ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the processes workers use to initiate, create, and maintain i-deals over time. It examines three phases of i-deal formation, namely prework, negotiation, and managing the aftermath. The focus in the chapter is on the negotiation process employees use to create the most complicated and carefully planned of all idiosyncratic arrangements, employee-initiated performance-based i-deals. Subject to the forces operating in conventional firms that promote standardization and suppress deviance, i-deals can be difficult to sustain over time. I-deals are more likely to be sustained if they are viewed as legitimate to begin with, that is, consistent with shared values and beliefs among organization members. The process of managing the aftermath of an i-deal provides opportunities to redesign and refine it. Concerns that coworkers are likely to have also motivate i-dealers and employer to attend to the aftermath. The need for flexibility is ongoing, particularly in the dynamic settings in which i-deals commonly arise.
