| The current literature has proclaimed that agility is a new paradigm in management and manufacturing which is profoundly different from planned mass production. Agility literature emphasizes the importance of the development of a flexible, adaptable and highly knowledgeable workforce that is able to deal with unexpected and uncertain situations. However, little research has been done to investigate the attributes and characteristics of workforce agility. Even less is known about what work organization characteristics are conducive to agile performance of employees.;The study identified six theoretically-consistent factors of workforce agility, entitled: Dealing with unpredictable and uncertain situations; Creative problem solving; Professional flexibility; Learning work tasks and procedures; Interpersonal adaptability; Coping with work stress. The results of this study support a hypothesized relationship between management strategies focused on agility development, work characteristics and workforce agility. The results revealed that autonomy at work is one of the most important predictors of workforce agility. It was also found that a combination of job demands and job uncertainty have a significant effect on workforce agility, which suggests that a high level of uncertainty may increase perceived job demands and impede adaptivity at work. The results also suggest that the focus of management on development cooperation within an organization and with customers and suppliers promotes workforce agility.;The study results suggest that if the management implements agility related strategies in the way that positively affects job autonomy, job uncertainty, and employees' collaboration, it is more likely that employees will be able to perform a job in an adaptive and flexible way.;The main purpose of this study was to explore the organization and conditions of work in agile enterprise and its impact on employees' performance and development. Specifically, the following questions were investigated in the study: (1) What is the global relationship between the agility strategy, work organization, and workforce agility? (2) What is the contribution of specific dimensions of agility strategy and work organization to workforce agility? (3) What is the factor structure of Workforce Agility scale?... |
