Navigating Choppy Water: Flexibility Ripple Effects in the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Future of Remote and Hybrid Working
研究大型组织在新冠疫情中推行远程和混合办公的挑战，发现个体层面的灵活性会产生组织范围的“涟漪效应”，并提出包容性灵活性和负责任自主权等管理策略。
This article investigates the challenges of navigating the adoption of remote and hybrid working for large organizations with diverse functions. Focus groups with employees of the UK business of a multinational organization identify conceptual contributions to the sociology of work and employment and empirical findings in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that inform future policy and practice. Location-based flexible working has a potential unintended ‘ripple’ effect wherein application of individual-level flexibility has wider-reaching consequences throughout the organization. Findings emphasize that organizations need to recognize and respond to new realities of location-based flexibility. Management must navigate potential ‘ripples’ in the development of flexible working policies and practice, shaped by various tensions, including an overarching autonomy–control paradox. This requires a coordinated approach centred on ‘inclusive flexibility’ and ‘responsible autonomy’ that involves moving away from one-size-fits-all strategies towards a tailored approach offering employees choice, agency and voice in decision-making, while accommodating different stakeholder needs.