The Relationship Between Time of Founding And The Composition Of The Workforce In Australian Workplaces

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the relationship between organisational age and two specific aspects of labour flexibility—numerical flexibility and workforce skill composition (as one facet of functional flexibility)—that extends earlier work in two ways. First, it uses data from a large-scale national survey (the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey [AWIRS]1995). Second, it focuses on two widely studied facets of labour flexibility, numerical flexibility and functional flexibility.

Previous research has investigated the relationship between organisational age and aspects of organisation such as strategy and structure (Baum and Oliver, 1991; Henderson, 1999; Reed and Blunsdon, 1998). Henderson (1999) found that age effects were contingent on different organisational strategies and process. Reed and Blunsdon (1998) found that organisational maturity is associated with goal-directed, or strategic, flexibility—characterised by low levels of formal rules and regulations but clarity of purpose. But a more complex relationship was also identified—for example; very young organisations (founded in the 1990s) appear to have higher levels of formalisation at founding than organisations established in earlier periods.

This paper investigates these questions further. The results show that the relationship between age, numerical flexibility and workforce skill composition is non-linear, but the data do not make it possible to separate age effects associated with aging, time of founding and changing environmental conditions.