Attitudes towards flexibility: The role of task characteristics

Although worker flexibility may well be beneficial for team performance, it may also have unanticipated social side effects. This study examines to what extent task interdependence and perceived task autonomy are related to the beliefs of team members that being flexible brings social benefits and social downsides. Completed questionnaires are returned by 432 employees and their supervisors, working in 90 flexible teams across 15 organizations. The results demonstrate a positive relationship between perceived task autonomy and the perceived social benefits of worker flexibility, but only for teams with high levels of task interdependence. In addition, task autonomy, in the sense of having discretion over the use of flexibility, proves to be negatively related to the perceived social downsides of being flexible, but only if task interdependence is high. The results suggest that it is important to match the level of task autonomy with the level of task interdependence.