Workplace Flexibility and Worker Agency

Abstract

“Worker agency”—the idea that workers have free will and will exercise it to meet their needs—is a fundamental part of organizational psychology and the sociology of work. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in a midwestern factory, the authors examine how workers create opportunities for short-term flexibility within a workplace characterized by shift work, strict production quotas, and team organization. Coping mechanisms involve sympathetic supervisors and supportive coworkers. Workers also describe taking independent action when the structure does not permit them to meet obligations to their families. These exercises in worker agency can be understood in terms of their legitimacy in the workplace and their potential for disruption of work. Worker agency also can be a positive factor in the workplace. Workers describe a supportive work environment as a critical factor that promotes loyalty and a willingness to go beyond workplace requirements for the good of the organization.