Balance of Flexibility and Stability– Evidence from a Company Survey

According to the IW-Survey on the Balance between Flexibility and Stability most companies cultivate a management style that simultaneously aims to flexibilise and stabilise employment relations as well as work processes. Thus, flexibility and stability are rather complements than substitutes. This resulting management style can be characterised as the existence of trust in the responsibility of employees, the ambition that workers are to act likewise entrepreneurs, the implementation of annual consultations between the manager and the individual worker and the commitment of managers to promoting job satisfaction and motivation. The survey also shows that the likelihood of pursuing a combined flexibility- and stability-orientated approach is significantly higher in innovative and very successful companies. This holds also for specific personnel and organisational policies.

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