FLEXIBLE WORKING CONDITION AND ITS IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE AND JOB SATISFACTION
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Theoretical Review
According to Brathwaite (2003) he argued that theatrical framework is a necessity to scholar where two or three theories are selected to fit the title of the paper. The study utilized three relevant theories: Spill over theory, Self-determination theory and Vrooms Expectancy theory.
Spill Over Theory
Spill over theory was postulated in 1979 by Piotrkowski. The theory actually talks about work and family life. The author advocated that job related factors and family related factors should be in equilibrium for employees to be productive, brings about customer satisfaction, have job satisfaction and control their employee turnover. The theorem was to control work related stress or family life relate stress so that it does not spill over to work or family life (Greenhaus & Beutell, 2010).
Greenhaus and Beutell (2010) supported the theory and in fact added some other factors which determine employee performance he talked about attitude, stress and emotions and said that work life balance is vital but the later issues should be controlled. This means that social imbalance affects the work efficiency and effectiveness of an individual employee.
This theory is important to the study because it addresses issue of work life balance which is indicated by flexible working patterns. The relevance the theory was based on job satisfaction. Though the theory does not tackle employee performance.
Self-Determination Theory
Self-determination theory was developed by Ryan and Deci in 2000. Self- determination theory brings about the issue of autonomous motivation. Voluntary motive makes employees prefer temporary contracts as a form of flexible working since it brings about better productivity, new ideas (innovations) which at long run yields job satisfaction to the employees. De Cuyper and De Witte (2010) claimed that self-motivation theory can categorized into: autonomous which relates to relationships such as family, controlled motives such as power and instrumental which relates to achieving specific goals.
They further said that for productivity, controlled employee turnover, job satisfaction and customers’ satisfaction employees should be motivated through issues like flexible working conditions. This theory is important to the study due to the fact that a temporary contract is one form of employment which actually helps in determining employee performance in any given organization. Though the theory is relevant it does not shade light on employee performance.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
Vroom’s expectancy theory was developed by Vroom in 1964. According to this scholar, flexible working conditions is vital since it helps in determining the employee performance. This theory actually brings on board three concepts; valence concept asserts that employee performance may be strengthened through rewards, innovations and low employee turnover, the second concept is expectancy where employee will be motivated by having the ability, job satisfaction, customer satisfaction which increases employee productivity and thus better employee performance. The last principle is the instrumentality concept where employee is rewarded by being innovative, productive and better employee turnover which yield job satisfaction to the employees hence better performance.
Nyberg (2010) supported this theory and highlighted that when employee is subjected to flexible working conditions the employee turnover will controlled, productivity of the individual will be enhanced thus employee will become innovative at long run all this yield job satisfaction to the employees hence determining employee performance.
This theory is important to the study because for employee performance to realized motivating factor should be brought on and this is actually by use of flexible working patterns.
Hence it is clear that the vroom’s expectancy theory is applicable to the study because it brought out the independent variables that’s is part time working, work shift, temporary contracts and flexible time which employers expect employees to better productivity, bring innovation employee turnover hence job satisfaction since all the variables was captured by this theory thus it forms foundation of the study. The three theories discussed provide an anchor for the present research by considering the effects of flexible working on employee performance.
2.2 Empirical Review
Studies across the world have shown that both public and private organizations are implementing work-life balance initiatives, among them flexible work arrangement, to minimize on the negative effects of work-life imbalance and hence tap on the associated benefits which include but not limited to increased productivity, increased employee morale, increased customer service, increased employee commitment, and reduced absenteeism (Hughes, 2007; Todd, 2004).
2.2.1 Shift Work and Employee Performance
According to Cole (2002) shift –work is utilizing more hours during a 24-hour cycle by incorporation more than one; working day’ for instance 3 blocks of 8 hours, 2 blocks of 8 hours, 2 blocks of 12 hours or some other variant advantage of shift-work is that it can provide 24 hour cover it is required. It enables more man hours to be worked than the typically day work system. It takes place outside the official working hours (8.30 a.m-5p.m) day. It can be in a form of night shift, evening, early morning and rotating shifts
This type of flexible work option is actually designed so that the services in the state civil service are provided 24/7 so as to make sure emergency issues is taken care of. It is indeed frequently applied in healthcare where doctors practice but mostly applied by nurses due to the fact that they represent a large portion in the healthcare. According to International Labor Organization (ILO) working in shifts help the employees to succeed one another at the workplace so that the establishment can operate longer than hours of work of an individual worker at different daily and night hours. Shift arrangement is vital practice since it helps in reducing accidents, fatigue which in long run productivity in the organization will be realized.
Jane, Simon and Amos (2015) in their study on the Effect of flexibility in work arrangements programmes on job satisfaction of nurses in public state civil services in Nakuru county, Nigeria established that public state civil services in Nakuru town, Nakuru County exempted expectant or breastfeeding nurses from night-shifts; that the existence of half-day work-shifts for nurses enable them to attend to their personal issues without stress and that night-offs given to the nurses after night-duty enable them to release stress and attend to family responsibilities easily. Second, the study established that flexibility in work arrangements used by public state civil services in Nakuru town had a strong effect on behavioral aspect, moderate effect on cognitive aspect and weak effect on affective aspect of job satisfaction of nurses. In general, the results revealed that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between flexibility in work arrangements and job satisfaction of nurses indicated by strong positive correlation of 56.5%. This confirms a study done by Heejung (2007), which viewed flexible work arrangements as a business imperative to achieve strategic priorities such as higher employee productivity, job satisfaction, and lower absenteeism. This research reported a positive relationship between work time flexibility and job satisfaction of employees. Thus implementation of flexible work arrangements programmes at the work place enhances job satisfaction of employees.
Customer satisfaction is where the facility (state civil service) services surpass the client expectation. Flexible employment provides new awareness and innovative concepts into an organization. The concept of job satisfaction is referred to as an attitudinal variable, which interpret is one likes or dislike their task given (Spector, 1997). It resembles Locke, (1976), who mentioned it as enjoyable or positive expressive state consequential from the evaluation of one’s work or expenditures. The indicators of lack of job satisfaction include high employee turnover, poor performance, absenteeism, increased complaints and accidents.
Turnover is where an employee willingly or forced by circumstances to exit a job in an organization. Nel, Werner, Haasbroek, Poisat, Sono and Schultz (2008) define staff turnover as the movement of employees in and out of the boundaries of the organization. According to Mayhew (2014) as cited in Demand Media, when employees lack the training necessary to become more productive, their performance suffers and they will either leave off their own volition for jobs that provide training and employee support for instance flexible working in the service.
Part Time Working and Employee Performance
According to Cole (2002) part-time work is employing people for a few hours each week (up to 21 hours) usually on regular/permanent basis. Part-time working is advantageous to employers in that it is particularly useful for meeting need for “bursts’ of work activity for instance in state civil services where there is shortage of medical personnel. It also applies in shelf-filling in a supermarket.
Part time work has become an important form of employment in that people now combines education and also raising family. This part-time also been used to operational flexibility which in turn brings better employee performance. Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey indicated that part time workers have higher level of satisfaction with their work hours and flexibility than full time workers and equally satisfied with their pay. This type of flexible working option makes employee have manageable workload, brings about less work-family conflicts and also attracts well qualified employees thus the productivity level of employees will go up hence better performance.
Muchiti and Gachunga (2015) in his title Influence of work life balance on employee productivity in Nigeria; Milimani law courts Nairobi from their study revealed that flexible working schedules influenced positively employee productivity at judiciary. The study found out that it influenced employee productivity at judiciary to a great extent. The study also established that respondents agreed technological resources that allow flex time, part time and timework influenced employee productivity at judiciary. The variable was statistically significant at the 0.05 level of significance and influence was of great strength on employee productivity at judiciary.
Temporary Contracts and Employee Performance
Temporary contracts are hard to determine since its evaluation is based on the job to be done. There not been clear view on the benefits or cost attached to the temporary employment. This has created divided view based on lack of commitment, insecurity, expensive, low esteem, high absenteeism and low performance (Armstrong, 2009). Though it can be considered as a way to evaluate the employee for further consideration making manager not make the wrong choose as well as used in job fluctuating industries to regulate balance or satisfy a job undertaking. Dessler (2008) added that it may be productive and cheaper in recruiting and training, though the overall cost is more by 20% to 50% as compared to some who is permanent employee.
Innovation is path dependent, for instance the new methods or products are dependent on the organizational culture, social environment and accumulated previous knowledge. Grant (1991) assumes therefore that organizational capabilities are inexhaustible on short-run temporary or part-time contracts for example stimulus projects which was devised by the government.
When the flexibility to hourly workers, workplace productivity will be improved, when employees work in shifts they will be less distracted, exhibit a better attitude and performance better on the job. When employees are happy, excited and energetic about their work they will be able to produce more and this enhanced performance. Employees who were undertaking workplace flexibility practices were able to work longer hours before experiencing negative impact on their work-family balance.
Control over time, flexibility and pace of work is important in predicting positive levels of commitment and productivity for all employees.
Flexible Time and Employee Performance
According to Cole (2002), flexible time enable employee to vary their working hours within agreed parameters and provided they attend during a “core” time it has some potential benefits for instance, it gives employee more control over scheduling personal responsibilities on either end of the work day.
Arguments for a positive relationship between flexible employment contracts and innovation can also be found. Following the approaches of Matusik and Hill (1998), not necessarily only internal resources are used for innovation. Instead, innovation depends much more on the effective utilization of technology and knowledge, even beyond internal capacities can be seen as complementary innovation input factors. Especially in the cases of open source projects, the use of external resources is crucial.
Okemwa (2016) researched on relationship between flexible working condition and commitment of nurses in public state civil services in Nigeria agreed with Powers (2004 cited in Muchiti and Gachunga, 2015) who observes that employees with greater control over work schedules are more likely to show increased engagement, commitment, retention and job satisfaction. Hill, Hawkins, Ferris and Weitzman (2010) argues that flexible work arrangements enable employees to manage their work and family responsibilities harmoniously. Hill, Hawkins, Ferris and Weitzman (2010) view is supported by Dalcos and Daley (2009) who revealed that flexible work arrangement such as flex time allows employees to choose when, where and for how long they engage in work-related tasks, thus enhance engagement. Williams (2000), Chow andHowe's, (2006) revealedthat work arrangements where employees’ participation is incorporated shows higher levels of concentration, and performance. It is therefore evident that flexible work arrangement is very significant in enhancing employees’ commitment, quality service delivery in the public state civil services and thus client satisfaction.
According to research such as the European Foundation, (2007) flexible work arrangements are viewed as a business imperative to adhere strategic priority such as higher employer productivity, job satisfaction, innovation and lower absenteeism. Furthermore, James, Breaugh and Kathleen, (2008) in their research examined the relation between the use of family-friendly employment practices (flexible time, pat – time, shift work, flexible working hours and family leaves) and work family conflict. The findings of the study suggested that employers that are concerned about work family conflict would be wise to offer family friendly practices especially. Flexible working hours and supervision to support.
Flexible working generally makes workers to be productive hence high performance to the employee. Employees who are placed on flexible program will be happier at work and less prone to burnout and stress than employees on fixed job hence productivity is realized. Productivity is important for the in long run competiveness and profitability of the organization (Chow and Howe’s, 2006).