Flexible Work Arrangement Analysis

This concept plays a rather important role in the framework of this work. Therefore it is crucial to clarify the concept.

The term flexible work arrangement describes a wide range of alternative work adjustments provided by an organization, that allow employees a certain degree of control over their working hours and work administration (Hohl 1996). Wright and Snell (1998) define flexibility as the ability to rearrange resources and activities in order to adapt them to the environment’s (the organization) and individuals’ (workers) demands, i.e. the extent to which physical time and location markers (such as working hours or workplace) may be changed.

There exist a large number of different working arrangements that can be reconfigured and

Lots of people who use knowledge at work and have some degree of education (taxi drivers, for instance, have geographical knowledge and might even have a degree) cannot be defined as knowledge workers; it is central that the role of knowledge is essential to the job, that they rely on their brains rather than other people, and that they are either experts or highly educated. Even so, the demarcation of one and another is sometimes a matter of judgment and subjective interpretation.

Knowledge workers are essential to an organization, who will therefore aim to launch and harness their productivity in order to be successful (Davenport 2005) but they can nonetheless present challenges. Like for instance trying to reconcile the organization’s culture and the worker’s way of carrying out his job. Further, knowledge is not easy to be structured or

For them, it is seen as a reward for the great amount of training and education they have been given, stating their greater ability to manage themselves. Furthermore, it is complicated to measure the outputs of knowledge in all its extent, so organizations usually have to leave it up to their employees. Knowledge workers also like to decide for themselves their work locations and schedules: if, for example, the manager is told by one of his engineers that he is more productive between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., he will smartly try to facilitate it to him.

Secondly, there is always logic behind everything a knowledge worker does. It is safer to assume their deed is performed correctly than trying to change its execution. It is neither advised to attempt disaggregating their work in single steps in order to understand them (also called Taylor’s approach after Frederick Taylor). Knowledge workers don’t like to be told what to do or see their work analyzed and questioned.

And the last important generalization Davenport assumes is the importance of commitment for knowledge workers. An organization will rarely get this kind of employees to perform under his full performance if he is not both mentally and emotionally attached and committed to his job.

To sum up, a knowledge worker is an important asset to an organization to keep and has therefore to be taken good care of. His abilities and knowledge have to be cultivated but also