Negotiating a flexible work arrangement: How women navigate the influence of power and organizational context

Abstract

SummaryPrior work-life research has highlighted that while organizations may be introducing more work-life policies, organizational members are not necessarily using these policies. Empirical research is needed that focuses on the individual and provides insight into who is taking advantage of these policies and how they go about negotiating access. In this study, we explore this issue as we investigate the behavioral dynamics that underlie women's experiences negotiating a flexible work arrangement. Focusing on the individual, we examine the influence that perceptions of power and organizational work-life support have on flexible work arrangement negotiations. The results of our research indicate that both macro level factors such as perceived work life support and micro level factors such as perceptions of power affect both the process and outcomes of these negotiations. We explore the implications these findings have for work-life and negotiation research.

Becoming a Working Mother: Managing Identity and Efficacy Uncertainties During Resocialization

“…Organizations, through their policies and employees, can influence an employee's psychological state, especially when that state is in flux, such as is the case of new mothers. While past research has explored the influence of cultural and structural support on career‐related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors (i.e., Greenberg & Landry, ; Kossek et al, ), our findings extend this research by highlighting the influence that perceived organizational support also has on a woman's maternal role—namely, her identity and self‐efficacy. These findings provide qualitative support to other studies that have shown the influence of formal organizational policies on fostering efficacy beliefs (Erdwins et al, ; Goff, Mount, & Jamison, ) and suggest that more research is needed to develop a more differentiated understanding of the influence of work‐life support on work and nonwork identity and efficacy.…”

From formal to informal: executives who migrated to flexible work

“…In other words he is a worker who is, at the same time, a type of businessman. The part-time worker, on the other hand, adjusts to doing his work in shifts, whose duration and/or time for carrying them out, are variable, although they do not reach the number of working hours involved in full-time working scales (Anderson & Kelliher, 2009;Brummelhuis et al, 2010;Greenberg & Landry, 2011;Houseman, 2001;Kovacs, 2004;Kremer & Faria, 2005;Piccinini et al, 2006).…”

“…However, a formal employment contract between a company and its employees in Brazil is governed by the rules of the Consolidation of the Labour Laws (CLT) In this case, formal contracts commonly comprise elements such as: fixed remuneration; a workplace supplied by the employer; there is no predetermined relationship period; the employee works fulltime in compliance of the contract; and the employee dedicates to working for a single employer. As showed by international researchers, this is the model that organized formal work in other countries (see, for instance, Cappelli, 1995;Gallagher & Parks, 2001;Green et al, 2010;Greenberg & Landry, 2011;Kalleberg, 2000).…”

“…Taking into consideration what formal employment contracts are, a flexible contract is considered to be any type of working relationship that does not comply with the criteria of a traditional labour relationship (Gallagher & Parks, 2001;Greenberg & Landry, 2011). The notion of flexibility requires a redistribution of power between the organization and worker, which implies an intention on the part of individuals to appropriate the resistance capacity of organizations, whose rigidity is ready to be overcome, when they become involved with professionals who have flexible employment contracts (Azevedo et al, 2015;Bauman, 1999;Faria & Rachid, 2006;Galea et al, 2014;Giannikis & Mihail, 2011;Green et al, 2010;Stavrou & Kilaniotis, 2010).…”

“…These studies ended up consolidating an ideology excessive in relation to the general understanding of this type of work (Anderson & Kelliher, 2009;Barley & Kunda, 2006), since the discussion focused on flexible contracts as a phenomenon only described in terms of the characteristics of labour market and companies (Galea, Houkes, & Rijk, 2014;Green, Kler, & Leeves, 2010;Greenberg & Landry, 2011).…”