Flexibility, Stability and Related Concepts

Abstract

Flexibility in working life has been an extensively debated issue for many years. In spite of this, it cannot be said that flexibility is a concept with a well-defined, shared meaning. Indeed, some of the confusion and controversy in the flexibility debate probably stems from the fact that different authors mean different things by flexibility. It is thus difficult to know whether an apparent disagreement — for example a disagreement about whether flexibility is desirable or undesirable in a particular case — is also a real disagreement, or if it is due mainly to the fact that one term is given multiple meanings.