PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Business: Business Administration

Past research on flexible work arrangements (FWA, or those short-term restructurings of work hours to accommodate work-life balance) has established that employees who take advantage of such policies, as well as employees who believe that they might use the policies someday, respond with positive attitudes (e.g., organizational commitment, job satisfaction) and behaviors (e.g., performance). However, no research has examined the perceptions and behaviors of those coworkers who have to carry on in the workplace while the FWA-user is gone. The FWA Coworker Impact Model was developed and tested on a sample of adults who work in organizations where short-term FWA practices are allowed and taken. Data were collected from an online research panel and was tested using structural equation modeling. This research has found that FWA-in-practice is made up of four components: (1) the justification of leave taking, (2) the redistribution of work, (3) following norms and (4) coworker consideration. Three of these four components were found to influence coworkers' perceptions of justice associated with FWA (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice), and with important workplace perceptions and behaviors (organizational citizenship behavior, political behavior, and counterproductive work behaviors). Specifically, following norms was found to be related to all dimensions of justice, suggesting that any short-term FWA which does not conform to the tacit or formal practices is considered unfair. Redistribution of work had a negative relationship with OCB. This warrants further investigation but may suggest that any redistribution of work in the short term will begin to eat at coworkers' helping and altruistic behavior in the workplace. This research addresses three gaps in our current understanding of FWA: (1) the treatment of FWA as a singular event rather than as a series of workplace practices, (2) the limited scope of organizational justice as only (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Suzanne Masterson PhD (Committee Chair); Paula Dubeck PhD (Committee Member); Elaine Hollensbe PhD (Committee Member); Phillip Neal Ritchey PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2010, Arts and Sciences : Sociology

Very little is known about how flexible work policies affect the processes of work itself, yet many organizations resist flexible work arrangements due to operational concerns. This is occurring despite larger numbers of workers seeking flexibility at work. My dissertation examines how flexible work arrangements are designed and implemented, how work processes and job responsibilities are affected, and how workplace culture and structure shape these activities. I use a qualitative, grounded theory approach to conduct a case study of a large Midwestern U.S. workplace with a diverse hierarchy of jobs. Spatial analysis and semi-structured face-to-face interviews with both managers and non-managers in salary and hourly positions were used to gather data. Data analysis focused on identifying and examining themes and concepts indicative of the language and tools of flexible work arrangements and work process change associated with those arrangements. A focus on language allowed me to consider how respondents understood and talked about their workplace and flexibility, as well as work process and environmental changes made in the interest of flexibility. A focus on tools allowed me to consider structural and cultural mechanisms, both intended and unintended, that affected flexibility in the workplace. Findings provide insights into the practical aspects of flexible work arrangements and ways that workplace structure and culture can affect corporate organizations approaches to flexibility in ways that may not even be directly associated with flexible work arrangements in the minds of organizational members. I provide a snapshot of workplace structure and culture, discuss the state of flexible work arrangements at the organization, present structural and cultural factors that affect flexibility, outline tensions between what is seen as an optimal workplace versus a flexible workplace, and discuss ways that identity, place and process appear to shape all of these things. B (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paula Dubeck PhD (Committee Chair); Rhys Williams PhD (Committee Member); David Maume PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior