Organizational Flexibility and Performance: Case Study of ARAK Industrial Estate Manufacturing Organizations

Rapid changes and the dynamics of competitive markets now more than ever necessitate the urge to achieve flexibility in organizations. Flexibility is not a spontaneous phenomenon, so organizations should identify the factors generating flexibility and develop them. This study focuses on the identification and declaration of these factors, and explains the influence of flexibility on organizational performance. In this study, first the present models and frameworks of flexibility are reviewed. Then the necessary organizational and managerial capabilities for organizational flexibility are identified and different types of flexibility in the organizations are classified. As a result a pattern for organizational flexibility is presented in which the relationship between organizational flexibility and organizational performance is declared. It is believed that according to this pattern, flexibility can be measured and promoted. In conclusion, the influence of five organizational capabilities, including specifications of management team, the pattern of decision making, organizational culture, environmental scanning, and organizational identity, is approved, and also the effect of organizational flexibility on organizational performance, including the two dimensions of operational flexibility and strategic flexibility is clarified.