportunity directives actually provides an important source for flexible workers right because it exists to give equal right to flexible workers. (Cook, 1998).#p#分页标题#e#
Flexible work arrangement enables work intensification and stimulates a sense of obligation from employee to the employers, some employees actually add more effort just because they feel indebted to their employer for giving them a "good" opportunity for flexible employment, part-time work is often a very stable category of employment,; hence the thankfulness for the opportunity given to them to work (Harris, 2007, p. 98). In reality this may be seen as disempowerment in that the organization has increased control over the individual for instance through work intensification, the employee may have a choice over when and where he wants to work, but really does not have control over the workload given to him, so in the end the organization still has an advantage because they minimize cost by employing more flexible workers and at the same time get optimum result because the employee still does the same work that a permanent staff would be doing. For the unskilled numerical workers they really have no choice or option for empowerment.
Flexible employment is a tool for empowerment by creating a better work life balance, multi skilling etc but at the same time they are other factors that need to be considered in showing if it actually enhances empowerment, it may not be empowerment if for example the employee would rather full time employment and he is on a part time contract Outsourcing also may not be empowering in that the employee is like a freelancer and would not be simply empowered by the organization. High skilled workers have more permanent job and more employment opportunity, while low skilled mostly have contracted jobs.
灵活就业这一术语被用来描述一系列的工作模式，包括非标准工作时间、工作时间减少和各种形式的远程工作(Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 85)。它包括不是在全职工作基础上的任一工作模式，灵活的工作包括远程工作、工作时间减少和压缩工作时间。
In recent years flexible forms of employment have been increasing and the number of institutions offering a range of flexible options to their employees has increased, studies have shown that these flexible forms of employment offers the promise of greater employee empowerment, this is an arguable fact. The aim of this essay is to critically evaluate this view by evaluating the different forms of flexibility in organizations, we would also explore previous research carried out by authors on how flexibility in employment can contribute to empowering employees or otherwise. Firstly we would define the key terms to be used in this essay, give a brief discussion on the growing popularity of flexible employment, and then we would outline the different forms of flexible employment to be explored in this essay and critically evaluate how it empowers an employee and how it can work against empowerment.
The term flexible employment has been used to describe a range of working patterns including non- standard hours, reduced hours and various forms of remote work. (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 85), it includes any work pattern that is not on a full time basis; Flexible working includes remote working, reduced hours, compressed working time which means when employees decide to work their contract hours over a fewer period than normal and also job rotation which is done via functional flexibility. We can describe empowerment as self-management; the heart of the empowerment approach is the recognition of self-management, it paves way for employee management and the idea is for workers to become their own managers (Shipper & Charles, 2001, p. 48). . For lack of a simple definition, Empowerment can be seen as having access to information and resources, having a range of options from which to make choices, feeling part of a group, Changing others' perceptions of one's competency and capacity to act, Learning skills (e.g., communication) that the individual defines as important, Understanding that people have rights (Chamberlin, 2010). Empowerment of an employee suggests the removal of division of labor and hierarchy or dissolution of bureaucratic structures via decentralization, disaggregation, delayering and disorganization (Student Handbook, 2010). Empowerment can be seen as an act of delegating authority and responsibility in order to carry out given tasks, it gives the employee a sense of belonging and satisfaction (Shipper & Charles, 2001, p. 48). A poorly empowered staff usually says "they" instead of "we". (Storey, John; Quintas, Paul; Taylor, Phil; Fowle, Wendy, 2002, p. 1).#p#分页标题#e#
The human resources department is an important unit within an organization and it is responsible for creating paths and conditions for career development of the employees, ensuring that staff gets what they want from the organization and in return the organization gets what it wants from the staff. The strategy used by organizations is to create conditions in which the employees can manage themselves and their actions are guided by motivation, culture and norms of the organization. Ideally a self managing employee should be able to carry out responsibility, be able to monitor personal progress to objectives set and has the resources to pursue the objectives; the employee is given new responsibilities and then they become more committed, flexible practices can then expand an employee's involvement and they become more accountable for their actions. The empowerment of an employee may therefore limit their actions (Gvaramadze, 2008, p. 471). It is highly crucial for an appropriate contract mode to be selected because it is critical in enhancing human resource strategies and organizations performance. (Kulkarni, Subodh P; Ramamoorthy, Nagarajan, 2005, p. 753). Organizations have moved from the era of managers alone making decisions and employee only to follow directives, to the era of self management which involves workers innovativeness in order to increase competitive advantage. Flexible employment may leave a void left as a result of the absence of structure because of its less bureaucratic nature; this void can be filled in by the norms and culture of the organization (Shipper & Charles, 2001, p. 48).
In recent years the number of institutions offering a range of flexible options to their employees has increased, and employees take this as a response to the increasing interest in work-life balance, and need to be ahead of competition in the labor market (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 85). In order to increase the work-life balance, parents of disabled children and parents also who feel the need for more flexibility in order to achieve their personal needs have the right to ask for flexible employment, the most important characteristic of these work arrangements is for the employee to be able choose which is best suitable for them, but at the same time it is good to note that not all flexible work is voluntary (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2008, p. 422).
灵活就业形式—Forms of flexible employment
Using the Atkinson's model there are two groups making up the flexible firm namely; Core which is the group that enjoys job security and possibility of career progression and the second group is the peripheral where numerical flexibility is derived and there are 3 categories of this kind of employee; the ones that perform relatively routine or deskilled tasks which require an element of firm-specific training but offer few career prospects it could be part time or full time and it is vulnerable to market change, secondly is the specialist with non-firm specific skills required by an organization periodically e.g. system analyst, Thirdly is the unskilled employee catering, cleaning etc the pay conditions are likely to be poor (Legge, 2005, p. 175). For the purpose of this essay we shall outline four forms of flexible employment:#p#分页标题#e#
Functional Flexibility: this has to do with the ability of a firm to reorganizing tasks or job in order for employees to be able to broaden their range of skills; this may be through job rotation (Student handbook, 2010). This process encourages multi skilling in the organization and most of the time this is of benefit to full time employees. Management would therefore deploy and redeploy particular sections of the workforce on a wide range of tasks so that they can respond effectively to market demands and to achieve this employee are trained in a wide range of skills; this form of flexibility develops from technological and product changes (Sparrow, 1998). It involves multi skilling where core workers are trained to carry out a variety of tasks and can move from one department to another department or where and when they are needed. Inter-departmental training associated with this flexibility often leads to internal career progression and this progression would be based on learning new skills. These core workers are more likely to be full time workers than the numerical part timers (Sparrow, 1998).
Numerical Flexibility: this form of flexibility has to do with the quantitative way of utilizing labor based on the principle of adjusting the size of the workforce to the levels of economic activity at short notice; as the workload fluctuates management has the option to adjust its human resources according to changes in demand; there are different forms of this flexibility which includes; Casual, part-time contract, remote work, fixed term work, reduced hours, temporal flexible work etc (Atkinson, 1984). A firm is likely to economize on its transaction costs by outsourcing general human assets, which is characterized by less valuable human assets and does not provide competitive advantage (Kulkarni, Subodh P; Ramamoorthy, Nagarajan, 2005, p. 752).
Distancing: relates to the outsourcing or subcontracting of activities that may include core and non-core activities most non-core activities e.g. cleaning and catering are usually contracted out ; it is an alternative to flexibility whereby a company can transfer its workload to another company or an individual (Handbook, 2010).
Financial Flexibility: It could be described as a person based system in which the payment system is more varied and individualized , payment would depend on the work/ effort put in; your rewards would be determined by the contribution and effort put into work (Atkinson, 1984).
Women are more likely to provide numerical flexibility while men perform functional flexibility , Making women occupy the majority of part-time jobs found at lower grades while men perform roles associated with multi-skilling, full-time work and career progression. But with gender equality and other employment legislation this is being reviewed gradually.
Having described the meaning of flexible employment, empowerment and the various forms of flexible employment we would now evaluate in the following paragraphs how these flexibilities can enhance or mitigate empowerment.#p#分页标题#e#
"The European Commission (2001) has identified ten dimensions of job quality, including both objective and subjective elements. These cover: intrinsic job quality; skills, life-long learning and career development; gender equality; health and safety at work; inclusion and access to the labor market; work organization and work-life balance; flexibility and security; social dialogue and worker involvement; diversity and non-discrimination; and overall work performance" (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2008, p. 420). All these are factors that lead to empowerment because job quality plays a vital role in the empowerment of employees. Autonomy is also a very important aspect of job quality; it is the ability of an employee to control their time and place to work to suit their needs in order to achieve work-life balance satisfactory to them; which gives them the feeling of empowerment in that they can choose where and when to work within the organizations boundaries (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2008, p. 421). Greater autonomy and control for most individual is gotten via flexibility and this has a positive effect on job satisfaction, but although this is not always the case for example there is evidence that not all flexible workers actually derive this satisfaction for example remote workers (working from home or out of the office) may have a varied effect on job satisfaction, this may be due to the restricted social interactions that leads to feeling of being isolated, and they usually miss opportunities for development, learning advancement, colleagues mentoring and other activities that take place in the office. Empowerments entails that the worker can relate with other members of the org, this may be restricted especially for remote workers because they do not really get the time to relate with their colleagues. In terms of career progression studies have shown that they were perceived to have lower career progression potential (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 421). It is an arguable fact that flexible employment can contribute to job quality and satisfaction because it allows employees to choose when and where they do their jobs, all is for assistance for a better work-life balance but traditionally flexible jobs are seen as low quality jobs, some employees would rather have full time employment where available (Antecol, Heather; Kuhn, Peter, 2000, p. 702).
Job insecurity can be seen as a mitigating element for employee empowerment and workers especially fixed term and temporary workers experience this because they do not have the opportunity for development on the job, career progression and ability to identifying with the organization and these opportunities are available to permanent workers (Guest, 2004, p. 13). Employees will most times be committed to an organization and ready to take risk as regards innovations when they sense job security and thus willing to go an extra mile for the organization. The workers are usually given the opportunity to make a choice on the kind of employment contract they want, but at the same time they are faced with job insecurity for those that choose temporary work or part time work, so as they gain the so called "empowerment" the lose their job security which they have no control over, and this makes you question whether they are actually empowered in the first place.#p#分页标题#e#
Numerical flexible workers are hardly seen in the office because of the nature of their contract, so with financial flexibility where by measure of performance is usually done by seen effort or contribution to an organization, if you are hardly seen in the office, it would be hard to measure your performance and this mitigates empowerment because it restricts the power employees have over their performance appraisal review and development process, and so they are at a disadvantage (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 86). Productivity also lies on the workers efforts as a team, there is need to be coordinated in order to achieve optimum results; Temporary workers may not be privileged to form effective teams because of the nature of their employment. That is not to say that permanent workers do not also have a disadvantage in this aspect in that, their performance is always being watched under closer surveillance than the temporary workers making them face more threats of being fired for poor performance than a temporary worker because they are almost constantly watched in their teams and may lose in terms of future promotions (Lee, 1996, p. 543). This is to say that under financial flexibility the permanent workers are also constantly under surveillance that they do not necessarily enjoy and have no power over it. In some studies permanent workers also experience high levels of satisfaction that comes with authority, studies also show that permanent workers who would rather work as temporary workers are likely to be more fatigued and stressed at work; and the feeling of being trapped to them is worse than the feeling of job insecurity and as a result may have low levels of support or commitment for the organization and unwillingness to learn new things; So with functional flexibility if the full time workers would rather work on a temporary basis there is likely to be disempowerment, although there is indication and no consistency that temporary workers are less satisfied than permanent workers (Guest, 2004, p. 12).
Despite all the challenges flexible workers face, some still prefer flexible terms of employment and would therefore seek fixed term or temporary contract by choice, and want to have power over how their time is spent on work, this may be because they are also self employed and therefore need time for themselves, or because the desire a better work-life balance, while some other move in and out of permanent employment just as it suits them, They look for contracts that would serve them firstly and the organization secondly (Guest, 2004, p. 13). Mostly females are in flexible contracts and have job satisfaction, especially the ones married with kids, it is important that they have work-life balance and studies have shown that temporary female workers may have more job satisfaction than permanent workers or involuntary temporary workers (Guest, 2004, p. 13). Empowerment is usually enjoyed by these groups of people because they pick this contract by choice and are very willing to forego the opportunities such as job security because they are already satisfied.#p#分页标题#e#
Flexible employment can influence employees in different ways, one in which their lack of skills makes the employee treat them less favorably than the permanent workers and another group of people who are highly skilled and who are in demand and as a result can dictate to the employers their terms for employment, the latter group are obviously more empowered than the former; not all employees that are flexible workers have a choice, most times the unskilled employees do not have a choice and therefore are not exactly empowered by the organization (Guest, 2004, p. 12). Organizations are sometimes interested in individuals who do not have a choice of employment so that their own terms of employment can be given and sometimes this contract is given with conditions that the employee may not like and this may disempower the individual. Studies carried out by Guest, 2004 show that employees on flexible employment have reported lower levels of job security and job satisfaction than those on a permanent contract (Guest, 2004, p. 13).
Most times when employees have a choice over employment patterns they tend to have job satisfaction, although the results for remote workers varies, some find higher level of job satisfaction and increased autonomy whereas some others have found that because of the isolation they experience it has a negative impact on job satisfaction they also report a mixed evidence of strain and stress (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 87).
Flexible work may have its numerous contribution to empowerment but it may also work against it, in that it may add to stress levels for example someone who works reduced hours may be given the same work load as a full timer and this might cause stress, some studies even show that employees who work from home show more signs of mentally ill health than workers in the office (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 87). It therefore makes us question if flexible employment is just a ploy by organizations to intensify the work of their employees. Flexibility helps an organization retain its valued employees, reduced level of absenteeism and greater employee commitment, it also facilitates work intensification which occurs when people work harder as a result to changes in the organization, for instance if a full time employee changes contract to reduced hours the workload still remains the same, this could still result in increased efforts whereby you are working when not supposed to or you are working harder than normal in those reduced hours, flexible working patterns facilitate work intensities because of this increased effort. When this is the case, the employee really does not have control over the time in which they want to work because they find themselves working at hours when they are not supposed to be working so as to stay ahead of the job in order to be productive. In remote working, it just allows them work harder and longer with increased hours because of less distraction that is not to say that some distractions may come from the home. The traditional work day may not necessarily bring out the best in employee effort to work, working fewer hours may have greater efforts by the employee because it is less stressful and less breaks are probably taken (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 86). A number of studies have shown that part time workers are more energetic and eager to work and the offering flexible options has a positive effect on employee commitment; this may also be due to an arguable fact that says an employee taking advantage of a flexible work option feels obligated to the employer because of the opportunity given; it is like a switch of benefits (Kelliher, Clare; Anderson, Deirdre, 2010, p. 87).#p#分页标题#e#
Multi skilling is another determinant of job quality that many flexible workers miss, full time workers in an organization with functional flexibility develop different skills overtime on the job due to job rotation and the system of functional flexibility. Multi skilling is when employees are able to perform a variety of tasks for the firm. Overtime employees develop and acquire multiple skills on their job and on other jobs that are performed in the firm. Flexible workers may not be able to make use of this opportunity and are usually skilled specific to the job they are doing (Kulkarni, Subodh P; Ramamoorthy, Nagarajan, 2005, p. 753). It is harder for a flexible worker to be multi skilled and this may lead to disempowerment.
Having said all these it is good to note that flexibilities in organization can only be achieved if employees display "high commitment, high trust and high levels of intrinsic motivation" Some flexible organizations specialize in incorporating employees into managerial concerns and business objectives in order for that oneness to be present and for employees and the organization to have a unified goal, through team building, quality circles, multi skilling etc (Legge, 2005, p. 175). Employees in flexible work may also experience different levels of empowerment, for some flexible forms of employment offers empowerment while for some it is just not the case it may be seen as a way for organizations to increase control over their work and work patterns.
总结—CONCLUSION
This essay explores the way in which flexible forms of employment can lead to increased employee empowerment. We look at the different definitions of the key terms; empowerment and flexible employment and then critically analyzed the view that flexible forms of employment offer greater employee empowerment via evaluating the different views of researchers and authors.
Flexible employment has grown overtime mainly because of global changes and technological innovations and these factors have affected the labor market significantly, firms therefore identify particular skills and arrange them to fit their needs; Flexible work arrangements offers organizations a way to manage their personnel (Lee, 1996).
Flexible forms of employment can empower employees by helping them attain a suitable work-life balance, increased independence to an extent, and also gives an individual the opportunity to find a permanent job if the temporary job is not what they would otherwise be doing. Flexible workers are also empowered via protection by employment laws just as permanent workers are also protected. Part time and flexible work is mainly used by those with needs to find work to fit their personal needs or family needs especially women that have kids, older people, people with ill health and students just meaning to work during the holiday also opt for this. Of recent it provides a transition for those who have been displaced from permanent work so that they can still get income and some benefits while in search of permanent work (Lenz, 1996, p. 553) . Employment laws also ensures that flexible workers are treated fairly; because it gives them the right to appeal against any unfair treatment, equal opportunity directives actually provides an important source for flexible workers right because it exists to give equal right to flexible workers. (Cook, 1998).#p#分页标题#e#
Flexible work arrangement enables work intensification and stimulates a sense of obligation from employee to the employers, some employees actually add more effort just because they feel indebted to their employer for giving them a "good" opportunity for flexible employment, part-time work is often a very stable category of employment,; hence the thankfulness for the opportunity given to them to work (Harris, 2007, p. 98). In reality this may be seen as disempowerment in that the organization has increased control over the individual for instance through work intensification, the employee may have a choice over when and where he wants to work, but really does not have control over the workload given to him, so in the end the organization still has an advantage because they minimize cost by employing more flexible workers and at the same time get optimum result because the employee still does the same work that a permanent staff would be doing. For the unskilled numerical workers they really have no choice or option for empowerment.
Flexible employment is a tool for empowerment by creating a better work life balance, multi skilling etc but at the same time they are other factors that need to be considered in showing if it actually enhances empowerment, it may not be empowerment if for example the employee would rather full time employment and he is on a part time contract Outsourcing also may not be empowering in that the employee is like a freelancer and would not be simply empowered by the organization. High skilled workers have more permanent job and more employment opportunity, while low skilled mostly have contracted jobs.
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