We Wnd that the three types of management are discrete from each other.
However, an orientation does underlie the equal-opportunity practices (reliability
R¼ 0. 83 ), and some but not all of the family-friendly and high-involvement
practices (Wood et al. 2003 : 237 – 9 ). In the case of family-friendly management,
weWnd that the subset of practices concerned withXexible working are explained
by an underlying orientation, which we call ‘family-orientedXexible management’
(reliability R¼ 0. 75 ). Those concerned with childcare—workplace nursery and
childcare subsidies—are discrete from this, which may partly reXect the low use
of these two practices. Of the high-involvement practices, excluding work-enrich-
ment, work-organization and skill-acquisition practices reXect an underlying
orientation, which we can treat as a measure of high-involvement management
(reliability R¼ 0. 68 ). This, it should be stressed, is distinct from work enrichment
and the motivational practices.
Although positively correlated, a latent variable model does notWt the motiv-
ational practices, and thus these do not reXect an underlying orientation, for
example a management orientation towards providing high-quality jobs or creat-
ing a strongly motivated workforce through locking employees into internal labor
markets and rewarding good performance.
One-dimensional patterns in the use of speciWc subsets of practices have there-
fore been found: one type of family-friendly practice that is connected withXexible
working arrangements; all equal-opportunity practices; and the work-organization
and skill-acquisition high-involvement practices. What we have termed family-
orientedXexible management is distinct from the provision of childcare help, and
work enrichment is not a part of the dominant model of high-involvement
management being practiced in the UK. The selection of motivational methods
is not determined in general, if at all, by whether management is pursuing a high-
involvement approach. Finally, there is no evidence of an underlying holistic
orientation that combines family friendliness, equal opportunity, and high involve-
ment into an integrated employee-centered high-commitment management.
However, the three orientations are correlated to some extent. The correlation
coeYcient is 0. 46 for family-orientedXexible management and equal-opportunity
management, 0. 40 for equal-opportunity management and high-involvement man-
agement; 0. 36 for family-orientedXexible management and high-involvement
management. When we control for other variables (e.g. the size and nature of the
workforce and sector of the economy) using regression analysis,^5 all three are
signiWcantly related to each other, but the relationship between family-oriented
Xexible management and high-involvement management is not particularly strong.
The regression analysis also conWrms the distinctiveness of the three concepts as
the variables with which they are associated diVer. The only variable that is
(^5) The results of all the regression analyses reported in this chapter are available from theWrst
author, [email protected]
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