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Temporal Flexibility and Careers: The Role of Large-Scale Organizations for Physicians

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  • Forrest Briscoe

Abstract

This study investigates how employment in large-scale organizations affects the work lives of practicing physicians. Well-established theory associates larger organizations with bureaucratic constraint, loss of workplace control, and dissatisfaction, but this author finds that large scale is also associated with greater schedule and career flexibility. Ironically, the bureaucratic processes that accompany large-scale organization also allow for a reduction of patient demands on individual physicians, freeing those physicians to pursue other career activities or to fulfill family responsibilities. Large-scale organizations thus appear to represent a trade-off between workplace control and temporal flexibility, and many physicians appear to embrace this trade-off. The data come from surveys and interviews conducted in 2002. Implications extend to other professional and managerial labor markets in which client demands constrain schedules and careers.

Suggested Citation

  • Forrest Briscoe, 2006. "Temporal Flexibility and Careers: The Role of Large-Scale Organizations for Physicians," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(1), pages 88-104, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:60:y:2006:i:1:p:88-104
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390606000105
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kevin Crowston, 1997. "A Coordination Theory Approach to Organizational Process Design," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 157-175, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yu Chen & Matthew Doyle & Francisco Gonzalez, 2019. "Bad Jobs," Working Papers 1902, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2019.
    2. Paul S. Adler, 2012. "PERSPECTIVE—The Sociological Ambivalence of Bureaucracy: From Weber via Gouldner to Marx," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 244-266, February.
    3. Ranganathan, Aruna, 2015. "Lost in Translation: Organizational Practices and Formal Employment of Women in India," Research Papers 3363, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.

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