The paradox of de-coupling: A study of flexible work program and workers’ productivity

Organizational de-coupling occurs when organizational adoption of programs is separated from ongoing activities. Neo-institutional theory asserts it is an effective coping strategy for modern organizations to deal with increasingly elaborated environments. In this paper, we investigate the consequences of organizational de-coupling from an inward-looking within organizational perspective. Specifically, we study how the de-coupling of flexible work program affects workers’ actualization of productivity. Our data analysis suggests that the organizational de-coupling, in which organizations only ceremonially adopt flexible work program without making it available to all workers, is detrimental to the actualization of productivity for workers who were bereft of the opportunity. In contrast, we find that the highest level of productivity actualization is associated with workers who enjoy a factual flexible work schedule which is nevertheless not formally adopted by the employer. The implications of the findings are discussed.