Practice of Workforce Flexibility-Internal, External, Numerical and Functional Flexibility

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vathsala Wickramasinghe ◽  
G.L.D. Wickramasinghe ◽  
Chandana De Silva ◽  
Rasika Chandrasekara ◽  
Suranga Jayabandu
Keyword(s):  
Functional Flexibility ◽  
Workforce Flexibility

Workforce flexibility – in defence of professional healthcare work

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Wise ◽  
Christine Duffield ◽  
Margaret Fry ◽  
Michael Roche
Keyword(s):  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Functional Flexibility ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Healthcare Work ◽  
Workforce Flexibility

Purpose The desirability of having a more flexible workforce is emphasised across many health systems yet this goal is as ambiguous as it is ubiquitous. In the absence of empirical studies in healthcare that have defined flexibility as an outcome, the purpose of this paper is to draw on classic management and sociological theory to reduce this ambiguity. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the Weberian tool of “ideal types”. Key workforce reforms are held against Atkinson’s model of functional flexibility which aims to increase responsiveness and adaptability through multiskilling, autonomy and teams; and Taylorism which seeks stability and reduced costs through specialisation, fragmentation and management control. Findings Appeals to an amorphous goal of increasing workforce flexibility make an assumption that any reform will increase flexibility. However, this paper finds that the work of healthcare professionals already displays most of the essential features of functional flexibility but many widespread reforms are shifting healthcare work in a Taylorist direction. This contradiction is symptomatic of a failure to confront inevitable trade-offs in reform: between the benefits of specialisation and the costs of fragmentation; and between management control and professional autonomy. Originality/value The paper questions the conventional conception of “the problem” of workforce reform as primarily one of professional control over tasks. Holding reforms against the ideal types of Taylorism and functional flexibility is a simple, effective way the costs and benefits of workforce reform can be revealed.

State policy of maintaining the innovative forms of employment in the context of the economy digitalization

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Olha Mulska ◽  
Olha Levytska ◽  
Valentyna Kutsyk
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
State Budget ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Functional Flexibility ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Methods Of Synthesis ◽  
Information And Communication

The purpose of the study is to analyze current trends in the evolution of forms of employment under the influence of the economy digitalization, as well as to substantiate the directions and means of public policy to regulate the conditions of effective employment in the new realities. Methods of synthesis and system analysis, groupings, logical analysis, strategic management, and system analysis were used in the research. The most significant characteristics of the sphere of employment in the conditions of the economy digitalization, in particular quantitative flexibility, functional flexibility, and space-time flexibility, are defined. The spheres of economy in which new professions are most in demand in Ukraine in the conditions of development of digitalization processes of the national economy are identified, in particular information and communication technologies, biotechnologies, medicine, energy, and its accumulation, power networks and energy consumption management, transport, especially water and air transport, education, and ecology. The directions, spheres, branches, and concrete sub-branches where new professions are in demand in the conditions of the economy digitalization are defined. The paper emphasizes the leading role of the information and communication technology sector, the development of which largely determines the emergence of new professions. The paper provides the conclusion that in this situation the new forms of employment cover great innovative potential, as well as shadow aspects (informal agreements), which exacerbate the problem of insufficient filling of social funds and reduction of tax revenues to the state budget. The priorities of effective employment policy in Ukraine in the global digitalization of economic relations are outlined based on the principles of flexicurity, best practices, and implementation of innovative solutions in building mutually beneficial and socially responsible relations between employer and employee.

scholarly journals COVID-19 in obstetrics 2020: the experience at a New York City medical center

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (9) ◽  
pp. 892-899
Author(s):  
Ashlesha K. Dayal ◽  
Armin S. Razavi ◽  
Amir K. Jaffer ◽  
Nishant Prasad ◽  
Daniel W. Skupski
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Severe Disease ◽  
Infection Rates ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Crisis ◽  
Asymptomatic Carriage ◽  
Global Spread ◽  
Workforce Flexibility

AbstractThe global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the early months of 2020 was rapid and exposed vulnerabilities in health systems throughout the world. Obstetric SARS-CoV-2 disease was discovered to be largely asymptomatic carriage but included a small rate of severe disease with rapid decompensation in otherwise healthy women. Higher rates of hospitalization, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission and intubation, along with higher infection rates in minority and disadvantaged populations have been documented across regions. The operational gymnastics that occurred daily during the Covid-19 emergency needed to be translated to the obstetrics realm, both inpatient and ambulatory. Resources for adaptation to the public health crisis included workforce flexibility, frequent communication of operational and protocol changes for evaluation and management, and application of innovative ideas to meet the demand.

Workforce Flexibility Optimization in Chemical Plant Construction Process

2013 ◽  
Vol 712-715 ◽  
pp. 3093-3100
Author(s):  
Xuan Guo Xu ◽  
Yun Fei Wang ◽  
Xiao Fei Li
Keyword(s):  
Construction Project ◽  
Chemical Plant ◽  
Construction Process ◽  
Market Environment ◽  
Flexibility Analysis ◽  
Plant Construction ◽  
Good Advice ◽  
Workforce Flexibility ◽  
A Company

Enterprise flexibility is a very important factor for the development of a company which facing a dynamic unpredictable market environment. Workforce flexibility has a determining effect in making a system flexible. The chemical plant construction project characteristic was analyzed, pointed out some unreasonable status of the workforce flexibility during the construction process, and presented a new way through functional and numerical flexibility analysis to optimize the workforce flexibility in an equipment installation project case. Some good advice to improve workforce flexibility is presented.

scholarly journals Apparatus architecture and allometry: the keys to conodont element function?

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 239-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Purnell
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Differentiation ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Feeding System ◽  
Substantial Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Functional Flexibility ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Filtering Function ◽  
Element Function ◽  
Element Series

Much effort has been expended in determining the geological utility of conodont elements; little has been spent on determining their usefulness to the conodont animal. Most conodonts had an apparatus made up of a number of morphologically distinct, complex elements. Such apparatuses were borne by members of the Ozarkodinida, Prioniodinida, and Prioniodontida, together accommodating ~75 percent of known conodont genera.The ozarkodinid apparatus consisted of an anterior battery of S and M elements behind which lay opposed pairs of Pb and Pa elements. Debate over its function has centered on two main hypotheses. These have considered the apparatus either as a filter feeding system, or as teeth. Ontogenetic analysis reveals that ozarkodinid apparatus growth was incompatible with a filtering function. The rate of increase in size of the S and M elements (the postulated filtering system) was insufficient to have met the increasing food requirements of the growing animal.Like the apparatus of ozarkodinids, that of prioniodinids was differentiated into an anterior S and M element series and posterior, paired Pa and Pb elements. Despite these similarities in element arrangement, the prioniodinid apparatus does not exhibit the same degree of morphological differentiation as that of ozarkodinids. The Pa and Pb elements were probably involved in swallowing rather than cutting and grinding food.The prioniodontid apparatus is poorly known but it is clear that although the morphology of elements is comparable to ozarkodinids, their arrangement in the apparatus was markedly different. Until the architecture of the apparatus has been determined, it's mode of function can only be guessed at. Preliminary knowledge of the apparatus, however, suggests that it operated differently to those of ozarkodinids and prioniodinids.Understanding of the function of conodont elements requires that their morphology is studied within the context of an integrated multielement apparatus. There is substantial variation in apparatus composition and differentiation, and element morphology between clades. This variation undoubtedly reflects, to a large extent, differences in apparatus adaptability and versatility, functional flexibility, and food specificity; all factors that in other groups have had a major influence on evolutionary patterns.

scholarly journals ‘Where’ Questions and Their Responses in Duna (Papua New Guinea)

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lila San Roque
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Direct Reference ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
Frequency Function ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Functional Flexibility ◽  
Information Gap ◽  
Question Formation

AbstractDespite their central role in question formation, content interrogatives in spontaneous conversation remain relatively under-explored cross-linguistically. This paper outlines the structure of ‘where’ expressions in Duna, a language spoken in Papua New Guinea, and examines where-questions in a small Duna data set in terms of their frequency, function, and the responses they elicit. Questions that ask ‘where?’ have been identified as a useful tool in studying the language of space and place, and, in the Duna case and elsewhere, show high frequency and functional flexibility. Although where-questions formulate place as an information gap, they are not always answered through direct reference to canonical places. While some question types may be especially “socially costly” (Levinson 2012), asking ‘where’ perhaps provides a relatively innocuous way of bringing a particular event or situation into focus.

Success and Survival of Skill-Based Pay Plans

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason D. Shaw ◽  
Nina Gupta ◽  
Atul Mitra ◽  
Gerald E. Ledford
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
Supervisor Support ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Technical Innovation ◽  
Innovation Strategy ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Compensation Systems ◽  
Workforce Flexibility

Factors related to the success and survival of skill-based pay (SBP) plans are addressed in a longitudinal study of 97 facilities. Results indicate that certain design features and support variables relate to increased workforce flexibility and to SBP survival, and supervisor support also relates strongly to SBP survival. The results also show that SBP plans are more successful and sustainable in manufacturing facilities than in service facilities, and SBP survival is less likely in facilities pursuing a technical innovation strategy. Implications of the research for theory and practice regarding SBP plans, compensation systems, and human resources management innovations are addressed.

Campus management process dynamics – Finnish and Australian practices

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eelis Rytkönen ◽  
Christopher Heywood ◽  
Suvi Nenonen
Keyword(s):  
Management Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Functional Flexibility ◽  
Process Dynamics ◽  
User Behaviors ◽  
Physical Environments ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
User Communities ◽  
The University

Purpose This paper aims to outline campus management process dynamics that are affected by glocalization, changing funding structures and digitalization, and answer: How do glocalization, changing funding structures and digitalization challenge university campus management? and What implications do the challenges have on campus management processes? Design/methodology/approach Literature overview discusses how glocalization, changing funding structures and digitalization affect campus management. Empirical part explores how these forces affect management processes through 36 interviews on multiple embedded cases in the main campuses of Aalto University in Finland and the University of Melbourne in Australia. Findings Major challenges include future foresight, institutional sharing, economical paucity and functional flexibility. Heterogeneous user behaviors challenge absolute spatial measures as bases for designing learning and working environments. Finding a balance between long-haul portfolio maintenance for the university and future users and short-haul flexible pilots for the current user communities is crucial. Research limitations/implications The results derive from interviews of 36 campus management professionals from two campus management organizations limiting the validity and the reliability of the study. Further studies should be conducted by replicating the study in another context, by interviewing end users and clients and by investigating case investments and impacts over time. Practical implications Campus managers can answer the challenges through practical applications such as big data collection and sharing in physical environments, integrated service provision to thematic communities, cross-pollination of user communities and open access to information and infrastructure services. Originality/value This paper provides insights and tools to strategic alignment by comparing campus management of two fundamentally different systems in the context of higher education and on-going digitalization.

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