Designing flexible work practices for job satisfaction: the relation between job characteristics and work disaggregation in different types of work arrangements

The literature on flexible work practices has not yet evaluated in detail how the characteristics of a job affect job satisfaction. This study makes a distinction between two types of flexible work practices according to their aims: the accommodation of employees' personal lives (employment practice) and the operational reasons of a firm (work practice). Based on this distinction, we studied how the characteristics of a job, which reflect the use of ICT to support the spatial disaggregation of business processes, influence the relationship between the two types of flexible work practices and job satisfaction. We show, through a survey conducted on 987 workers, that the characteristics of a job that favour work disaggregation positively moderate the influence of flexible work as a work practice on job satisfaction, but they do not moderate the influence of flexible work as an employment practice. The implications for managers, workers and scholars are discussed

Towards a Smarter Work? Unpacking Complementarities between ICT Adoption, Human Resource Practices and Office Layout

Purpose - This paper investigates Smart Working (SW), a set of modern and not-conventional organisational models that are characterised by high flexibility in the choice of the working spaces, time and tools, and that provides all employees of a organisation with the best working conditions to accomplish their tasks. Specifically, the paper aims to: (i) identify whether firms adopt different SW models: (ii) explore complementarities between the elements that can lead to choose a SW model, and (iii) figure out whether contingent variables matters in the implementation of a particular SW model. Design/methodology/approach - This study is based on a continuative research initia-tive promoted since 2012 by the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano, i.e. the Smart Working Observatory. In order to achieve the paper goal, during 2013 we have run a survey delivered to 100 HR directors of medium and large Italian organizations to col-lect empirical evidence on SW phenomenon, and accomplished multiple, embedded case studies to better explain the findings achieved in the quantitative analysis. Originality/value - The paper aims to look inside the black box of SW, by unpacking the elements that can generate complementarities between the adoption of digital tools, workplace and work practice innovation. Practical implications - Managers who aim to fully benefit of SW practices should not only invest in the enabling digital technologies, but also make the complementary trans-formations in organisational policies and workspace settings, according the contingent conditions under which they operate