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Weekly Updates1. INTRODUCTION
Efficiency, Effectiveness and Economics (3Es) in property management have been recommended by both researchers and, particularly, Government auditors. The Audit Commission (AC) (1988a, 1988b) recommended property management of Local Authorities (LAs) to prepare strategic operational cost information and adequate property review. The main reason was that strategic property management information could enable senior management to achieve better efficiency, effectiveness and economy of property management (Gibson and Hedley, 1999). Modern office initiatives, such as open-plan, hotdesking, and flexible working hours have been introduced as modern property management tools (Audit Commission, 2000).
Gershon (2004) and Lyons (2004) identify the broad objectives of public sector efficiency. These are: 1) reduce resource costs, not public services; 2) enhance quality and quantity of production; and 3) improve the ratio of output per unit cost of input. In their opinion to achieve these objectives, LAs should:
--Increase the level of investment in ICT in both central and local Government;
--Develop a HR joined-up approach facilitating back office functions;
--Share back offices both within and between LAs.
The issues addressed above show that senior management should consider employing the modern concept of office management, especially flexible working, as a tool for achieving better 3Es of property management (Gibson and Luck, 2004). To understand the relationship between flexible working and property management, the development of flexible working is described as a fundamental principle.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Development of flexible working
2.1.1. Information and Communication Technology
Since the 1990s, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been introduced to organisations to provide benefits, in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, to property management practice (Kirkwood, 1994; 1995). For example, the number of paper documents has been reduced since electronic documents were introduced. An effective ICT working environment has been identified as below (Rowlatt et al., 2002; Dixon, 2005):
--Computer mediated network should be an essential infrastructure for assembling, analysing, communicating, and managing information;
--Both internal and external information transactions are able to proceed through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or over the internet;
--Added value could be obtained from interactive information transfer between organisations or individuals.
According to Hurme (2005), ICT systems in modern offices can be categorised into two groups, which are wired and wireless system. A wired ICT system includes, for example, broadband internet, local internet, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). A wireless ICT system includes, for example, wireless network and Bluetooth.
An increase in demand for modern ICT services was shown in Gibson and Luck's longitudinal survey on Corporate Real Estate (CRE) practice (Gibson and Luck, 2006). The research indicates that the modern working environment, supported by modern ICT applications, has been increasingly demanded by organisations (ibid). The development significantly impacts the current corporate working environment, in terms of, mobility, networkability, and implied productivity (Sullivan, 1996; Dixon, 2005).
2.1.2. Workspace management
Impacts of modern ICT (broadband, wireless, etc.) and management concepts (hotdesking, flexitime working hours, etc.) influence the working styles of people from a static to a dynamic style (Dettwiler, 2008). Much office workspace has been changed from a traditional layout (arranged by group of functions) to a modern layout (arranged by activity objective) (McGregor, 2000). Current workspace management concepts include work-space and portfolio flexibility models (Laing et al., 1998; Nenonen, 2004; Ward and Holtham, 2000; Gibson and Lizieri, 1999). Recently, these models were combined for enabling an organisation to manage its workspace more effectively on the basis of activity-based and financial flexibility (Khamkanya and Sloan, 2008). As shown in Figure 1, the model may assist an organisation to 1) match the workspace to the activities of staff, and 2) promote financial flexibility in the organisation area.
2.1.3. Human resource
Since business policies have been regularly influenced by changes of technology, customer's needs, and corporate efficiency plans, workers are inevitably pressured by the business environment to work longer than regular working hours (DfEE, 2000). The experiences of long hours and intense working may negatively affect workers' health, psychological well-being and family life (Burchell et al., 1999). The working efficiency of the individual may drop, and the number of absentees may increase. These may bring about a high turn-over rate and a reduction in organisational performance. In particular, when losing valuable human resources, organisations have to invest in new ones with costly training (DfEE, 2000).
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
To solve the above problems, flexible working concepts such as Work-Life Balance (WLB) and Family Friendly Policy (FFP) should be adopted in modern offices (Clark, 2000; Ackers, 2003). In practice, alternative working schemes may include flexitime, compressed hours, annualised hours, shift-swapping, self-rostering, short-period break and long-term absence (DfEE, 2000).
2.2. Evolution stages of flexible working
According to Gibson and Luck (2004), as shown in Figure 2, five evolution stages of flexible working are described (NAO, 2006; Gibson and Luck, 2004; Gibson, 2003):
Stage 1--Traditional working environment (e.g. cellular office) is used. Availability of shared equipment is very limited. Staff work within an organisation's premises.
Stage 2--Shared-office environment (e.g. hotdesking and open-plan working area) can be found. Staff can relocate within a limited area. Data can be electronically transferred via wired ICT network.
Stage 3--Informal support (e.g. breakout areas or informal meeting rooms) are provided for staff. More types of activity-based working areas can be seen in the office. Electronic data can be transferred from a distance. Various working-time schemes (e.g. flexitime, compressed hours, and annualised hours) may provide to staff.
Stage 4--Flexible working environment is generally available for staff. Staff may work anywhere within the office. Wireless ICT system may be provided in some working areas. Staff can work from distant offices under controlled environment security system.
Stage 5--Staff may work anywhere in flexible time. Wired--and wireless access points are provided in most organisation area. Staff may work under a self-rostering scheme. An organisation may promote concepts of space sharing and very short-term letting.
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
2.3. Scottish local authority--flexible working
The adoption of flexible working has been discussed as a suitable concept for managing the modern office environment (NAO, 2006). The benefits of adopting flexible working appear in several organisations. For example, Work-Life Balance can be effectively achieved, and working atmosphere has been improved (ibid). Although organisations adopting flexible working may receive positive outcomes, the success of flexible working adoption in one organisation cannot guarantee that other organisations will obtain the same results. Scottish Local Authorities (SLAB) are organisations having unique characteristics regarding their management system, including ICT, HR, and workspace management. Consequently, the working environment of SLAB may vary from place to place and by size. To find out whether or not the highest flexible working stage can be practically adopted in SLA, information on alternative working policies, ICT services and flexible working schemes will be investigated.
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research has as its main question to understand flexible working practice in Scottish Local Authorities (SLAB). In particular:
--How could SLAB move on to the highest flexible working environment?
--What are the possible benefits/problems concerned with the highest flexible working environment?
Objectives of the research are:
--To elicit the opinion of SLA staff towards the highest flexible working environment adoption, in terms of potential benefits and barriers, and how to measure the level of working flexibility of staff;
--To elicit the opinion of SLA staff towards the flexible working applications, in terms of ICT, HR and workspace management;
--To propose guidelines to assist SLAB to successfully promote and adopt flexible working in practice.
The research aims to acquire information from middle management working in ICT, HR, and property/estate/facility management of SLAB. The invited participants are experienced staff who would be able to respond to the specific research questions in-depth from their broad experience. These include, for example, property managers, senior estate officers, facility managers, ICT managers, personnel managers, and human resource managers. The selected participants are expected to reflect the current SLA's policy direction and demands of subordinates regarding their flexible-working environment (Bryman, 2004).
Since the SLAB are scattered throughout Scotland, a postal questionnaire survey was selected as the most suitable survey method for the research (Fink, 2006). In the questionnaire, there were a number of structured questions. Data from the structured questions was used in numerical and categorical analysis and interpretation (Dawson, 2006).
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