A STUDY ON RECRUITMENT PROCESS OF FLEXIBLE

MANPOWER
PROJECT REPORT
A Report Submitted For the Partial Fulfilment of a Study of HR Process and
Attrition Analysis for the Degree of Master of Business Administration Human
Resource Management in Pondicherry University

Submitted By
Name

: Ms. SANDHYA. S

Enrolment no

: 0214390440

MBA (HRM)

: Human Resource Management

Under the guidance of : DR.LAWERENCE (Professor of Loyola College)

ACADEMIC SESSION : 2014 2016
Director of Distance Education
Pondicherry University
Puducherry 605014

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE of the Guide

This is to certify that the Project Work A STUDY ON RECRUITMENT

PROCESS OF FLEXIBLE MANPOWER is a bonafide work of

Ms.SANDHYA. S(Enrol No. 0214390440) Carried out in Partial Fulfillment for
the award of degree of MBA HRM (Master of Business Administration Human
Resource Management) of Pondicherry University under my guidance. This project
work is original and not submitted earlier for the award of any degree / diploma or
associateship of any other University / Institution

Signature of the Guide

Guides Seal

Name of the Guide:

Place: Chennai
Date:

Students Declaration

I, Ms.SANDHYA. S hereby declare that the Project Work A STUDY ON

RECRUITMENT PROCESS OF FLEXIBLE MANPOWER is
original work done by me and submitted to the Pondicherry University
in partial fulfilment of requirement for the award of Master of Business
Administration in Human Resource Management is a record of original
work done by me under the supervision of DR.LAWERENCE (Professor
of Loyola College)

Enrolment No: 0214390440

Date:

Signature of the student

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Acknowledgement is an art, one can write glib stanzas without meaning a word,
on the other hand one can make a simple expression of gratitude
I take the opportunity to express my gratitude to all of them who in some or other
way helped me to accomplish this challenging project in Syntel Private Ltd,
Chennai. No amount of written expression is sufficient to show my deepest sense
of gratitude to them.

I am extremely thankful and pay my gratitude to our DR.LAWERENCE

(Professor of Loyola College)and my faculty guide GUIDANCE PULC
TWINNING PROGRAM , LOYOLA COLLEGE , CHENNAI 600 034 for
their valuable guidance and support on completion of this project in its presently.
A special appreciative Thank you in accorded to all staff of Syntel Private Ltd,
Chennai for their positive support.
I also acknowledge with a deep sense of reverence, my gratitude towards my
parents and member of my family, who has always supported me morally as well
as economically.

At last but not least gratitude goes to all of my friends who directly or indirectly
helped me to complete this project report.

INDEX
Abstract
Introduction
01.

Flexibility: An introduction

1.1

Forms of flexibility and market segmentation

1.2

Flexible working in the WERS data

1.3

Employee coverage

1.4

Employment flexibility and commitment

1.5

Preface

1.6

Preliminary Considerations

02.

Repairable Item System (RIS)

2.1

Set of Production Machines:

2.2

Feel the force of flexible manpower:

2.3

Employment flexibility and commitment:

2.4

Flexible Manpower Planning (FMP)

2.5

Flexible working across the organization

03.

Employee wellbeing and work-life balance

3.1

Organizational commitment

3.2

Team working

3.3

Retention and recruitment

3.4

Indirect Impact on Performance

3.5

Organizational commitment

04.

Informal vs formal flexible working

4.1

Careers

4.2

Work-life balance

4.5

Control of a Repairable Item System

Extent of employer/employee
mismatch
Cost Minimization:

05.

Relevant Literature

5.1

Limited Manpower

5.2

Variable Manpower

4.3
4.4

5.5

Simulation Experiment
Manpower Planning and Cycle-time
Reduction
Definition of part-time work

06.

Conclusion

07.

ANNEXURES

08.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

5.3
5.4

Abstract
Flexible manufacturing systems can be seen as the latest stage in the
automation of small batch production. The prevailing manpower
approach to these systems is characterized by a hierarchical and highly
specialized job structure. An alternative is to have a homogenous job
structure on an advanced skill level. The latter approach increases
problems and costs of implementation processes; however, it may ensure
higher utilization times, more flexibility, and better quality in the long
run. Trends in small batch and process manufacturing, the labour market,
and union policies provide opportunities for the alternative approach.
The demand for Gas Lift Mandrels (GLM) in the oil and gas industry is
expected to increase over the next few years, requiring Schlumberger's
GLM assembly line to increase their manufacturing capacity. Given the
labour-intensive nature of Schlumberger's GLM assembly line, other
than implementing citizens and purchasing more equipment, it is
important to also consider manpower issues. This research analyses
manpower management issues in the GLM assembly line to meet the
projected increase in customer demand over the next three years. A
detailed time study was conducted to understand and characterize all
processes in the assembly line, before manpower plans were drawn up
for each year till 2013. Several manpower scheduling concepts were
incorporated in the manpower plan, such as Job Rotation and Workforce

Flexibility to optimize the rate of utilization, human performance and

well-being. By clustering processes together, the labour utilization rate
can be increased to more than ninety percent. A new position of grinders
has also been proposed to assist in various grinding operations, in order
to reduce the cycle times of processes, to help workers gain better focus
in their work and to reduce the cost of labour.

Introduction
One of the most important discussions on the ER (employment
relationship) is the issue of flexibility in the labour force. Through
substantial research numerous arguments arose regarding changes in the
past types of employment. Whereas once job security was exchanged for
commitment, currently organizations demand from their employees
flexibility, multiple skills and high levels of performance. In return,
further from monetary rewards, there are opportunities for training and
development so that people could increase their skills and competencies
thus making themselves more marketable. In this paper, we examine the
issue of employment flexibility and its role in organizational life. The
focus is particularly in the relationship of flexibility and employee
commitment. Our objective is to assess whether the route to
implementing flexibility has led to the alienation of employees from
organizations and to the decrease of commitment levels towards their
employers.
We start by introducing the concept of flexibility in the organization and
its specific context with regards to the labour force and the competitive
new climate. We define the labour markets and what hiring mechanisms
are available for organizations and even more, the power management
can exercise in its relationship with the labour force. At this stage, we
highlight the specific types of employment flexibility and examine the

various theories towards achieving it in practice. In order to comprehend

the effects of labour flexibility in employee commitment, we introduce
the concept of the psychological contract which in essence describes the
implicit agreement between employees and the organization with regards
to their reciprocal obligations and perceived expectations. As
commitment is directly tied to the PC (psychological contract) we
examine the negative impact flexibility can have as a perceived violation
of the PC.
Extending that, follows a review of the state of employee commitment
with regards to the efforts of infusing flexibility to assess if indeed there
is a deterioration of commitment in favour of flexibility or as some
evidence suggests there can be a compromise between the two. The last
part deals with possible suggestions for managers to consider in order to
pursuit flexibility without thwarting completely labour force
commitment. In the conclusion, there is a recapping of the main points
of the paper and some concluding thoughts.

1.Flexibility: An introduction
Literature suggests that in the 1980s and 1990s major changes occurred
in the workplace and in the relationship between organizations and
employees. In the past, employees expected to remain in their jobs for a
lengthy period of time and enjoyed a relative level of security. On the
other hand, work patterns were designed and distributed by supervisors
and the role of employees was restricted in the narrow tasks assigned to
them. During the last two decades of the 20th century, international
competition, domestic competitive pressures, technological changes and
major financial events made organizations to seek `` greater flexibility
and productivity as well as new strategies focused on speed,
responsiveness to changing market conditions and innovation.have
induced organizations to eliminate jobs not just in the factory floor as
often as in the past but also among those who have traditionally been
offered a long-term career within the organization``
The massive restructuring forced organizations and employees to
renegotiate their relationship as new variables arose. As figure 1 depicts,
in the past employees operated in a climate of stability, with loyalty and
commitment to organization being rewarded in the long-term. There
were shared responsibilities, opportunities for promotion and salary
increase on a steady basis and there were more guarantees of future
development in the organization. In the new situation, it is required that

the workforce will be able to produce immediate results, employees are

now judged with performance-oriented criteria and there is little security
in maintaining a lengthy time of employment. Job security has been
substituted by the call for training and development in order to make
employees enhance their abilities thus permitting them to become more
`marketable` in light of the shift from permanent to flexible
employment.
Undoubtedly, this interpretation appears considerably pessimistic and
depicts employment flexibility as a negative concept. Another dimension
is offered by the need discerned from the 1970s, as policy makers along
with organizations considered the inability of the past system of
employment to ensure the viability of organizations and in extension of
their employees. Furthermore, European firms faced stringent pressures
due to international competition, increased unemployment and the need
to reduce labour costs. Two important proposals to cope with these
pressures were the socalled `low-road`, which entailed competing on
prices, cutting wages and decreasing the overall social benefits of
employees. On the other end, the `high road` was based on promoting
quality, pursuing innovation whilst investing to the enhancement of the
labour force.
Another conceptualization of the latter framework is the shift from
`Fordism` to a `Post-Fordism` regime. Fordism, describes a situation

focusing on mass production and distribution of products in a stable

market with standard terms in the employment relationship. On the other
hand, Post Fordism describes a situation where organizations have to
cope with constant change. At this level, firms are losing their stability
in the marketplace as technological advancement sweeps away the old
rules of competition along with the introduction of globalization and
uncertainty.
In the European context, due to the multitude of institutions, national
authorities, trade unions and social orientation of the member states, the
`low-road` seemed not applicable. Instead, the road of technical
innovation with emphasis on technological advancements,
telecommunications and computing appeared more appropriate. Once
again, it was necessary for employees to cope with these new conditions,
along with cultivating the knowledge and abilities to meet organizational
and business demands. The weight of all these considerations brought
forth the need for labour market flexibility for organizations and
employees alike. By flexibility of course numerous concepts can be
included even in the confines of employment flexibility that is discussed
here. For example, organizations might wish to promote flexibility in
their labour through the enhancement of the quality and competencies of
their employees. Equally, we could recognize employment flexibility
when management makes use of the external labour market to face
internal shortages or deficiencies in the necessary amount of workforce.

At this stage, it is essential to mention some influential factors that affect

labour flexibility. Primarily, we should analyse the term labour market
and its practical linkage to organizations. The simplest and most
important use of the labour market is as the source for organizations to
hire employees. Breaking it down into specific categories, we can
discern three main types of labour markets
Types of labour markets
Unstructured, casual labour markets also known as `spot` market
Structured occupational labour markets which are external to the
firm
Structured and administered labour markets which are internal to
the firm
Casual labour markets describe competitive labour conditions where
employees are selected according to demand fluctuations and wages are
determined based on supply and demand. There are no barriers to entry
for employees and no collective representation in the form of trade
unions. Occupational labour market describes a pool of skilled
employees who are sought from organizations often through trade
unions and professional bodies and especially when temporary increases
in demand occur. Both casual and occupational labour markets represent

the overall external labour market for organizations in the sense that,
hiring is done from an external pool of workers.
On the other hand, administered labour markets are sources of
employment created to fill vacancies internally in the organization. The
design of tasks and the rewarding system is different from the external
labour market arrangements as promotion possibilities and salaries tend
to be higher and unaffected by changes in the external market. Of
course, organizations can adopt a combination of internal and external
labour markets promoting individuals internally for specific tasks whilst
hiring externally for other duties. The existence of both internalized an
external labour market is considered to have an effect on the
determination of wages and working conditions. In essence, both themes
are set mostly by employers and occupational groups directly rather than
the forces of supply and demand as theory suggests. In other words,
there can be a bias in favour of some individuals and groups and to the
disadvantage of others. Such possibility is described as labour market
segmentation and it underlies several aspects in relation to employment
flexibility and commitment as it will be examined later. In this context,
Atkinson (1984) suggested a division of employees into two main
groups, core and peripheral workers.
Core workers, are skilled employees participating in decision-making,
enjoying significant opportunities for training and development and are

relatively well-paid and secure. On the other hand, peripheral workers

are low paid, enjoy little security in their job and their degree of
autonomy inside the organization is limited. Exploiting core and
peripheral labour management, an organization would be able to break
the rigidities associated with the traditional labour market segmentation,
reducing thus the privileges and standard benefits employees were
supposed to receive. Consequently, on one side, organization could
reduce employment costs but also cause the decline of the influence
employees have through collective representation in the form of trade
unions. In this way, management is infusing a flexible model in the
organization.
The above conditions reflect the subtlety of the topic and as such
defining employment flexibility can be complex. For our use, we will
examine four main types of flexibility as suggested by Atkinson (1984).
Functional flexibility: It allows employees to combine skills and
competencies in order to increase their mobility across the various
channels of production. Functional flexibility relies on extensive
training and thus it is likely to be pursued when there is no longer a
stable relationship between employees and the organization.
Numerical flexibility: It refers to the possibility of the organization
to adapt the number of its labour on a short-notice, increasing or
decreasing it as it sees fit Varying employee numbers can be

achieved by hiring temporary agency workers and employing

people on fixed-term contracts. Numerical flexibility is often
related with limited employment security rights.
Temporal flexibility: It refers to shifting working hours so as to
meet production demands. This can include things such as working
overtime and spreading the working hours unevenly over a period
of time depending on fluctuations in production. Part-time
employment also might be used by the organization to face even
tougher peaks in demand.
Financial flexibility: It is linked with efforts on behalf of the
organization to reduce labour costs in order to protect profitability.
To be applied, it requires partial use of temporal flexibility along
with of cost savings that come from using through the adjustment
of wage levels to reflect performance on individual, group or
organizational levels.
We can combine the forms of employment flexibility and labour market
segmentation as table 2 illustrates
1.1 Forms of flexibility and market segmentation
Functional flexibility Supplied by core workers whose skills are vital
to the organization. They would enjoy high remuneration, greater
possibilities for development and benefits. It would provide the

administrative focus for the internal labour market. Numerical flexibility

Supplied by peripheral workers mainly in lesser positions as their
skills would be transferable between organizations. This category of
employees is more easily replaceable and hired according to the needs of
the corporation.
Financial and temporal flexibilities could be achieved through a
combination of policies applied to both groups of workers (e.g.
annualized hours for core workers and part-time agreements for
peripheral employees).
The majority of arguments on employment flexibility have received
significant critiques about their actual application. The main problem
with the flexible firm model is that it presumes the liberty of
management to shape the employment system according to its wishes. It
does not account for the lack of resolution often met at the managerial
level to undertake such long-term strategic planning and the effort it
entails. In spite of its weaknesses, the model offers a clear categorization
of the different kinds of flexibility and an indication of the approach
organizations have taken towards achieving a flexible model. As
empirical research in the UK suggests, management has been pursuing
numerical flexibility rather than the other alternatives.
In simple terms, the tendency in the UK the last few years has been to
externalize employment and marginalize the internal employment

structures. Organizations, all the more select fixed-term and temporary

employees opposed to direct employment. This is part of an effort to
decrease costs associated with wages and social benefits thus
minimizing the overall cost of labour. This picture depicts the general
deterioration of secure employment conditions which is now substituted
by the demands from employees to exploit what opportunities are
offered from crossfunctional work, group-work and other related
projects in order to gain an advanced level of training and knowledge.
Through these opportunities, employees should try to augment their
skills and competencies to make themselves more `employable` and thus
facilitating their potential transition to another organization. Even the
concept of the `high road` that proclaims the use of the knowledgeeconomy and is supposed to lead to the creation of a sophisticated
workforce through the transfer of competition from cost-minimization to
the development of superior products, often diverges from its roots. As
globalization rises further, organizations realize that it is becoming
increasingly difficult to reduce costs whilst maintaining a high standard
of quality.
Flexible working arrangement questions in WERS
Samples of approximately 25 employees in each of the 2191
establishments were asked to fill in a questionnaire. The response rate to
this employee survey was 64%. The questionnaire covered whether their

employer made any of six family-friendly provisions available to them,

namely:

Parental leave (non-statutory since survey before the Statutory

provision);
Job sharing;
Working at or from home during normal working hours;
Workplace or other nursery or help with child care;
Scheme for time off for emergencies (paid or unpaid coded); and
Flexi time.
Employers were asked whether they offered only their non-managerial
employees an entitlement to any of the list of provisions. Employees
from the full range of occupation titles were included in the employee
samples.

1.2 Flexible working in the WERS data.

Extent of employer provision

On the extent of offering non-managerial employees entitlement to

flexible working arrangements, WERS employers gave the following
responses for 1998:
Where there was earlier data for comparison the WERS data found slight
increases since 1996 (Forth et al, 1997) but neither flextime, job sharing,
parental leave or childcare services were either widely or universally
available in 1998

1.3 Employee coverage

WERS employee responses on their access to flexible working
arrangements are displayed in Table 1. Public sector employers were, on
the whole, more generous in all aspects of flexible employment benefits,
including the provision of childcare subsidies. In all respects women
beneficiaries outnumbered the men. However, almost a half (46%) of all
employees did not receive any access to such flexibility.

The WERS data allowed us to investigate the determinants of

employees perceptions of their access to flexible working arrangements.
A range of employee and employer characteristics were used as potential
explanatory variables through logistic regression models and the full set
of results are reported in DE and Smith (2001). Overlapping

analysis of this issue using the same data set is also now available in
Budd and Mumford (2001).2 The results of modelling the determinants
of employees believing they had access to various types of familyfriendly provisions found that employees perceptions were associated
with a mixture of:

the constraints of the job;

the gender of the worker (females more likely);
the child care responsibilities (parents more likely);
traditional values as reflected in gender working groups;
the potential for flexibility in the job without particular
arrangements being needed (higher occupations less likely in some
cases); and
some cherry picking, giving additional fringe benefits to
particularly valued workers

Overall, the conclusions from the analyses of Dex and Smith (2001)
agree with those of Budd and Mumford (2001); that individual
characteristics captured most of the variation in employees beliefs about
their access to this set of flexible working arrangements.
However, the exact determinants varied according to which of the
flexible provisions was under consideration a point that Budd and
Mumford do not stress.4 The nature of the work was particularly
relevant to whether employees had access to working at or from home
and whether they had flextime. Many types of job are not suited to being
done partly or wholly at home. Those working in craft jobs are also
regularly less likely to have access to these types of flexible working
arrangements, but this is often in association with a wholly male
working environment. It might mean that traditional values and their
associated working arrangements are part of the explanation.
The case of emergency leave is interesting in that the workers with
access to leave were those less likely to get access to the other types of
provision. Professionals and managers did not have specific leave
provision, perhaps because they already have sufficient flexibility in
their jobs to cope with emergencies.
The cherry picking question gained some support from the fact that
workers with recent training, those with degrees and sometimes with

longer job duration were often more likely to have access to these
arrangements.
There have been some recent multivariate analyses of EU and US
sources of employees reported in Evans (2001) and Bardoel et al (1999).
Evans concluded that the findings for the EU corresponded to those
found in Australia and the UK; namely
that public sector firms, or those with equal opportunities policies had
the most advantages; permanent and long tenure employees were more
likely to report family leave benefits, as were professional workers
(except for sick leave). Craft, elementary, plant and machine workers all
reported having access to relatively few family-friendly arrangements.
This finding overlaps with the US study solely of female workers by DE
itch and Huffman (2000). Until the availability of the WERS data there
were hardly any British multivariate studies to explain which employees
had flexible working arrangements because of the lack of suitable data.
1.4 Employment flexibility and commitment
Based on the earlier analysis, employment flexibility presents a tendency
to cause feelings of uncertainty and insecurity to employees. Naturally
there are differences among countries and social contexts but the voice
that there are no more `jobs for life` is increasing. Undoubtedly, this is
bound to have adverse effects on employees and trigger negative
reactions. The latter is further accentuated as trade union power declines

and other forms of collective representation become marginalized. One

of the most prominent feature employees bring into the ER is the sense
of commitment to the organization which is not possible to remain
unaffected in the general environment of instability.
The first question that needs to be asked is how employee commitment
is borne inside the employment relationship. The most frequent tool to
describe the ER and eventually leads to commitment is the
psychological contract. We can describe it as ``individuals beliefs,
shaped by the organization, regarding the terms of an exchange
relationship between the individual employee and the organization``. In
simple words, employees offer to the organization their labour, skills,
loyalty etc. and in return they perceive the organization must comply
with a set of obligations such as financial rewards, employment benefits,
job security etc. Similarly, the organization anticipates that employees
will perform at high levels, will be loyal to the company and will work
to achieve the organizations goals.
The psychological contract in not in a written format as standard
employment contracts. Nevertheless, it encompasses a much wider view
of the employment relationship as ``it looks at the reality of the situation
as perceived by the parties and may be more influential than the formal
contract in affecting how employees behave from day-to-day`` 1 .One
important observation about the PC is that, since it is based on the

perceived opinions of employees and considering the large amount of

individuals in the labour force it can be highly subjective.
Guest and Conway (2004) provide a useful model of the psychological
contract which begins from its antecedents. At this level, the PC includes
individual characteristics, the organizational climate and specific HR
policies. The combination of these factors produces the content of the
psychological contract based on trust and fairness employees feel
towards the organization as it is fulfilling its part of the bargain. The
outcome depends on the feelings of employees. If the PC is positive,
then there is an increase on work satisfaction and commitment which
leads to a positive influence on performance. Equally, if employees feel
that somehow the PC is violated than it is likely it will have adverse
effects on performance. It is evident that the same changes that gave rise
to employment flexibility described earlier also shifted the state of the
employment relationship. This is precisely why, the psychological
contract is a vital tool to gauge employee reactions in the changes
occurring in the workplace. Equally, it allows comprehending how
commitment levels have been affected from the entire process.
With the changes in the context of the PC and the renegotiated ER, it is
likely that some employees might feel that the organization is failing to
meet its obligations and view their expectations not met. This could
affect their overall loyalty and performance towards the company. The

latter phenomenon is often termed as a violation or breach of the

psychological contract (Rousseau, 1995). We should point that it is
possible to distinct among the various degrees of intensity that violation
of the PC takes. It is possible for employees to be aware of their
employer's inability to meet expectations or that parts of the contract
have not been fulfilled timely and thus the reaction might be mild in
light of a `perceived breach`. On the other side, a `violation` produces a
much stronger and emotional response. The effects of PC violation are
strongly dependent on the emotional response it triggers to employees.
Due to the subjective nature of employees' expectations, the reactions in
the event of a violation or breach could differ, leaving a portion of the
employees with a strong sense of injustice from the organisation and
another portion feeling less damaged. How will employees perceive a
violation of their PC will also be dependent on personal factors such as
age, education and past experiences, possible combinations that
altogether could create differential comprehensions about the
employment relationship and to the degree a breach or violation is
perceived?
The aftermath of a violation in the psychological contract therefore is
strongly associated with the loss of trust and commitment to the
organisation. As employees feel pressured under the new demands that
arise and the disruption of the agreement with their employer, loyalty to
the organization is put under pressure. Organizations for their part try to

redesign the workplace through a variety of methods. These

methodologies can range from redundancies to delaying and
decentralising structure eventually to `` run their businesses with half the
human effort., half the person space and in half the production time
they believe the drive for flexibility will also provide workers with a
sense of empowerment transition to a lean production will lead to a
win-win situation``.
The problem is, as mentioned earlier that even the `high-road` approach
often diverges from theory when applied practically. Unfortunately, it
becomes focused again on cost-cutting and promoting labour flexibility
with little attention paid to employees. Recapping, on one end is the
disruption of the old psychological contract as perceived by employees
and on the other end, the promises for employability and increased skills
in return for increased performance and commitment The latter is often
thwarted by the inability of the system itself, the unwillingness of
management to pursue such long-term strategies and the negative
feelings of employees towards this climate of change.
What is happening with flexibility?
Insofar, theory suggests that the majority of efforts to introduce and
establish employment flexibility are primarily driven by the motive to
secure organisational interests, with little attention paid to the core of the
workforce and consequently to the overall levels of commitment. The

problem is that for any flexibility system to work, commitment is an

inherent part. On the other side, the change in the employment
relationship is likely to cause feelings of insecurity, stress and scepticism
among the lines of employees which may produce negative reactions
and have adverse effects on the levels of commitment towards
employers. The question now becomes how can the two pictures come
together? Is flexibility won on the expense of employees and the
reaction of the workforce is such that cannot influence the course of the
situation?Or there is a middle path to reconcile the two parties.
Undoubtedly, accounting for the competitive pressures in the
marketplace flexibility has made its way as an essential tool. The various
approaches organizations have adopted on the path to labour flexibility,
to a certain extend provide some benefits with regards to the fulfilment
of organizational goals. More specifically as Hudson (2002) reports, in a
survey with a sample of fourteen organizations where managers were
asked to comment on the effects that redundancies and restructuring had
on productivity and costs , nine out of fourteen stated that there was an
increase on productivity and twelve that cost reduction was significantly
favourable. But is this situation definite? Can organizations build
flexibility that revolves around their own interests? Another aspect is
that `` the drive for flexibility is taken too far, the result could be a loselose situation wherein employees lose health and well-being whilst the

organization loses essential competencies, capacities for innovation and

long-term competitiveness``
Broadly speaking, employment flexibility has been earned to a degree on
the expense of employee commitment. Nevertheless, in spite of all the
massive changes in the workplace, some perceptions in the labour force
are still vibrant. The need to feel a relative level of stability is still quite
strong in spite of all the discussions and examples of restructuring and
redundancies. An interpretation of this is that commitment towards
employers is not yet extinct but because the workplace is in the process
of the major changes, the turbulence that has been created as an effect
altered the balance of the old type of employment relationship based on
commitment in exchange for security. Furthermore, the approach that
employment flexibility can elicit commitment in the context of involving
employees more in the decision-making and by offering them more
challenging work designs that could augment their skills, is debatable. In
theory, such a principles it operational but as literature suggests, internal
and external inefficiencies often lead to overcapitalization of the human
capital in organizations hence adversely affecting levels of commitment.
It is important to note that this theme although accurate, it is subject to a
generalization. There are significant differences from context to context
that will influence both employment flexibility and commitment. For
example, there are differences between European and American

organizations through the existence of more rigidity in the EU with the

presence of more regulation, more trade unions and an increased call for
employee protection. Contrary, in the U.S organizational structures are
flatter and regulation with regards to employment is more relaxed. Also,
employee reactions as shown can vary. The emotional response from a
breach to violation in the psychological contract can differ and as a
result the levels of trust and commitment can also vary from individual
to individual. For example, middle-aged employees are likely to have
different perceptions and ability to adjust than graduates
Examining the above framework on more practical terms, managers are
mostly afraid about decreases in performance, loss of organisational
citizenship and the creation of a pessimistic climate in the workforce.
Simultaneously, the decline of commitment might undermine the very
objectives that flexibility was set to achieve as it will impede with the
organization's effort to capitalize on its intangible assets in an era when
human talent and skills are a key competitive driver. In spite of the
negative indications, research conducted by the CIPD (2005) suggests
that surprisingly, in the UK contrary to common beliefs employees are
not so fearful about losing their jobs and that commitment levels have
remained relatively stable. Of course, these arguments are subject to
further scrutiny but undeniably present a milder picture, it can also be an
indication that steps can be taken to improve the overall picture.
Providing guarantees of job security is indeed difficult but measures can

be adopted to limit the sense of insecurity in employee lines. Guest

(2000) suggests for example corporate policies of avoiding compulsory
redundancies as a solution to alleviate the negative sentiments
For their part, HR departments should ensure that the various training
schemes and involvement programs unfold in a pace of partnership with
employees. Equally, the programs should truly provide opportunities for
development and enhancement of employees' competencies. This would
allow not only for people to make themselves more `marketable` but
also to strengthen their bond with the organization. Using this method,
HR practitioners could assist in the overall empowerment of employee
commitment. In order for any of these measures to take effect it is
necessary to make changes in relevant management practices,from
senior to line management. Starting from the top of the
hierarchicalladder, management should undertake and ensure the
viability of such plans through investment on long-term basis and by
avoiding instances of sacrificing commitment and greater benefits in
favour of short-term cost reductions.
In the overall redesign of management practices, important is the role of
line managers the ones who are the direct link between employees and
the organisation. Equally they often are the ones with authority to deal
directly with the workers on most of the daily operations of the
company. Consequently, how line managers behave plays a major part in

motivating positively or negatively the levels of employee commitment.

Summing up, management has to provide a positive leadership outlook
that will inspire trust and a spirit of co-operation in the labour force in
order to facilitate its adjustment in the new climate and not feed their
negative sentiments.
1.5 Preface
1 dedicate this dissertation to the memory of Hans Geertz who initiated
this research project and persuaded me to undertake the research. It is
with deep respect 1 remember his eff orts to maintain control over the
project, despite his fatal disease. Army 1 remind his everlasting sense of
humour which he used as a powerful tool to make his point. He is sadly
missed. For all of his support, when Hans died, and his contribution to
the research I would like to express my gratitude to Bo Gits. Bo proved
to be a critical! But valuable discussion partner. These discussions have
made an improvement to the quality and the content of this dissertation
1 acknowledge Will Bertrand and Tony Chorister, the supervisors of this
project, for their valuable input in the project. 1 especially appreciate the
freedom that Will offers to Ph.D. students for developing their own
ideas, even when this process may take quite some time. Tony, though
he joined in fairly late, became heavily involved. His help also improved
the English language in this dissertation a great deal. 1 thank Peter
Sander and Frank van der Dun Schouten, who completed the committee,

for their valuable comments. Not being a mathematician I appreciate the

help that I received in the formulation of the mathematical! Models. For
this 1 acknowledge especially Ivo Adan and Jos verity. KooksHumbers
1 acknowledge for the development of the simulation program used in
this study.
In my research I worked together with the management of KLM's repair
facility for the overhaul of jet-engines, CF6. 1 like to thank KLM for
their interest in my research. On a part time basis 1 worked together with
consultancy firm Rijnconsult. Together we developed a trade-off model
to support management in the control of field service organizations. As a
result of this cooperation 1 gained better understanding in the practical
aspects of management problems. I thank Rijnconsult, and especially
Maarten Winkles, for the pleasant cooperation, the valuable working
experience and, not unimportantly, the delicious meals.
Paul Stoop, my roommate, became a true friend. 1 admire him for his
patience with unwilling personal computers. This quality helped me to
turn my ideas into a nice document. Our departure from the Eindhoven
University of Technology will result in a dramatic drop in the sales for
apple pastry. 1 thank family, friends and acquaintances for their
continuous support. Finally 1 call the attention to my girlfriend Barbara.
She is the living proof that the investment in my education in Mannheim
was well spent.

1.6 Preliminary Considerations

In the beginning of this century, organizations gave relatively little
attention to the wishes of the customer with respect to the products they
manufactured and sold. Products were manufactured in a small variety in
large quantities on production equipment which by today's standards was
uncomplicated. The organization of the production process had a
functional orientation, the different process steps were decoupled by
means of buffers. Products had long life cycles and were delivered to
customers from stock.
Since those days the market is becoming more dynamic and demanding.
Organizations must compete for the favours of the customer. To win the
customer over, the organizations are producing and selling their products
in more varieties, with short life cycles, at moderate prices and with a
high quality. For many products, delivery from stock of a vast product
variety is not economical anymore since it results in unacceptable stock
costs. The broad variety as well the short product life cycles require
advanced production equipment and techniques. In this changing
environment a revolution from "production to stock" to "production on
order" has taken place and the competitive measures of short and
reliable lead times are becoming important. The organization of the
production process has changed to a product oriented one with the
process steps tightly coupled. The products may be manufactured in

small batches, according to the principles of "just in time production". In

this case the interruption of a process step can immediately result in a
late delivery to the customer. In such an environment a sudden stoppage
of the production process due to failing production equipment will be
costly and the need for prevention of a sudden standstill of production is
apparent.
An approach to deal with a sudden stoppage is avoidance. Avoidance
means either "elimination" or "making unplanned stoppage planned".
Elimination, to some extent, is accomplished by means of modification.
Making stoppage planned is more and more accomplished with the help
of condition based maintenance concepts. Such concepts prescribe that
inspection is carried out in planned time intervals. The necessary
maintenance activities are generally only known after inspection and
therefore they cannot always be executed in the planned time intervals.
Next to a reduction in the number of unplanned production standstills it
is also important to minimize their duration. As a result of this we are
noticing in some industries a development towards a component
replacement strategy. This strategy requires a modular structure of the
production equipment. During maintenance of the production
equipment,
The failed components are replaced by identical hut serviceable
components from stock. A failed component is either disposed of or

repaired. In the latter case we term it a repairable item. The repairable

items often represent a fair share of the investment in spare components.
Studies of Sherbrookand Gerardsshow that they account for more than
50%, by value, of the total investment for spare components.
A repairable item that has failed is sent off for repair in a specialized
repair facility. The capacity of such a repair facility is limited, which
means that at certain points in time the demand for repair capacity can
exceed the available repair capacity, causing the failed items to queue.
Repair capacity consists of tools, machines and repair men. The repair
capacity provided by repair men we term "manpower". Commonly the
manpower is the most costly form of capacity and, therefore, the most
limited. After repair the item is stocked to support future replacements.
The system of limited capacity and stocks, through which there is a flow
of repairable items, we term a Repairable Item System (RIS). Typically,
the flow of repairable items through a RIS has a circular character.
Failures and repairs take turns, but the repairable item itself remains in
the system. The number of items is, more or less, constant and purchased
ahead. This constant number of repairable items we term the "initial!
Stock". The management of a RIS can basically invest in manpower and
in initial stock to meet the demand for repairable items. Clearly, the
probability that demand can be filled immediately increases with the
investment in initial stock and manpower. Tunis probability we term the
"fill probability". Both, decisions regarding the investment in initial

stock and manpower should be coordinated, in order to obtain a required

fill probability at minimum costs.
Due to tightening customer requirements, demand is becoming
increasingly irregular. Repair men are confronted with rapid variations
in the number of failed components. In reaction to these variations it
would be convenient if the management of a RIS would have the means
to vary the manpower level in time. The manpower variations that can
be employed in reaction to the variations in the number of failed
components we term the "manpower flexibility". Manpower flexibility,
to some extent, can be imposed by the management of the RIS, for
instance by actively adjusting the working day lengths of the repair men.
In that case we talk of Flexible Manpower Planning (FMP). The repair
men become a flexible manpower. Due to loosening restrictions by both
governments and unions the use of FMP has become a popular political
issue in Europe. When the use of FMP is effective, it should be
controlled together with the initial stock and the manpower.
The considerations regarding initial stock manpower and FMP should be
part of a broader framework for the Control of RISs. lt appears that,
from a production and operations management point of view, the use of
MP in RISs and the framework for the control of RISs are little studied
sofa. In this dissertation we address these topics.
Definitions.

A repairable item is:

"a subassembly, technically and economically repairable, that can fulfil
its function in all production equipment of a specific kind."
Examples of repairable items are widely available in practice i.e. power
supplies, pumps, mounted printed circuit boards, weapon systems, jet
engines, et cetera. From the examples it is clear that there are
considerable differences in both the size and the complexity of a
repairable item, e.g. compare a mounted printed circuit board to a jet
engine. A jet engine corresponds with a major investment and for
economic reasons it is considered important that not only the aircraft,
but also the jet engine is restored as quickly as possible. Similar to the
restoration of the aircraft, also the jet engine is restored by means of
component replacement. Such a component, e.g. a turbine, again can be
a repairable item. A repairable item containing other repairable items is
termed a multi-indenture repairable item. It is termed a single-indenture
repairable-item otherwise.
2. Repairable Item System (RIS)
RISs have been studied under a variety of names. We mention
"Technique for Recoverable Item Control Reparable Item Inventory
System" and "Repairable Inventory System". The aspect of "inventory
(initial stock)" is emphasized in all these. We like to stress that next to
the initial stock many other aspects of a RIS can be the subject of study.

Therefore we introduce the more general term Repairable Item System

(RIS) and define it as:
"A collection of one or more repair levels and one or more stock phases each repair level with one or more repair departments with limited
manpower, and each stock phase with one or more stock locations through which there is a flow of a, more or less, constant number of
repairable items, all in order to support one or more sets of identical
machines".
An example of a (complex) RIS, facilitating a set of machines, is
depicted. The key words in the above definition are further explained.

2.1 Set of Production Machines:

Each repairable item should facilitate a number of machines of the same

kind. Such a group of identical machines we term a set A set can be, for
instance, a number of copiers or a number of aircraft. The set(s) of
machines are supported by the RIS. They do not form part of the RIS.
Repair Levels and Departments:
After inspection of a multi-indenture repairable-item, the failed
repairable parts are released from the item and sent off to a
hierarchically lower repair facility for repair. Such repair facility we
term a "lower repair level". The corresponding RIS we term a "RIS with
multiple repair levels". A RIS for the repair of a single-indenture
repairable-item is a "RIS with a single repair level". A repair level
consists of one or more organizational units, each unit containing tools,
machines and repair men. One such unit is responsible for the repair of
one or more repairable items. We term such a unit a "repair department".
Limited Manpower:
The capacity of a RIS depends on the availability of tools, machines and
repair men. All factors can be limited, that is the demand temporarily
exceeds the availability. In our study we restrict ourselves to the RISs
where the capacity of the repair men is the factor which is most limited.
Such RIS we term a "RIS with limited manpower". We remark that all
RISs, observed by us in practice, have limited manpower.

2.2Feel the force of flexible manpower:

As many industries brace for the difficult times ahead, with a looming
oil shock and vigorous competition from low-cost countries in sluggish
European economies, several companies go for lean as the key to turn
difficult market conditions into competitive advantage. Indeed,
historically, lean companies have often thrived in economic downturns,
just as, originally, Toyota gained notice by its unexpected weathering of
the 1974 oil crisis. Currently, Toyota is expanding aggressively
worldwide and continues to gain market share, vying to become the
worlds number one automotive manufacturer.
Lean programme managers tend to complain that lean is difficult in
periods of volume decrease because factory productivity gains are hard
to get in plants set up to produce at high levels of demand: not so. In
fact, the very definition of productivity gains in the Toyota Production
System is to be able to remain equally productive at different levels of
demand. For instance, most people would think of a production line
where 10 workers make 100 parts a day which, as a result of
improvement, now makes 120 as a 20% productivity improvement. Not
in lean! This is an actual improvement if, and only if, customer demand
has increased by the same 20%. If not, this increase of production is
nothing more than overproduction, the number one waste, and main
crime in lean production.

Lean seeks the total elimination of waste, as a way to improve the

response to customer needs in terms of lead time, quality and cost. In the
lean perspective, profits can be found in the way manufacturers make
things: every customer matters, every part counts. The reduction of manhours in every operation is done by eliminating the now famous seven
wastes: waste of overproduction producing too much or too soon;
waste of waiting for parts to arrive or for a machine to finish a cycle;
waste of conveyance any conveyance is essentially waste and should
be kept to a minimum; waste in processing when processing does not
go smoothly and requires extra work; waste of inventory any more
than the minimum to get the job done; waste of motion any motion
which does not contribute directly to value-added; waste of correction
any repair is waste.
The most blatant waste in most factories is the first one, the waste of
overproduction. Most industrial operations are designed to function at
optimal speed, in the mistaken belief that this guarantees the return on
investment of the capital expended in the equipment. Obviously, the
more parts a machine produces, the quicker it pays for itself, right?
Possibly, but only if the parts are needed by the next process, and
ultimately by the customer. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. In the
automotive industry, for instance, most of the equipment is designed
according to the wildly optimistic predictions of automotive
manufacturers, who believe that their latest creation will take the entire

market, and are systematically optimistic in their marketing outlook.

Consequently, many industrial machines are able to function at an
optimal speed, which is largely greater than real demand.
Overtime and overflow:
Functional flexibility: It allows employees to combine skills and
competencies in order to increase their mobility across the various
channels of production. Functional flexibility relies on extensive training
and thus it is likely to be pursued when there is no longer a stable
relationship between employees and the organization.
Numerical flexibility: It refers to the possibility of the organization to
adapt the number of its labour on a short-notice, increasing or decreasing
it as it sees fit Varying employee numbers can be achieved by hiring
temporary agency workers and employing people on fixed-term
contracts. Numerical flexibility is often related with limited employment
security rights.
Temporal flexibility: It refers to shifting working hours so as to meet
production demands. This can include things such as working overtime
and spreading the working hours unevenly over a period of time
depending on fluctuations in production. Part-time employment also
might be used by the organization to face even tougher peaks in demand.

 Financial flexibility: It is linked with efforts on behalf of the

organization to reduce labour costs in order to protect profitability. To be
applied, it requires partial use of temporal flexibility along with of cost
savings that come from using through the adjustment of wage levels to
reflect performance on individual, group or organizational levels.
In simple terms, the tendency in the UK the last few years has been to
externalize employment and marginalize the internal employment
structures. Organizations, all the more select fixed-term and temporary
employees opposed to direct employment. This is part of an effort to
decrease costs associated with wages and social benefits thus
minimizing the overall cost of labour. This picture depicts the general
deterioration of secure employment conditions which is now substituted
by the demands from employees to exploit what opportunities are
offered from cross functional work, group-work and other related
projects in order to gain an advanced level of training and knowledge.
Through these opportunities, employees should try to augment their
skills and competencies to make themselves more `employable` and thus
facilitating their potential transition to another organization. Even the
concept of the `high road` that proclaims the use of the knowledgeeconomy and is supposed to lead to the creation of a sophisticated
workforce through the transfer of competition from cost-minimization to
the development of superior products, often diverges from its roots. As
globalization rises further, organizations realize that it is becoming

increasingly difficult to reduce costs whilst maintaining a high standard

of quality
2.3 Employment flexibility and commitment:
Based on the earlier analysis, employment flexibility presents a tendency
to cause feelings of uncertainty and insecurity to employees. Naturally
there are differences among countries and social contexts (e.g. EU and
the U.S.A) but the voice that there are no more `jobs for life` is
increasing. Undoubtedly, this is bound to have adverse effects on
employees and trigger negative reactions. The latter is further
accentuated as trade union power declines and other forms of collective
representation become marginalized. One of the most prominent feature
employees bring into the ER is the sense of commitment to the
organization which is not possible to remain unaffected in the general
environment of instability.
The first question that needs to be asked is how employee commitment
is borne inside the employment relationship. The most frequent tool to
describe the ER and eventually leads to commitment is the
psychological contract. We can describe it as ``individuals beliefs,
shaped by the organization, regarding the terms of an exchange
relationship between the individual employee and the organization`` In
simple words, employees offer to the organization their labour, skills,
loyalty etc. and in return they perceive the organization must comply to

a set of obligations such as financial rewards, employment benefits, job

security etc. Similarly, the organization anticipates that employees will
perform at high levels, will be loyal to the company and will work to
achieve the organizations goals
The psychological contract in not in a written format as standard
employment contracts (CIPD, 2003). Nevertheless, it encompasses a
much wider view of the employment relationship as ``it looks at the
reality of the situation as perceived by the parties and may be more
influential than the formal contract in affecting how employees behave
from day-to-day`` 1 .One important observation about the PC is that,
since it is based on the perceived opinions of employees and considering
the large amount of individuals in the labor force it can be highly
subjective
Guest and Conway (2004) provide a useful model of the psychological
contract which begins from its antecedents. At this level, the PC includes
individual characteristics, the organizational climate and specific HR
policies. The combination of these factors produces the content of the
psychological contract based on trust and fairness employees feel
towards the organization as it is fulfilling its part of the bargain. The
outcome depends on the feelings of employees. If the PC is positive,
then there is an increase on work satisfaction and commitment which
leads to a positive influence on performance. Equally, if employees feel

that somehow the PC is violated than it is likely it will have adverse

effects on performance. It is evident that the same changes that gave rise
to employment flexibility described earlier also shifted the state of the
employment relationship. This is precisely why, the psychological
contract is a vital tool to gauge employee reactions in the changes
occurring in the workplace. Equally, it allows comprehending how
commitment levels have been affected from the entire process with the
changes in the context of the PC and the renegotiated ER, it is likely that
some employees might feel that the organization is failing to meet its
obligations and view their expectations not met. This could affect their
overall loyalty and performance towards the company. The latter
phenomenon is often termed as a violation or breach of the
psychological contract (Rousseau, 1995). We should point that it is
possible to distinct among the various degrees of intensity that violation
of the PC takes. It is possible for employees to be aware of their
employer's inability to meet expectations or that parts of the contract
have not been fulfilled timely and thus the reaction might be mild in
light of a `perceived breach`. On the other side, a `violation` produces a
much stronger and emotional response (Morison and Robinson, 1997).
The effects of PC violation are strongly dependent on the emotional
response it triggers to employees. Due to the subjective nature of
employees' expectations, the reactions in the event of a violation or
breach could differ, leaving a portion of the employees with a strong

sense of injustice from the organisation and another portion feeling less
damaged (Deer, Iverson & Walsh, 2003). How will employees perceive
a violation of their PC will also be dependent on personal factors such as
age, education and past experiences, possible combinations that
altogether could create differential comprehensions about the
employment relationship and to the degree a breach or violation is
perceived
The aftermath of a violation in the psychological contract therefore is
strongly associated with the loss of trust and commitment to the
organisation. As employees feel pressured under the new demands that
arise and the disruption of the agreement with their employer, loyalty to
the organization is put under pressure. Organizations for their part try to
redesign the workplace through a variety of methods. These
methodologies can range from redundancies to delaying and
decentralising structure eventually to `` run their businesses with half the
human effort., half the person space and in half the production time
they believe the drive for flexibility will also provide workers with a
sense of empowerment transition to a lean production will lead to a
win-win situation``
The problem is, as mentioned earlier that even the `high-road` approach
often diverges from theory when applied practically. Unfortunately, it
becomes focused again on cost-cutting and promoting labour flexibility

with little attention paid to employees. Recapping, on one end is the

disruption of the old psychological contract as perceived by employees
and on the other end, the promises for employability and increased skills
in return for increased performance and commitment The latter is often
thwarted by the inability of the system itself, the unwillingness of
management to pursue such long-term strategies and the negative
feelings of employees towards this climate of change.
Stock Locations:
In order to accomplish a quick replacement of failed items, their
serviceable counterparts are often stocked nearby the set(s) of
production machines. If these sets are scattered, e.g. copiers, the stocks
with serviceable items are also likely scattered. Such RIS we term a
"RIS with multiple stock locations". If these stock locations are supplied
by a common stock location we term it a "RIS with multiple stock
phases and multiple stock locations". A RIS with a single stock location
for the repairable items, for instance a RIS facilitating a blast - female,
we term a "RIS with a single stock location".
Constant Number of Repairable Items (Initial! Stock):
Except for some failed components that are disposed off during
replacement or repair, the repairable items once purchased never leave a
RIS. The disposal is generally very small, i.e. not more than 5% annually
and therefore is assumed negligible in our study.

2.4 Flexible Manpower Planning (FMP)

We define flexible manpower planning (FMP) as:
"The instrument that directs all measures to accomplish variations in the
manpower on the short term. The instrument is under the authority of the
manager and can be applied with a short lead time ".
According to, the attributes of FMP are lead time and authority. "Leadtime" is the time between announcement and implementation of a
measure and "authority" refers to the command that bas the power to
initiate a measure, the manager or the repair man. FMP in our study is
used in response to an irregular demand patter on the short term. Hence,
we are interested in those measures with a short lead time that can be
initiated by the manager. There are four such measures.
(1) subcontracting,
(2) repair men leasing,
(3) overtime and
(4) variable working days.
Subcontracting is attended with some disadvantages. These are the long
lead-times, the high cost and sometimes the difficulty to find a suitable
subcontractor. Leasing of repair men is a possibility if special skills are
not required. Repair, however, usually requires skilled repair men, thus

leasing is often not a suitable option for RISs. The use of overtime is
probably initiated by the manager, but in practice nearly always accepted
by the repair men because of the good financial compensation. It is, in
general, an expensive measure of FMP. A variable working day means
that the number of hours on a particular day is permitted to deviate, in
either direction, from the number of working hours on a standard
working day. Tunis measure, yet little studied in RISs, is the subject of
our research. In this dissertation we use FMP as a synonym for the
application of variable working days.
Psychological effects associated with variations in the day length we
assume negligible. In other words, we assume that FMP affects the
output level of the repair men proportionally with the day length. Further
research, outside the scope of this thesis, must show whether this
assumption is valid.
FMP, when not properly controlled, could result in the use of extra
manpower, i.e. structural overtime. To disentangle the use of "extra
manpower" from the use of "variable manpower" in this study, we
impose the requirement that the use of FMP may not result in extra
manpower on the long term.
About the Research
This report details the findings of the two-year research project
conducted by Cranfield School of Management1 and Working Families

into the impact of flexible working practices on employee performance.

Seven leading companies took part in the research: Centrica; Citi;
KPMG; Lehman Brothers; Microsoft; Pfizer; and the Defence Aerospace
business in Rolls Royce.
Three main approaches to data collection were used: staff surveys, semistructured interviews and focus groups of stakeholders within each
organization. Employees were invited to respond to the survey through
an internet link which ensured confidentiality and 3,580 completed
questionnaires were received. The invitation was sent to those who
worked flexibly as well as those who did not, and those who were
considering such an option. In addition to demographic details, the
questionnaire asked about the different aspects of jobs and working life
including performance, satisfaction with different aspects of
employment, career preferences and stress levels.
A total of 123 semi-structured interviews were conducted across the
organizations. Interview participants included those who used a range of
flexible working patterns such as remote working, flexi-time, staggered
hours, compressed hours and reduced hours. Additionally, we spoke to
individuals who worked with colleagues on a flexible working
arrangement, either as a co-worker or as a manager. Topics covered in
the interviews included individual working patterns, benefits and
drawbacks of flexible working to the individual, colleagues and the

organization, challenges of managing flexible workers, career

progression and company support for flexible working. Focus groups
involved a further 60 participants who were stakeholders in flexible
working from different departments or divisions within each
organization.
2.5 Flexible working across the organisation
Visible employee. Clarity with regard to the positive effects of flexible
working on performance should enable organisations to address any
pockets of resistance, and to encourage new thinking about the most
effective ways to work. Greater cultural acceptance is apparent when
larger numbers of staff from all levels and departments describe their
working pattern as flexible, whether formally with an agreed contractual
change or informally through agreement with their manager.
3. Employee wellbeingand work-life balance
The positive work-life balance effects of flexible workingare probably
the best known and most frequently citedadvantages. Aiming for a
greater balance between demandsfrom within and outside the workplace
is often the driver forindividuals to seek such arrangements. The
interplay betweenemployee wellbeing, work-life balance and
performancebrings into play factors such as organisational commitment,
enthusiasm, energy and satisfaction. The findings support theintuitive
expectation that the employee who is better able to integrate work and

non-work will experience enhancedwellbeing. Indirectly, this positive

association impacts onperformance, with employees in a sense
repaying theirorganisation with improved levels of motivation and
drive.
Some employees who had become accustomed to workingflexibly
expressed unwillingness to move back to a moretraditional pattern,
linking their flexible arrangement to reducedpressure and stress. There
was abundant evidence ofindividuals adapting their working
arrangement over time tomeet both changing job demands and evolving
demands fromthe home, and great value was placed on the personal
controlto meet needs from both domains which was afforded by their
flexible working pattern. So flexibility is highly valued, but does not
remain static over time.Stress is linked to wellbeing and work-life
balance, and herethe picture is less clear. Flexible working could be seen
as apositive measure which helped reduce workplace stress through
reducing hours, cutting down on commuting time and minimising work
overload. However, it could also be asource of stress, if a reduction in
hours meant that employeesstruggled to achieve objectives which had
not beenappropriately reduced to match such a change. This
reinforcesthe message that flexible working needs to be well designed
tosucceed, particularly in the case of reduced hours work wherethe
required tasks of the role should reflect the hours available.

Whereflexible working is genuinely available to all employeeswithin an

organisation, it is perceived as more acceptable thanwhen used only by a
limited group of employees. This isirrespective of whether or not
organisational policy says thatflexible working is available for all. The
gap between the rhetoricof policy and the reality of the types of
employees who actuallytake up flexible working can be indicative of the
culture of theorganisation. Often flexibility for all translated into a
large ofmajority of parents of young children (particularly
mothers)working in flexible ways. This reinforces stereotypical views of
what it means to be a flexible worker. There was nothingunusual
identified in the barriers to a genuine flexible workingculture:
managerial resistance; a lack of role models, especiallysenior men; an
unwillingness to go against the grain; well-founded suspicions that
career prospects would be harmed;an over-complicated application
procedure.Where flexible working is more successfully ingrained in
theculture there is an emphasis on outcomes rather than beingvisible and
available in office hours. Embedding a flexibleworking culture results
in increased numbers of peopleworking flexibly outside of the traditional
groups. Technologyis a key enabler, with ease of communication valued
abovephysical location, helping to undercut presenters.
Embedding a flexible working culture within an organisation isdifficult,
and can, to some extent, be aided or hindered by thesector in which the
company operates and the type of work itdoes. However, the similarities

between organisations willoutweigh the differences especially in large

organisations.Many roles and teams will have functions which are
broadlyequal. In addition, other factors that drive employees to
seekflexibility, such as the desire for work-life balance or caring
responsibilities, remain constant. Examining the barriers to cultural
change in some organisations, and the successfulembedding of a flexible
culture in others shows some generalpoints which may be of benefit.
Identifying pockets ofresistance is useful, and devising strategies to
combat themmay be helpful, such as the provision of support to
managersof staff with flexible working patterns. Organisations also
needto embrace and invest in technology and training to allow themto
maximise the benefits of remote working, and this includesthe provision
of appropriate support.
3.1 Organisational commitment
The research was able to identify that flexible workers were more
committed to the organization than non-flexible workers. This is
important, not least because it challenges the assumption that flexible
working arrangements such as part-time hours or remote working are a
sign of reduced commitment. Such an assumption can be damaging to
careers and to effective management, and suggests that factors other than
performance may be in play when evaluating the work of flexible
employees. There is a consequent risk of undervaluing the contributions
of flexible workers. It is imperative that organizations recognize and

value the enhanced commitment levels amongst flexible workers, and

develop ways of translating this into tangible benefits for everyone
concerned.
As noted in the summary and in a later section of the report, some
respondents reflected that there was scope for more training to be
offered in relation to flexible working. Both employees and their
managers agreed on this point with some employees looking for
guidance on issues such as the technical aspects of remote working,
while managers would welcome training in dealing with and managing
flexible workers both individually and within the team environment. Yet,
as the research identified, there are large numbers of employees with an
informal flexible arrangement, which may make formal training more
difficult to achieve.
For flexible working to be seen as more than just an add-on, a review of
the goals and methods of HR policies is desirable.
In essence, this means that policies need to be reviewed in the context of
all employees, whatever their working arrangements, to ensure that
people are managed effectively. This is particularly important for issues
such as career progression, supervision and face time. For example,
evidence suggests that employees who are less visible in the workplace
may suffer in terms of promotion and the allocation to prestigious

projects although policies may not explicitly specify visibility as a

necessary criteria for success. The key issue is to establish policies
which do not inadvertently hinder flexible working practices, but rather
to support them.
3.2 Team working
The majority of respondents felt that flexible working had no impact on
the performance of teams within the organization. The positive impact
on team effectiveness reported was lower than in the cases of quantity
and quality of work. More respondents felt there was a positive rather
than negative effect, but the proportions were less than for quality and
quantity of work.

It was felt that teams had to be able to meet their objectives first, while
accommodating individual needs for flexibility wherever possible
The need to address flexible working as a team, to ensure the
productivity of the team, remains high and all deliverables are met. It is
not just about focusing on the individual needs of the team, but also the
on the aims and objectives that they are there to fulfil.
Employee co-operation is vital to team working, with a dialogue to deal
with the implications of people working in different ways:
Managers acknowledged that co-operation was vital, and were mindful
of potential backlash against flexible workers if colleagues felt that they
were picking up work left undone by those with flexible arrangements:
There is a potential for conflict whereby the wider team feels that soand-so is leaving at 5 because of their flexible working arrangements,
and yet were having to stay until 8 or 9 oclock to get this project
finished: and so there is that whole kind of tension that can arise.
Concerns were raised about isolation, both from flexible and nonflexible workers:
I came in at six and I didnt see anyone from my team until 10.30 or 11
oclock and its not really motivating you when youre supposed to be a
team.
Communication was seen to be even more vital to the effective operation
of the team when some members work flexibly. Remote workers, in
particular, need to be accessible to their colleagues when team members

expect them to be to assuage any concerns about being a team player:

Your communication has to be excellent, because youve got to be
telling your team exactly what you think: when things must be delivered,
so you can meet deadlines, so that they know if youre going to be out if
certain things come up and how they need to be handled.
3.3 Retention and recruitment
Overall it was well understood that one of the main aims of flexible
working policies was to assist with the recruitment and the retention of
key staff with varied skills. Flexible working, allowing employees to
attend to other concerns outside the workplace, was highly valued by
employees:
One of the reasons I stay with the organization is the fact that Ive got
that flexibility. It enables me to meet family commitments, whether its
the kids or whether its my wife. There was also a recognition that
flexible working signaled a more adult relationship between the
employer and employee: Weve got flexibility in all senses of the word
and its one of the things which keeps me everybody came here
because youre treated like an adult but at the end of the day its what
keeps people here. The thought that Id have to go and do a job that I
have to be in the office for eight thirty and everyone will disappear at
5.45pm in the evening, I dont know how Id work in that culture. I think
Id find that very hard.

In addition, there was evidence that flexible working was a key factor
for women returning to work after maternity leave, as well as being
attractive to new recruits to the organization.
3.4 Indirect Impact on Performance
Indirect factors which have an impact on performance are job
satisfaction, organizational commitment and the level of stress
experienced.
Existing research on the link between people and performance found
that these factors areoften greater when people have a degree of choice
over how and where they do their job.
Policies such as flexible working encourage positive attitudes towards
work and theorganization, leading to discretionary behavior which
makes people work harder, resultingin improvements in performance.
Overall there was a positive relationship between working flexibly and
both work-life balanceand organizational commitment. In addition, for
reduced-hours workers there was a positiverelationship with work
facilitation and satisfaction with pay.
3.5 Organizational commitment
High levels of commitment were identified by those who themselves
worked flexibly, and this was supported by colleagues and managers:
Ive seen nothing but improved commitment from the individuals who
have been offered and are currently occupied either working from home,
career breaks, reduced hours, compressed hours and the multitude of

ways we offer that. I guess, more motivated but also quite grateful in
some respects, that theyve accommodated that. So I guess it sounds a
bit cheesy but it would increase loyalty to an organization.
Stress
The overall impact of flexible working on stress can be seen below

The opportunity afforded by flexible working for a better work-life

balance was seen by many respondents as a way of avoiding or
dispersing stress:
I think stress levels are down. I think that in some respects I consider
myself quite fortunate that I have a team that has embraced flexible
working in the spirit in which it was intended. I think the team are
generally happier.
Working on a reduced-hours contract was seen by many as a means of
reducing stress:

I have a buffer to my weekend and, where Monday morning and

Thursday evening can be very fraught, I think its a great stress
management tool having an extra day.
Adopting a different pattern of working had led some respondents to
review their approach to their role in a way which helps with managing
stress:
I think, even at work, its probably caused me just to get more
organized. So its forced me to plan and maybe made me slightly more
assertive.
To the contrary, flexible working itself could be a source of stress, if
individuals struggled to achieve similar workloads in fewer hours;
I think clearly the pressure of trying to do what could be a fulltime job
in three days a week is quite stressful.
Clearly, the fact that youre under tighter timescales does raise the
stress level. There is no doubt. But its just something that you have to
deal with if you want the Friday off.

4. Informal vs formalflexible working

The research revealed that there are a substantial number ofemployees
who are working flexibly, but who have not usedthe formal policy
procedures to agree such arrangements.The reasons for this are complex,
and there are positive andnegative factors for both the employer and
employee. To acertain degree informal flexible working is seen by
someemployees as being below the radar, and more likely to
beachievable than making a formal request. There is also theelement of
not wanting to jeopardise career prospects througha formal request for
flexible working; such a fear may beunfounded, and certainly contrary to
organisational policy, butin some senses employees do not wish to be
labelled as theflexible worker. Of course, such informal arrangements
arevulnerable to change in a way that formal arrangements arenot, as
they often depend on a good employee/managerrelationship to make
them work. This is not necessarily a disadvantage as there is a view that
such informal flexibilityprovides a more responsive and fluid approach
to workingarrangements which benefits both employers and
employees.Peaks in work are able to be managed, with a give-andtakeapproach from both sides, which allows employees to
makedecisions about how and where they work in return for
makingthemselves available as much as they are able when
required.Care must be taken that this relationship is not abused by either

side, but the numbers of people working in this waysuggests that for
many it is a more practical solution than aformalised arrangement.
Training and HR policy

As noted in the summary and in a later section of the report,some

respondents reflected that there was scope for moretraining to be offered
in relation to flexible working. Bothemployees and their managers
agreed on this point withsome employees looking for guidance on issues
such as thetechnical aspects of remote working, while managers
wouldwelcome training in dealing with and managing flexibleworkers
both individually and within the team environment.
Yet, as the research identified, there are large numbers ofemployees with
an informal flexible arrangement, which maymake formal training
more difficult to achieve.For flexible working to be seen as more than
just an add-on,a review of the goals and methods of HR policies is
desirable.In essence, this means that policies need to be reviewedin the
context of all employees, whatever their working arrangements, to
ensure that people are managed effectively.
This is particularly important for issues such as career progression,
supervision and face time. For example,evidence suggests that
employees who are less visible in theworkplace may suffer in terms of

promotion and the allocationto prestigious projects although policies

may not explicitlyspecify visibility as a necessary criteria for success.
The keyissue is to establish policies which do not inadvertently hinder
flexible working practices, but rather to support them.
4.1 Careers
There was generally a belief amongst respondents that adopting flexible
working practices could harm their careers. Visibility was identified as a
particular issue:

The more your face is seen and the more youre proactive around the
workplace tends to be more beneficial. If youre not seen around and
people dont know your face then its not going to benefit.
One of the drawbacks of not working full-time is a perception that you
dont have the job opportunities that you might have if you were
working full-time.
Other respondents identified a privileged view of full-time over parttime workers, with those working less hours almost being parked until
they returned to a full-time contract in the future and were once again
perceived to fully participate as an employee.

Ive seen that over the years with lots of people. They always go on a
kind of a slow track, the sidings, and then join the main track again and
speed off.
Although respondents indicated that flexible working should not harm
careers, and organizational policy upheld this belief, there was a feeling
that flexible working, especially reduced hours and remote working, had
a negative effect on individual careers. This may help to explain the
widespread use of informal flexible working arrangements, where
employees hesitate to formalize their arrangements because of the
perceived adverse effect on their career.
However, those on a reduced-hours contract were less likely to consider
moving between employers as a means of progression, supporting the
earlier finding with regard to retention. Some flexible workers were
more likely to demonstrate influencing behaviors intended to favorably
affect the decisions of their managers. Similarly, they tended to ensure
they had the contacts, skills and experience necessary for the next step in
their career. Thus they were conscious of the possible negative effects of
their chosen working pattern and took steps to mitigate against this
likelihood.

4.2 Work-life balance

Unsurprisingly, there was a positive relationship between work-life
balance and reduced-hours working. Yet, the benefits were not confined
to this group of employees with a majority indicating a positive effect as
shown below. Respondents identified elements such as control and
choice as key benefits resulting from use of a flexible working
arrangement
I like the flexibility of it. I can manage my own workload, which is
managing the team, but I can put steps in place so that
I can fit my personal life to suit my family, which I find is priceless
really. To me, thats worth more than overtime pay, time is worth a lot
more than money.
When theyre at work they want to be engaged and motivated, but also
they want that balance with their life as well.
Some respondents noted that working flexibly blurred the boundaries
between work and home which could lead to work overspill, which
adversely affected work-life balance:
It also can have a negative effect on your work-life balance, because I
do far more work in the evenings than I ever used to; and, in a way, its
sometimes difficult to switch off. You blur the lines between work and

home, because I work at home as well; and so it does take self-discipline

to say Today Im not going to plug in my computer, and nothing will
fall apart.
4.3 Control of a Repairable Item System
Control is generally defined for manufacturing systems as: "The
coordirlation of supply and production activities in manufacturing
systems to achieve a specific delivery flexibility and delivery reliability
at minimum cost" Three aspects of control are emphasized in this
definition: achievement, coordination of the activities and cost
minimization. On the basis of these aspects we define the Control of a
Repairable Item System as:
"The coordination of activities with the purpose to buffer against (the
variations in) demand and repair throughput time in order to achieve a
target at minimum cost."
Control of RISs depends upon the demand for items, a target, the initial
stock, the manpower, the priority rule to schedule failed components into
repair and an FMP policy.
Demand:
In an important set of RISs, demand for a serviceable component is
triggered by the perception of a component failure. Both practitioners
and academies commonly assume that demand occurrences in these

RISs appear according to a stationary state dependent Poisson

distribution, the state depending on the number of machines currently in
use in a set This assumption is adopted in this dissertation. More likely,
the demand distribution is not "stationary" hut "time varying" on the
long term. Establishing such in practice, however, is not easy due to the
low demand level. In a RIS running into 200.000 items it appeared that
demand for 85% of the items occurred not more than three times in one
year. For these items it would be very difficult to determine a time
varying demand patter. In line with common practice we assume a
Stationary state dependent Poisson distribution in our study. Moreover,
for reasons of simplicity, we assume that the demand for different items
is mutually independent. F or studies of systems with dependent
demand.
Target:
The purpose of control is to contribute to the uptime of the machines in
the set(s). Thus the targets that are set for, and the performance that is
realized by, a RIS can be expressed in terms of contribution to uptime.
Tunis is however not a common measure in practice. The performance
of a RIS is more often measured by service levels than by uptime. The
service level definition most commonly used in practice, and therefore
used in our study, is the "percentage of demands which is met from

serviceable stock in a certain period". We term this service level the "fill
probability".
4.4 Extent of employer/employee mismatch
Our main focus in this paper is on the comparison between employee
perceptions and employer claims about their provisions. There are a
number of reasons why employees and employers responses about the
employee entitlements may not match. There are reasons relating to
these particular WERS data, as well as some more general reasons why
organizations policies and practices do not always overlap.
The WERS questions allow for mismatch in several ways. First the
employer questions applied only to non-managerial employees so only
non-managerial employee responses are relevant for a comparison.
Secondly, employers were asked if any non-managerial employees were
offered these arrangements. This leaves the possibility open that some
non-managerial employees were not offered the arrangements, but the
employer questions do not allow us to identify them.
There can, in addition, be genuine ambiguity about the meaning attached
to a particular working practice (in survey questions) which makes
employees and employers were uncertain to the extent of having
different views about whether the organization offers the particular
working arrangement.
Also, if the working arrangement is practiced informally, or subject to
line manager discretion, then both employer and employee could be

genuinely uncertain of the status or availability to particular individuals

of specific practices
However, it would probably be unrealistic to expect that every employee
in an establishment would have correct knowledge about its policies and
practices. We would expect some variation in the extent of the mismatch
by the type of arrangement under consideration. We would expect a
larger degree of mismatch where there is ambiguity in the question
asked; and where informal practices are more likely. We would expect
mismatches to be lower where the meaning of the survey questions is
less uncertain; where the visibility of the practice is higher; and where
more employees have used the provision.

4.5 Cost Minimization:

The main costs in a RISs are due to the investment in stock, the
employment of repair men and the investment in their flexibility. In this
study it is advocated that, for full cost control, all these cost factors must
be considered simultaneously subject to the fill probability target.
Research Questions and Outline
FMP, under the authority of a manager, has been the subject of
negotiations between government, employers and employees in the last
decennium. Recently the outcomes of these negotiations are showing
more and more an acceptance of FMP. Tunis also applies to RISs. Such

developments, we suggest, justifies an in depth study. We put forward

our first research question
"How effective is the use of a flexible manpower planning in repairable
item systems, measured in terms of a contribution to a service level?
Provided that FMP is effective, its introduction in practice should be
considered. Then, FMP should be coordinated together with the other
measures of control. The decision power for the different measures of
control is, in practice, allotted to different management levels. To
support these management levels in taking control decisions we would
construct a framework for control. We concentrate on the coordination of
FMP and initial stock in such a framework. We put forward our second
research question.
5. Relevant Literature
In the early literature on RISs, the manpower constraint is assumed to be
negligible. The literature primarily focuses on the determination of the
stock levels in a RIS with two stock phases. The first contribution to the
above problem hails from Sherbrook [1968] with the introduction of
METRIC, the abbreviation of "Multi-Echelon Technique for
Recoverable Item Control". METRIC, developed for the US Air Force,
models a RIS with a central stock location (depot) and a number of
regional stock locations (bases). Repair of the failed items can be carried
out both at the depot and the bases. The decision "where to repair"

depends on the complexity of the repair. Resupply of the bases takes

place according to a continuous review replenishment policy, S-1 being
the replenishment level. METRIC minimizes the total number of
expected backorders at the bases, subject to a stock investment
constraint. The model yields replenishment levels for the depot and the
bases. The sum of all these levels together is the initial stock. The
modelling assumptions are:
1. Demand is a stationary compound Poisson process.
2. Lateral resupply between bases is ignored.
3. All failed units are repaired.
4. Manpower is unlimited, batching for repair does not occur.
5. Failures are statistically independent.
6. All backorders at any base are equally important.
The computation of the replenishment levels is carried out with the help
of a marginal procedure which increases the item stock levels subject to
a budget constraint. In each iteration the procedure increases the initial
stock level for that item with the lowest cost "per unit decrease in the
expected number of back orders over all bases together". The procedure
is inclined to give priority to low-cost items for admission in the initial
stock. states that for RISs with multiple repair levels only the number of

expected back orders at the highest repair level should be considered.

Specifically for these RISs he introduces MOD-METRIC, an extension
on METRIC. Thus MOD-METRIC relaxes METRIC's 6th assumption.
Slay [1980] states that both METRIC and MODMETRIC underestimate
the repair time due to manpower restrictions. He modifies METRIC to V
ARI-METRIC, an approximation which accounts for manpower. The
model is evaluated by Sherbrook who concludes that it produces better
results than METRIC. Computationally the model is slightly more
complicated than METRIC. Modifies METRIC to DYNA-METRIC, a
model which accounts fora time-varying demand. The model is a
relaxation of METRIC's last assumption. Graves [1985) introduces an
approximate model for the determination of the stock levels in a RIS
where, in contrast to METRIC, repair is only allowed at the depot. In a
comparison, Graves shows that his model is more accurate than
METRIC on a set of tests. Computationally, both models are equally
complex.
Simon [1969, 1971] introduces a continuous review (S-1,S) model
which permits disposal. It is in fact a relaxation of METRIC's 3rd
assumption. The model obtains exact expressions for the stationary
distributions of the serviceable stock-on-hand and backorders at the
various bases. In comparison with METRIC Simon's model is more
general in permitting the ability to write off items, but it is less general

in assuming Poisson demand and deterministic throughput and

transportation times.
Studies a system, similar to Simon's model, namely with allowance of
condemnation. Shankar however assumes an ordering policy at the depot
and consequently batch repair. The author derives exact expressions for
the stock levels under the assumption of deterministic repair and lead
times. Replenishment policies are typically studied in situations where
demand rates are not particularly low. These situations are not of our
specific interest. More studies in this field are carried out by Lee and a
study of is interesting in permitting lateral resupply between the bases
which is a relaxation of METRIC's 2nd assumption.
Kaplan and Orr [1985] introduce the model OATMEAL. Unlike
METRIC, their model does not maximize a service level subject to a
stock investment budget constraint, but minimizes the budget with
respect to a target service level. Moreover the location of the repair which repair to carry out where - is included in the cost consideration.
Singh, Shah and Perm carry out a case study in a RIS with multiple
stock phases, where repair is allowed at the depot alone. The authors do
not consider a service level but simultaneously minimize the cost for
stock holding, back orders and transportation. They find that the size of
the initial! Stock is quite insensitive to the estimation of the back order
costs. Schaefer (1983] states that equipment can be in operation despite

the fact that some of its components are failed. A maintenance job in
such a situation consists of the replacement of a number of components.
A job is completed only when all failed components are replaced. The
probability that a job is completed instantaneously is defamed the job
completion rate. Fora RIS with one repair level and one stock location
the author shows that a target job completion rate can be obtained at
minimum stock cost, or that a job completion rate can be maximized
subject to a stock investment budge.
5.1 Limited Manpower
The most criticized assumption underlying METRIC is the 4th,
unlimited manpower. Tunis assumption enables Sherbrook and others to
apply Palm's theorem. Tunis theorem states that if failures are generated
by a stationary Poisson process and if repair throughput times are
independent identically distributed random variables, then the steady
state number of units undergoing repair at any given time is also
Poisson distributed with a mean equal to the product of the failure rate
and the mean repair throughput time. Basically this means that
manpower is unlimited. In practice, it is evident that the repair
throughput time bas a strong relation with the number of units awaiting
repair. Shows that the unlimited manpower assumption can result in a
serious overrating of the service level, especially in combination with a
small number of repair men. Another shortcoming of the METRIC

oriented models is the implicit assumption that the demand for

serviceable units does not depend on the number of operational
production machines in a set. Tunis assumption could result in a
significant overestimation of the failure rate when the required service
level is not very high. Both shortcomings are met if the calculation of
the inventory is treated in terms of fomite source queuing models, i.e.
derivations of the classical machine repair problem.
Study a RIS with one depot and one base. The RIS contains only one
item. Repair can be carried out both at the base and at the depot. Repair
times are exponentially distributed. Demand is a function of the number
of production machines currently in operation in a set, thus the demand
function is state dependent. The model calculates the number of repair
men and the stock levels which together guarantee a target service level
at minimum cost. The RIS is modelled as a steady state birth-death
process with a fomite state space. The state space can get very large
which results in computational problems. Approximate techniques have
been developed to calculate the number of repair men and the stock
levels in less computer time, Albright and Albright. Faster algorithms
enable Gupta and Albright to apply them toe RIS with multiple repair
levels and multiple stock phases with a very large state space
Gross and Miller [1984] remark that demand and repair characteristics in
a RIS change from time to time, for example in a military context upon a

shift from peace to war time. After such shift has taken place, it will take
some time before a new steady state (if ever) is obtained. The behaviour
of a RIS until the steady state is obtained is called the "transient
behaviour". Such behaviour could be measured in a time-dependent
service level. The authors obtain exact solutions for the measuring of a
time dependent fill probability in a RIS with two stock phases. Ina
comparison of their model with DYNAMETRIC the authors show that
DYNA-METRIC overrates the fill probability. Gross, Kiosks and Miller
[1987b] present a method which allows them to study transient
behaviour in RISs with a very large state space. Their solution, though
more accurate, is computationally much less tractable than DYNAMETRIC. Ahmed, Gross and Miller [1992] derive approximations to
establish the difference between their more accurate solutions and
DYNA-METRIC. Their approximations have two purposes. First, it can
be determined in which situations DYNA-METRIC is a good
approximation and thus should be used. Secondly, an alternative
approximation which is computationally easy to implement is obtained
when DYNA-METRIC alone is not a good approximation and
consequently should not be used. Solve the problem of finding a leastcost mix of manpower and initial stock in a RIS with one stock location,
satisfying a transient service level. Won [1993] remarks that the meantime-between failures in successive periods tends to increase due to
reliability improvements, thus demand is time-varying. Fora multi-phase

RIS with a repair facility at the depot only, the author obtains timedependent stock levels for the central depot under the assumption of a
Poisson demand process and exponentially distributed repair times.
So far the queuing-type models obtain a least-cost mix of manpower and
initial stock in single-item RISs. Addresses a multi-item RIS. Bach item
requires its own manpower. The model calculates manpower and stock
levels subject to a maximum availability of the production equipment
and a budget constraint. The problem is solved in two steps. In the first
step the multi-item problem is decomposed in a number of single item
problems. For each single-item problem the optimum manpower and
initial stock level in steady state is determined for different feasible
budgets. In the second step the initial stock budget is distributed over the
items with the help of a dynamic programming approach. Beetling
assumes that failed units are scheduled into repair in a first-come-first
served (FCFS) sequence. The distribution of the initial stock budget
however results in an overrating of the low-cost items in stock at the
expense of high-cost items. Such in combination with a FCFS rule
would result in a shortage of high-cost items.
Shortage of high-cost items can be avoided when better priority rules are
used for the scheduling of failed components. High-grade priority rules
are studied in a number of articles. As a result of the need for detailed

modelling in these articles we are noticing a shift from the development

of analytical models towards the use of simulation models.
State that the priority scheduling rule must be included in the
determination of the initial stock. For the control of a multitier RIS the
authors present a hierarchical approach containing two control levels.
On the top control level the initial stock is determined. For that purpose
the steady state probability of a multi-item queue with failed units is
determined. The units in the queue are arranged according to a state
priority rule which considers the cost of purchasing and the repair
throughput time. Next, with the help of a marginal analysis, the initial
stock budget is minimized subject to an aggregate fill probability. On the
bottom control level the failed units are scheduled into repair with the
intent to balance individual fill probabilities. For that purpose a dynamic
priority rule (more advanced than the rule that is considered on the top
level) is used which encompasses information with respect to the workin-process and the current serviceable stock. Both the cost minimization
procedure that is used to determine the composition of the initial stock
and the priority scheduling rule are improved in a study by. In all these
studies it is assumed that the demand level does not depend on the
current number of production machines in operation.
Present a simulation model of a RIS with three repair levels. The object
is to minimize the stock out risk at the highest repair level subject to a

stock investment constraint. The authors introduce the index

equalization technique. To each item they attach an index which is a
weighing of demand, repair throughput time, stock purchasing cost and
initial stock level. The authors show that an optimal composition of the
initial stock is obtained when the index values for all items are
approximately equal. In a comparison of the index equalization
technique with MOD-METRIC the authors show that both methods
provide similar results for the highest two repair levels. At the lowest
repair level the index equalization technique produces (slightly) better
results than MODMETRIC. The authors show further that, when the
stock budget decreases, it is economical to remove units from the most
expensive items first. In other words, expensive units are most likely to
be in short supply and therefore should be scheduled into repair first.
Housman and Scudder [1982] test a variety of sequencing rules at the
lowest level of repair. They show, not surprisingly, that dynamic
sequencing rules which make use of stock-status and work-in-process
information from the lowest repair level outperform state sequencing
rules. The performance of the rules is not improved if current
information with respect to the current status of the higher repair levels
is added. In addition Scudder studies a multiple failure case where more
than one unit bas failed in each machine to be repaired. The results show
that procedures which perform well when only one unit fails also
perform well when multiple failures occur. Chua, Scudder and Hill

[1993] state that batching of (lowest-level) repairable-items may be

necessary because of high setup cost. They compare several batching
rules with respect to a service level. A batch is composed of the current
number of failed units of a certain item awaiting repair. They show that a
rule which selects batches on a shortest batch processing time weighted
by the number of serviceable items in stock provides the best results.
5.2 Variable Manpower
Address the operational control of a blastfemale repair-shop. The
management of the repair shop faces tight due dates, an irregular arrival
of the repair orders, an unknown routing and an unknown job content
until inspection and work preparation is carried out. Under the current
control procedure the actual progress on the shop floor deviates from the
planned progress which results in a poor performance. The authors
propose a hierarchical decision structure consisting of three levels of
control. At the top level a buffer containing repair orders is introduced. If
the buffer exceeds a certain threshold, repair orders are subcontracted. A
small number of rush orders is released to the repair shop. The
remaining orders which are set apart for the repair shop are divided into
suborders: one disassembly suborder, several repair suborders and one
assembly suborder. At the middle level, the orders are released in
accordance with the principles of workload control. The repair suborders
are selected with the aim to maintain an equal average time slack. At the

bottom level deviations from the actual progress are to some extent
corrected by adjusting capacity, i.e. a reallocation of manpower, or by
changing order progress priorities in the repair shop.
Addresses the use of MP in a multi-item RIS with one stock location. He
compares two cases on an aggregate fill probability. In the first case the
repair rate is assumed fixed. In the second case the repair rate is tied to
the number of failed units, the higher the number of failed units the
higher the repair rate. In both cases the average repair rate, the
composition of the initial stock and the priority rule to schedule units
into repair are equal. The case with a fixed repair rate yields a slightly
higher fill probability than the case with a variable repair rate.
Scudder [1985] carries out an explorative simulation study to the use of
overtime in a RIS with three repair levels. Demand at the first repair
level occurs according to a Poisson process. Under different conditions
the effect of several overtime policies is studied on the mean number of
delay days, a measure for the service level. All together six overtime
policies are studied. The policies are either reactive or proactive and
differ with respect to the repair levels where they are applied. Reactive
overtime refers to a situation where no serviceable units are in stock on
the first repair level when the decision is made to work in overtime.
Proactive overtime. Refers to the situation where overtime is started
when the first-level serviceable stock levels are insufficient to cover

expected leadtime demand. The conditions in his experiment differ with

respect to the applied priority title to schedule failed items into repair,
the initiation of proactive overtime and the characteristics of the repair
time. All are varied on two levels. The priority rules are MSTREQ
versus SPT. MSTREQ, an advanced rule, gives priority to that item
which is currently most required on the higher levels of repair. SPT, a
simple rule, gives priority to the item with the shortest processing time.
Overtime is initiated when the number of units awaiting repair exceeds a
certain threshold. The repair throughput times are chosen fixed versus
variable and dependent on the complexity of the repair. Based on the
results of a Nurnberg of simulation experiments, the following
conclusions are drawn: First, the use of overtime at any repair level
improves the service level. At the lowest repair level the use of overtire
is most effective. At the middle repair level the use of overtime does not
appear to be very effective. Secondly, reactive overtime policies
outperform proactive overtime policies. Thirdly, overtime is required
much less frequently when a good priority scheduling rule is used.
However overtime produces much better improvements in the service
level when a simple priority rule is used.
In extension to the former study, Scudder and Chua [1987] examine
proactive and reactive overtime in relation to different demand patters
and different initial stock budgets. The overtime policies are compared
to a benchmark policy without overtime against the Nurnberg of mean

delay days. The two overtime policies are compared to each other on the
basis of a benefit-cost ratio. The reduction in mean delay days, with
regard to the benchmark policy (the benefit), is measured against the
Nurnberg of hours in overtime (the cost). The results show that the use
of overtime is increasingly effective in combination with a reduction in
the initial stock budget. The overtime policies are most effective in
combination with a simple priority rule. In most instances the reactive
policy yields the best cost-benefit ratio. Only in combination with a very
regular demand pattern, the reactive overtime policy is out perforce by a
proactive policy.
More studies to variable repair rates are carried out in a related area, a
redundant system. Crab ill [1974] represents a system with spare
machines as a Markov network with one repair channel and statedependent repair-rates. The repair rates increase with the Nurnberg of
failed machines. Variable costs are allotted to production losses and to
the use of variable repair rates. The author obtains analytical! Solutions
to balance both costs in steady state. He shows that, under certain
conditions, the optimal repair rate is a non-decreasing function of the
number of failed machines. Albright [1980] extends this result to a case
with multiple repair channels. Van der Dun Schouten and Warden Horst
[1993] study a maintenance system with one machine in operation, one
spare machine and one. Repair channel. A failed machine can be
repaired at two repair rates, a slow rate and a fast rate. It is decided

which repair rate to apply at the beginning of a repair. When the second
machine fiats and the first machine is still in repair, the repair channel
has an additional opportunity to changeover to the fast rate. Fixed and
variable costs are allotted to a changeover. Only variable costs are
allotted to a machine breakdown. The authors minimize the long run
overall costs and show that the optimal change-over policy is of a
control limit type: When exceeding a certain threshold, a changeover
takes place. When fixed cost in respect of machine breakdowns are
added, the optimal policy is not necessarily of a control limit type
anymore.
Discussion
The overview of the literature shows that RISs have been extensively
studied. The first publications already stem from the late sixties. In these
publications the focus is on a mathematical! Description of the relation
between the replenishment levels and a service level under the
assumption of an irregular demand process. The replenishment levels
have two functions in the control of a RIS. On the one hand they allow
us to determine the investment in initial stock that is necessary to attain
to a service level target. On the other hand, the replenishment levels
support the operational control of the RIS. Upon a comparison of the
current serviceable stock of an item with its replenishment level it can be
decided if resupply is necessary. Resupply however is required lot-for-

lot which means that demand is directly passed on to the repair shop. It
is evident that such a policy inevitably results in varying requirements
upon the manpower when the demand patter is irregular. This in turn
results in rapid variations in the repair throughput times. In case
oflimited manpower it is doubtful that the use ofreplenishment levels
adequately supports the operational control of the repair facility of a
RIS.
In the queuing type models, introduced in the eighties, it is recognized
that service levels are affected by the initial stock and the manpower,
thus both must be considered simultaneously subject to a target
constraint. Unlike METRIC, the queuing models enable us to make such
simultaneous consideration. These models, however, do not support the
operational control of a RIS. Queuing models implicitly assume that
failed units are scheduled into repair as long as manpower is available.
They do not support the use of sophisticated priority rules to schedule
failed units into repair. They commonly assume that repair is carried out
in a FCFS sequence. More sophisticated rules are presented in the
simulation studies. These studies have yielded priority rules which are
able to support the operational control of a RIS. Simulation however can
be time consuming and therefore it is not a particularly suitable tool for
optimization.

Very few studies have been conducted into variable manpower in RISs.
The most thorough is the overtime study of Scudder and Chua. From the
study it is clear that a considerable benefit from overtime can result,
though this benefit is affected by intervening conditions. The results of
the (simulation) study by Scudder and Chuajustifies a further
(simulation) study into the potential effectiveness of FMP and the
intervening conditions. Scudder and Chua hint that overtime, which is a
form of manpower flexibility, should be included in a fundamental tradeoff on costs between initial! Stock! And manpower to attain to a target
service level economically. In our view, this fundamental trade-off
should be part of any framework for the control of RISs. Such
framework is still absent in the literature and, therefore, requires further
study.
5.3 Simulation Experiment
FMP will clearly influence the working hours of the repair men which in
turn is expected to influence the performance of the RIS. Understanding
this interaction is the objective of our first research question. In studying
these interactions we pursue the following phases of an experimentally
based research methodology:
"Select a number of RISs with different demand characteristics and
operational constraints. Model these RISs with the help of a simulation
model. Introduce in each RIS a policy in which all working days are

equal in length and monitor the service level. The service level under
this working day policy is used as a benchmark. Next, introduce in each
RIS a number of FMP policies such that the working day on the long
term is on average equal to the constant working day of the benchmark.
Monitor again the service level in all RISs. Deviations in the service
level with regard to the benchmark service level are a measure for the
effectiveness of an FMP policy. Compare the effectiveness of different
FMP policies in the RISs with different demand characteristics and
operational constraints and formulate the conclusions."
In this chapter we introduce a simulation model of a RIS. In the model
we introduce various demand characteristics and operational constraints
by setting selected parameters to different values. F or each setting of the
parameters we introduce a number of FMP policies. The performance of
these policies is measured in a service level. The deviation in the service
levels with regard to some benchmark we term the response. The
response is a measure for the effectiveness of an FMP policy. To predict
how the response in each RIS is affected by the setting of the
parameters, a number of hypotheses are put forward. These hypotheses
are tested in the simulation experiment the results of the experiment
enable us to establish which parameters contribute to the potential
effectiveness off MP.

Model
The model of a RIS in the experiment is rather simple in comparison to
the RISs in practice. On the one hand it can be argued that simple
models do not accurately describe the full behaviour of the very complex
systems which are prevalent in practice. On the other hand they are
advocated for their transparency. In the RIS, introduced here, we strived
for a compromise. That is we construct a RIS complex enough to reflect
the main behaviour of the ones observed in practice, yet simple enough
to maintain transparency in our study. Tunis compromise has been
achieved in discussion with the management of a RIS in practice.
The generic RIS, depicted, supports a number of machines used in
production. We assume that the machines are continuously in operation.
Each machine bas one vulnerable component that can fail and is best
repaired by component replacement several machines have the same
vulnerable component in common. These machines form a set. No single
machine is a member of more than one set. The component type
conceded is called an item within the RIS. A specific component is a
unit.
In order to explain within this context the notions of set, production
machine, item and unit we introduce an example. Consider a faculty at
the university where all research workers have a personal computer (PC)
at their disposal. Such PC we call a production machine. Assume that

there are two kinds of PCs: One kind bas a 3.86 processor, the other kind
has a 4.86 processor. All PCs with a 3.86 processor compose one set, all
PCs 4.86 compose the other set. The processor is attached to a printed
circuit board (PCB). Assume that the PCB is the only vulnerable
component in a PC. Then there are two kinds of PCBs: A PCB with a
3.86 processor and a PCB with a 4.86 processor. "PCB 3.86" we call an
item. A specific PCB with a 3.86 processor we call a unit.
5.4 Manpower Planning and Cycle-time Reduction
Overtime, both on the bottling lines and in the warehouses, and overflow
in the warehouses can be due to two things. Firstly, structural under
-capacity could prevail, in which case there is insufficient capacity to
satisfy the average capacity requirements. Secondly, overtime or
overflow could be caused by peaks in capacity requirements. In this case
there is sufficient structural capacity available (the average capacity
requirements is lower than the available capacity) but at peak times there
is still insufficient capacity available. As a result, overtime or overflow
will still occur at these peak time.
FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS (FLEXI-TIME)
Origins
There are two basic reasons why part-time work came into vogue. The
first is the increasing number of women in the workforce and companies

have to devise alternative work schedules to accommodate their needs.

The second is the subtle shift from a production based to a service-based
economy. The service industry has more room to allow for flexibility in
work schedules.
5.5 Definition of part-time work
A part-time worker is one who works less than the full ordinary weekly
or monthly hours, or less than a full year, and who is entitled to
employment benefits such as annual leave and sick leave on a pro-rata
basis. In the Singapore context, the Employment (Part-Time Employees)
Regulations 1996 defines a part-time employee as one who is required
under his contract of service with an employer to work less than 30
hours a week. Part-time arrangements can be organised in any of the
following ways:
Working normal hours over reduced number of days such as 3 days per
week;
working every day but with fewer hours, eg. 9.00 am to 1.00 pm each
day;
Alternate work period, such as one week on and one week off; or
A combination of the above methods. Permanent part-time work is a
part-time arrangement that is intended to continue, whereas temporary
part-time work is intended for a specific period

Benefits
Offering part-time work enables companies to attract and recruit from a
wider manpower pool. The 1999 Labour Force Survey for instance
showed that there were persons who were looking for part-time
employment opportunities;
It enables organisations to retain highly skilled and valued employees
who are unable to continue working full-time due to changes in personal
circumstances;
It reduces absenteeism as it allows employees to better manage their
work and other commitments such as family responsibilities, study or
personal interests;
It is useful where work (such as project work) requires less than a fulltime position;
It is a way of allowing phased retirement for older employees. It can
also facilitate re-entry into the workforce for employees who have taken
career breaks.

Conclusion:
Flexibility in the workplace is a key theme in almost every organisation
and it is often pursued by end eaves to introduce resilience in
employment and the expectation of relevant benefits. Nevertheless, it
should not be disregarded that employees are individuals with emotions
and perceptions and the climate of insecurity that has been building up is
likely to shake the trust and most importantly the commitment towards
their employers. In spite of the externalisation of the labour market and
the ease to hire personnel, organizations require the skills of employees
as well as their commitment in order to operate efficiently. To a degree,
flexibility has been won on the expense of commitment as theory
suggests but there are also indications that the focus is turning. Attention
now is on how to ensure that employment flexibility does not thwart
commitment but it facilitates the transit from the older type of
commitment of loyalty in exchange for security to a commitment based
on employability, a challenging working environment and the
enhancement of employees skills and talents.
Any effort to infuse trust and commitment in the labour force needs to
be co-ordinated and carefully implemented as it can produce long-term
benefits for the organization. Consequently, managers should not ignore
long-term strategies by favouring more short-term agendas. Extending
that, the organisation requires an overall shift in its management

policiestowards employees, promoting a positive outlook and avoiding

unnecessary declarations and examples that will give rise to any sort of
negative climate. Communication is essential from top to bottom in
building a partnership with employees. Equally, the role of HR
departments is important in gauging employee attitude and especially the
perceptions as described by the PC.This could assist organizations in
avoiding violations in the contract or at least minimizing the detrimental
outcomes which could adversely affect employee commitment .Through
a positive environment of openness and co-operation, employment
flexibility and commitment can co-exist.

ANNEXURES
1. The Techno-Economic - Knowledge Revolution
a. Economic Integration
b. Dispersion of information and technology
c. The changing nature of work and the workplace
2. Resources, Sustainability, and Global Climate Change
a.

Energy

b.

Water, Land and Food

c.

The human habitat: ecological economics and global warming

3. The Demographic Transition

a. The threat
b. The dividend
4. The 24 / 7 Society
a. The city of the future as a self-sustaining unit
b. Urban and rural economics
c. The social unit of the future and social cohesion

iv. Dynamics of poverty and income distribution

5. The Global Monoculture
a. Language and culture
b. Diversity and Identity
c. Leisure, travel, migration
6. The Nation State: Issues of Sovereignty and Security
a.

Regional co -operation

b.

International dimensions

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