유연근무제의 성공적인 정착요건으로서의 듀얼아젠다: 병원과 공공기관 사례를 중심으로

Abstract

최근 조직 구성원 삶의 질 향상에 관한 사회적 관심이 점차 높아지고 있다. 이에 많은 조직이 일․삶 양립 제도들을 도입해오고 있으나, 제도 도입 비율에 비해 상대적으로 실제 활용률은 매우 열악하며 제도를 통해 체감하는 유익도 그리 높지 않은 것으로 나타났다. 그러나 기존 연구들은 대부분 일·삶 양립제도가 인적자원 효과성에 미치는 영향을 실증적으로 분석하는 데 집중되어 있으며, 제도의 성공적 정착을 위한 심층적 논의를 하는 연구는 거의 없다. 이에 본 연구는 구체적 사례 분석을 통해 일․삶 양립 지원 관행의 성공적 정착과 관련 요인들을 확인하고자 한다. 특히 본 연구는 제도 도입의 성공을 위해서는 제도에 대한 개념적 인식과 변화추진 과정이 매우 중요하다는 입장을 가진다. 구체적으로, 일·삶 양립 제도가 조직에 잘 정착하고, 궁극적으로 경쟁우위를 제공할 수 있기 위해서는 이를 듀얼 아젠다적 관점으로 바라볼 수 있어야 하며, 변화추진 과정에 있어 연구자와 조직 구성원의 상호 협조 및 참여가 수반되어야 한다고 본다. 이를 명확하게 드러내기 위해 본 연구는 대표적 일·삶 양립 제도인 유연근무제도를 도입하고자 한 국내 두 기관의 변화추진 사례를 비교, 분석하였다. 두 기관은 모두 적극적인 의사를 가지고 유연근무제도를 도입하고자 하였으며, 변화추진의 방법으로 상호협조적 실천연구(CIAR) 방법을 사용하였다. 그러나 한 기관에서는 실제 변화 과정에서 CIAR의 주요 특징들이 잘 발현되지 않았고, 이는 제도의 성공적 정착을 저해했다. 본 연구는 이와 관련한 구체적 사항들을 논의함으로써 국내 상황에서의 일․삶 양립 제도의 성공적 정착 요건을 드러내 향후 연구에 기여하고, 실무자를 위한 의미 있는 시사점을 제공하고자 한다.

Flexible working arrangements (FWA) are considered one of the most important workplace practices in improving work-life balance for employees. They are also viewed as a good way of enhancing workplace effectiveness by promoting innovative work practices. These perspectives have led to a great surge in the introduction of flexible working arrangement across profit and non-profit organizations. However, despite the increase in FWA, these arrangements have not been utilized as expected by policy makers. This lack of utilization can be largely attributed to the fact that organizational decision makers consider FWA primarily as an employee benefit program rather than as a strategic opportunity to achieve organizational goals more effectively and innovatively. A dual agenda approach recognizes the importance of pursuing both the goals of employee work-life satisfaction and organizational workplace effectiveness in the successful implementation of FWA. If organizational decision-makers consider FWA only as an employee benefit program, without considering implications for productivity, they may not actively support the introduction and implementation FWA practices. On the contrary, if an organization promotes FWA mainly for the purpose of improving productivity, employees may not have ownership over the program success. Although a dual agenda approach is intuitive at a conceptual level, it requires learning among organizational members. Such an organizational learning process is often achieved by action research in which researchers and organizational members actively collaborate to find solutions that are tailored specifically to their organizations. This study compares the cases of the K Organization and C Organization, where members worked side by side with a researcher to introduce and implement FWA. Specifically, the study compared the initial motivation for FWA, the process of organizational change efforts to introduce and implement them, and the result of these organizational change efforts. Although the two organizations had similar motivations for introducing FWA, their processes showed stark differences. The K Organization attempted an across-the-board introduction of FWA policy, while the C Organization took a team-based tailored approach. The difference in processes resulted in different utilization patterns of FWA. FWA were not utilized actively in the K Organization, but was implemented actively among departments in the C Organization. We attempted to identify the differences in successful introduction and implementation by comparing these two cases. The critical requisites for the successful settlement of FWA can be summarized as follows. First, flexibility should be connected to effective and productive work practices, that represent as dual agenda approach. Organizational culture changes only when the new work practices and policies benefit both the employees and the organization. In many organizations, FWA are considered as as benefits that improve the work-life balance of the employees. This approach is limiting in the sense that it discourages active uses of the policies and fails to bring about any fundamental changes inof organizational culture. If both flexibility and effectiveness are satisfied through the introduction of FWA, they can be used as a strategic tool in the management of the organization. Second, a team-based tailored approach is more effective than the across-the-board introduction of new policies. For the organization-wide introduction of flexible work arrangements to be successful, far-reaching organizational reform would need to support the change. In other words, the changes in vision, HR policies, IT, and organizational structure and culture would have to be aligned with the introduction of FWA, which is not feasible in reality. However, the team-based tailored approach considers team-specific and contextual nature of works, and addresses both the needs of the employees and the organization. This approach also enables a more well-defined assessment of organizational outcomes of FWA. Third, the attitudes of managers are very important in instituting FWA. Even if the CEO has a strong will to introduce and implement the new arrangements, it is impossible to diffuse the change throughout the whole organization without managers’ active cooperations. A dual agenda approach is a pre-requisite for the successful adoption of the FWA. In a team-based tailored approach for a dual agenda, the role of the team head is critical. A team head with a positive attitude in taking initiatives in the change process will encourage employees to use the FWA. He or she will also proactively suggest tailored work arrangements that satisfy the team-specific needs and will manage the resistance to change. This will help the change to be invigorated and diffused throughout the organization. Fourth, employees should be able to turn the introduction of flexibility into an opportunity to improve work practices. A dual agenda approach requires changes not only in also in organizational culture but also in work practices, and small improvements in work practices add up to fundamental changes in organizational culture. For this to happen, organizational members should be able to find the starting point and direction of the change, acquire the capacity to implement the changes, willingly undergo trial and error, and seek new ways for change. This cyclic process of progressive change will lead to the successful settlement of FWA in an organization.