A flexible and appropriate organization offers working arrangements in which employees have greater freedom to reconcile their work and personal commitments such as family, higher education, community activities, religious commitments, professional development and general interests. Above is Atkinson's model of a flexible business. He argued that companies are increasingly looking for 4 types of flexibility: functional, digital, salary and distancing. Functional flexibility is a qualitative approach to work and refers to management's ability to deploy and redeploy particular sections of the workforce across a wide range of tasks in response to market demand as needed (Sparrow 1998 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 241-242). To ensure this can be achieved effectively, employees are trained in a wide range of skills. The volatility of product markets and the blurring of skill boundaries due to technological change create an ongoing environment for the development of this form of flexibility (Mathews 1989 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242). Numerical flexibility is a quantitative approach to labor utilization that is based on the principle of quickly adjusting the size of the workforce to levels of economic activity (Atkinson 1984 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242). As workload fluctuates, management has the opportunity to adjust or redeploy its human resources accordingly. Part-time casual contractors and subcontractors generally offer this form of flexibility (Morehead et al. 1995; Burgess 1997 cited in Teicher & Holland 2006 p. 242). A secondary form of digital flexibility is distance, which relates to the outsourcing of activities. which may include essential and non-essential activities. Outsourcing... middle of paper ... why I hate flextime. " Management Review (accessed August 26, 2007) UC Davis Human Resources (2003), 'Alternate Work Arrangements: A Manager's Guide', (accessed August 26, 2007) Geary, J. (1992), "Employment Flexibility and Human Resource Management », Work, Employment and Society, vol.6, no.2, pp. 251-70 (accessed August 26, 2007) Sheridan, A. and Conway, L. (2001), “Workplace flexibility: reconciling. the needs of employers and employees”, Women in Management Review, vol.16, n°1, pp. 5-11 (accessed August 26, 2007). 2006) Employee relations management: Australia in A Global Context, 2nd ed., Pearson Education, AustraliaSmall Business Encyclopedia, Flexible Work Arrangements, (accessed August 26, 2007)Australian Workplace, Why flexible work arrangements are good for business, ( accessed August 26 2007)