Institutionalizing Flexibility in a Service Firm

Abstract

This article uses in-depth case study research to examine one set of organizational and staffing arrangements designed to facilitate flexible service delivery. “Institutionalized flexibility” incorporated multiple contingent bases of employment and concealed hidden hierarchies in workplaces within and across organizations. It also relied on the combined efforts of permanent, moderately skilled workers and temporary, deskilled workers. The article analyzes how these multitiered organizational settings created unique opportunities and costs for the individuals working within them, and introduced new intraorganizational and interorganizational complexities.