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Center for Effective Organizations

Working Paper

Individualizing the Organization: Past, Present and Future

E. Lawler, D. Finegold. November, 1999.

One approach to attracting, retaining, and motivating employees is to individualize the relationship they have with an organization. But is it the right choice and is it practical? This article looks back twenty-five years and reviews suggestions that were made in an Organizational Dynamics article on how the work relationship can be individualized. It points out that considerable change has occurred in the last twenty-five years and that organizations are increasingly individualizing the work relationship, particularly with respect to job design, career paths, work-life balance, pay and benefits. It goes on to point out that more individualization is possible in these and other areas. Modern information technology and organization designs now make it possible for individuals to have a highly customized relationship. But is individualization always good? The answer to this appears to be yes, in most cases, but there are limits. There are situations where organizations want to have a highly-focused culture as a result, it may not make sense to individualize work relationships. Further, there are inevitably difficulties with having individualized work relationships that have to do with internal equity perceptions and of course, the complexity of managing multiple employment relationships. None the less, given the increased diversity of the workforce, and rapid changes in the environment, this article concludes that most organizations need to move toward individualizing their employment relationships.

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