ABSTRACT
In spite of the growth of contingent labour generally (Purcell and Purcell, 1998), it is argued that, as the use of part-time, seasonal and casual labour has always been high in the HI, the potential scope for significant further growth must be limited (Lucas, 1995a). It has always been easier for the HI to do something other than invest in functional flexibility (Riley, 1992; Krakover, 2000). Achievement of a ‘flexible factory’ depends on sophisticated information systems that can generate appropriate data to inform the planning and forecasting process (Riley and Lockwood, 1997). Small firms get by on a simple form of cost-control management, relying heavily on the external labour market to provide them with a readily available supply of appropriately skilled labour. Even within the regulated Australian economy, trade unions’ attempts to negotiate a transition from casual to permanent part-time employment (see Timo, 2001) have proved difficult, with permanent part-time employment failing to confer significant improvements (Whitehouse et al., 1997). In hotels mobility across traditional organization structures and occupational identity serve to hinder more functionally flexible jobs (Kelliher et al., 2000). Here flexibility becomes a social process that needs to be embodied in the wider social life of the organization.
