Relationship between Flexible Working and Work-life Balance - Research Paper Example

Part I: Purpose of Business Research Use of flexible staffing arrangements has become widespread and two-thirds of the employees believe this would be increase in future (Houseman, 2000). Flexible staffing accommodates fluctuations in workload or absences in staff. It is cost effective for employers to use flexible staffing arrangements. This is because part-time staff are not entitled to key benefits like health insurance that are offered to regular workers. Employers are hence adopting the work-life balance program. They are in fact trying to create a culture of work life balance which provides the line management with a more formal framework within which to operate (McCartney & Evans, 2005). Many companies hence offer a range of flexible working options. The employees benefit due to flexible working as it enhances work-life balance as more women have started working outside home. However, while both sides agree that flexible working ensures work life balance, there is no research on which are the jobs in which flexible working could be beneficial, which are the areas where regular staff becomes essential and whether flexible working does benefit the employees and employers or is it just a passing fad? Hence the purpose of the research is to asses the real benefits which would help the managers in the decision-making process. Flexible working is most prominent in the hospitality industry and hence the research would be focused on the hospitality industry which would include the hotels, restaurants and the pubs. The significance of the research in this sector is heightened because this sector has the highest attrition rate in the industry. This research would have to be conducted by engaging the employers and the employees to get the right perspective. Both sides of the opinions matter to arrive at the right conclusion. The strength of the research lies in an honest opinion from both sides and only then can the outcome lead to the right decision making. However, it may also happen that the employers are not in a position to register a true and honest opinion or the employees are not equipped to understand the benefits that they derive from flexible working arrangements. This would render the research process ineffective. Hence the selection of the respondents or participants for the study has to be done with discretion. Part II: Business Research Proposal Flexible working enhances work-life balance Background The hospitality industry is people-focused and labor-intensive service industry (Chapman & Lovell, 2006). Employee turnover in the hospitality industry has been a major cause of concern. Employees tend to stay with an organization when the human resource practices are sound and offer a comfortable work environment to the employees. The high rate of attrition in the industry has been attributed to its seasonal nature of workload, inconvenient working hours and lack of career oppurtunities (DiPietro, Thozhur & Milman, 2007). Voluntary turnover in the industry is more common. The hospitality industry typically employs part-time labour, temporaries and seasonal labour as they tend to benefit from flexible staffing. However the labour turnover in the hospitality industry continues to be high and it also fails to attract and retain the right talent. This research would benefit the hospitality industry the most if flexible labour is found to be effective in enhancing work life balance. It would decrease the rate of labour turnover, increase motivation and thereby productivity while benefiting the employers. Research Objectives With the aim to determine that flexible labour enhances work life balance the objectives of the research would as follows: 1. To review the past literature concerning flexible labour in the hospitality industry. 2. To determine the areas in the hospitality industry that can work efficiently with flexible labour 3. To determine the areas that necessarily requires regular workers. 4. To determine the extent to which the employees have benefited from flexible labour in the industry. 5. To determine the extent to which the employers have benefited from flexible labour in the industry. Research Methodology A discipline is established by a body of knowledge and that body of knowledge is produced through research (Amaratunga, Baldry, Sarshar & Newton, 2002). There is no consensus or no ideal solution on how research should be conducted and it depends on various factors. These factors include the purpose of the research, the size of the research participants, and the sector in which the research is to be conducted. While there are various ways in which research can be conducted, there are two commonly accepted schools of thought or inquiry paradigms – the quantitative and the qualitative methods. Each one is being discussed briefly before justifying the stand taken for this research. The qualitative research concentrates on words and observations to express reality and it described people in natural situations. The quantitative approach places emphasis on numbers that represent opinions or concepts. In the qualitative approach hypothesis is generated while in the quantitative approach hypothesis is tested. In the qualitative approach there is possibility to understand people’s meaning and no experiments need to be conducted as in the quantitative approach. This approach also contributes to theory generation. This study does not require any experiment or observation but information on experiences of people. Meanings can be drawn from the experiences of the people in the field of study. Regular contact with the respondents is necessary. Besides, qualitative data can be rich and holistic and has a strong potential to reveal complexity. Hence this study would be qualitative in nature and based on the literature review the study design would be drawn. Literature Review Human Resource Management (HRM) has evolved from the traditional model of HR and is now more strategic in nature. While most models of HR believe in a ‘flat, fast and flexible’ organization, Caldwell (2004) contends that it is only in theory that the flexible organizations are not only more responsive to change. In fact the term ‘flexible’ means differently to different people. It could mean having an employee-centered approach, not being authoritative, being anti-hierarchical, persuasive, or even empowering and considering the employees as equal stakeholders. Hence ‘flexible HRM is not a norm which firms follow. It is a state of mind, and the practice itself varies from firm to firm. Labor market flexibility is considered a prerequisite for progress. It leads to high rate of employment and low stable inflation. It helps to maintain a high rate of employment stability over the economic cycle and raise the rate of growth of productivity (Bontis & Fitz-enz, 2002). Flexibility in the labour market gives rise to work life balance and work life balance has gained importance because of opportunities policies, rising levels of female labour force participation, demographic trends, and skill shortages (Hogarth et al, 2001). Work life conflict has increased which implies that employees are experiencing greater challenges in balancing their role as employees, spouse or parent. Workers feel stressed physically and mentally which impacts their attitude towards the job. There is role overload, family to work and work to family interference posing difficulties in fulfilling any one duty in the right manner (Duxbury & Higgins, 2002). Work demands have become greater thereby affecting the performance negatively. The answer lies in making the labour market flexible and providing support to those interested in working in shifts. Work life balance to some firms for instance, Lily Pharmaceuticals, means that every employee – whether male or female, single or married, with or without children – is able to strike a balance in his or her work life and personal life (McCartney & Evans, 2005). This requires the support of the top management and when designed it provides the line managers with a framework within which to operate. Research design A few hospitality firms would be contacted from a particular region so that an in-depth study of a particular region would reveal if there are differences in practice and attitude within the region. There may be resistance for owner/managers to allow the study but this is expected to be overcome through the personal contact of the researcher. At least ten units will be selected which will be a mix of hotels, restaurants and pubs. From each of the hotels, at least two managers would be interviewed to determine the implementation of the work life balance and of any benefits attained. Similarly, focus group sessions would be held of the employees from each of these units. In-depth interviews would be conducted of the managers because it the interviewer gets an opportunity to delve deeply into social and personal matters (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree, 2006). At the same time, it unveils a person’s emotions, beliefs, problems, experience and actions (Eggenberger & Nelms). This would particularly help with this research as the objective is to determine how the management reacts to the contribution of flexible labour in attaining work life balance. It would also highlight any reservations that management has on the issue. The objective is to bring out the benefits to the management and to what extent they believe in this practice. The HR managers that have been a part of the planning process and the top management would be interviewed. As far as the employees are concerned focus group interviews is a better option because individual employees may be reluctant to give personal interviews. It may also require permission from the management. Moreover focus group interviews have been found to be more effective in providing information on why and how people think the way they do (Redmond & Griffith, 2003). Participants tend to be more comfortable and relaxed than individual interviews because they are in a group that is familiar. They are more natural and they tend to influence and be influenced as they would in real life. The responses would be quite possibly accurate simply because they are natural. Focus groups are open ended yet guided so it would help to bring out the true picture of how employees feel about flexible labour and its effect on work life balance. Only those employees that have been in flexible labour for at six months would be taken for focus group interviews because the objective is to assess from the experience and not from expectation of flexible labour. The employees would be interviewed in their staff canteen or some such environment where they are the most relaxed. It would be at a time when convenient to most. Literature review is important because it tells the researchers what has been done and what is left to be done. It forms the basis of future research and hence the importance in conducting the literature reviews for this study. After an exhaustive literature review the framework would be drawn on which basis the interview and focus group questions would be formulated. These would generally concern the benefits that employees have achieved through flexible labour. Ethical concerns The purpose of the research would be communicated to the participants so that they are frank about their responses. They would be assured that no names would be published anywhere and no audio recordings of interviews would be taken. The responses would be noted down and an analysis conducted. In case permission from the management is sought, prior permission would be obtained for the employees to participate in the focus group interviews. However, no coercion or pressure would be exerted on the employees to speak up although all efforts would be made to make them comfortable to derive the most honest experiences. No incentives would be offered for participation. Limitations No research is flawless and every research has its own limitations. It is likely that participants do not turn up in the desired numbers at the appointed time. It is also likely that HR managers have instructions not to divulge too much information. However, the gap if any between the version of the management and the employees is what is meant to be field through this research. All efforts would be made to ensure that the management and the employees from the same unit are interviewed because this alone would help to bridge the gap in information and experience. It is expected that the outcome would greatly benefit the future managers in the hospitality sector to take decision about flexible labour with the view to reduce turnover. Read More