Skills Management

Conclusion Reconciling the Needs for Skills and Flexibility: Flexibility or Competence, We Have to Choose!

Two major issues simultaneously preoccupy human resources directors (HRDs): on the one hand, flexibility and, on the other, competence. These two keywords feature in the daily agenda of all HRDs and all managers, whatever their level within their respective company hierarchy. The research publications and theses that have fed into these concerns are numerous and are still used today by several scientific disciplines: management, naturally, but also economics, sociology, ergonomics, industry specialists, etc.

Regarding flexibility, it has become commonplace to research organizational flexibility, that is to say, the capacity for fast adaptation to unforeseeable events. The terms “reactivity” and “agility” are often used to express this demand, the effects of which are visible on all levels of the company. For example, polyvalence evokes the possibility of making people’s assignment to certain posts less rigid by adapting to needs, the surrounding circumstances or changes in workload. Regarding the direct effects of this flexibility on the workforce of a company, it is a matter of “trimming the sails”. Inversely, when company activity picks up again, it becomes a matter of procuring complementary resources as fast as possible, of a more or less provisional nature, through subcontracting, for example, temporary employees, fixed-term contract workers and interns, or making ...