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AN ANALYSIS OF FLEXIBLE WORKING
ARRANGEMENTS IN SRI LANKAN
IT ORGANIZATIONS
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G. K. Buddhika Sameera
(MBA/IT/09/9078)
Master of Business Administration in
Information Technology
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Moratuwa //
004- \
Sri Lanka 043)Oo4-*. G5University of Moratuwa
January 2013TH3122
j-H 312a
AN ANALYSIS OF FLEXIBLE WORKING 
ARRANGEMENTS IN SRI LANKAN IT 
ORGANIZATIONS
By
G.K.B. Sameera
(MBA/IT/09/9078)
This dissertation was submitted to the Department of Computer Science & 
Engineering of the University of Moratuwa in partial fulfillment of the requirement 
for the Degree of MBA in information Technology.
Department of Computer Science & Engineering 
University of Moratuwa 
January 2013
DECLARATION
I confirm that, except where indicated through the proper use of citations and 
references, this is my own original work. I confirm that, subject to final approval by 
the Board of Examinations of the University of Moratuwa, a copy of this Dissertation 
may be placed upon the shelves of the library of the University of Moratuwa and 
may be circulated as required.
m /w
Date
*2,0 13\
G.K.B. Sameera
MBA/IT/09/9078
To the best of my knowledge the above particulars are correct.
Dr. Shahani Weerawarana (Supervisor) 
Department of Computer Science and Engineering 
University of Moratuwa.
Date
Approved by the examination committee:
MBA in IT,
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, 
University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
January 2013
i
ABSTRACT
Productivity is an important factor for an organizations survival. Organizations do a 
lot of things to improve employee productivity in order to gain maximum profits. 
This is no different in Software Development organizations. Software organizations 
differ from other organizations because they are totally dependent on the mental 
ability of software engineers. Therefore common productivity improvements such as 
increasing the number of units created per hour are not feasible for the software 
industry
However, currently there is a growing trend towards offering flexible working 
arrangements to employees around the world. Flexible working arrangement (FWA) 
simply means flexibility to choose how an employee chooses to work and when to 
work. Research done in western countries shows that FWA has an impact on 
employee productivity. But there are very few studies that can be found which 
focused on Asian organizations.
There are many flexible working arrangements in existence throughout the world, 
but this research is focused only on four practices which are commonly used in Sri 
Lankan organizations. These were determined using a pre-survey. The main focus of 
this research was to investigate the relationship between flexible working 
arrangements and employee productivity and thereby determine how a company 
could align their business strategy to gain maximum productivity while providing 
their employees a family friendly working environment. There are very few studies 
done on this subject and this research is intended to fill the gap.
The research model is based on an extension of the general productivity model by 
Seppo Sari (2006) and Service Productivity model by Jonas R (2006). Using this 
framework it is easy to map software engineers’ productivity as a combination of 
quantity, quality and how it can be related to flexible working arrangements in the 
Sri Lankan context.
2
There are four main flexible working practices used in this research. Namely 
Flextime, Telecommuting, Part-time Work, and Compressed Work-week. These are 
tested against two productivity measurements, 1) Quantity, which can be determined 
by Source lines of code, number of bugs fixed, and CR functionality completed. 2) 
Quality, which can be determined by number of bugs introduced, comments and 
documentation, and reusability of the software code.
According to the analysis results, the most commonly used flexible working 
arrangements are Flextime and Telecommuting. The popularity of Compressed Work 
Week and Part-time are below average with a usage percentage of around 40.
The result of this research show that Flextime and Telecommuting increase the 
quantity of the software delivered. It also reveals that the flexible working 
arrangements such as Part-time and Compressed Work Week improve the quality of 
the software delivery.
3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Firstly, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Shahani 
Weerawarana, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of 
Moratuwa, for her invaluable advice and guidance.
I also thank Dr Chandana Gamage, Course Coordinator. Department of Computer 
Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, for providing continuous support 
for data collection and advice to carry out the research successfully.
I also thank Mrs. Vishaka Nanayakkara, Head of the department, Department of 
Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, for providing advice to 
carry out the research successfully.
I further extend my deepest gratitude to all academic and non-academic staff of 
Department of Computer Science & Engineering, senior students and library staff of 
the University of Moratuwa for their support in numerous ways.
I sincerely thank to all the software engineering professionals who responded to my 
questionnaire for their invaluable time. Finally I would like to thank my wife, family, 
friends and not forgetting my employer Millennium IT. Without their help and 
support this exercise would not have been possible.
G.K.B. Sameera
MBA/IT/09/9078
4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration.............................................................................
Abstract..................................................................................
Acknowledgement..................................................................
Table of Contents...................................................................
List of Tables..........................................................................
List of Figures........................................................................
1 INTRODUCTION..........................................................
1.1. Research Background..............................................
1.2. Categories of Flexible Working..............................
1.3. Problem Statement...................................................
1.4. Objectives................................................................
1.5. Importance and Benefits of the Study....................
2 Literature Survey............................................................
1.6. Introduction.............................................................
1.7. Types of Flexible Working Arrangements.............
1.8. Employee Productivity and Measurements............
1.9. Measuring Productivity in Software Industry........
1.10. Flexible working arrangements and Productivity
1.11. Flexible Working in Global Context...................
1.12. Flexible Working in Asian Context....................
3 Research Methodology and Design................................
1.13. Introduction..........................................................
1.14. Research Methodology........................................
1.15. Sample Selection and Sample Size.....................
1.16. Theoretical Model................................................
1.17. Conceptual Model................................................
1.18. Variables..............................................................
1.19. Group Hypotheses................................................
1.20. Hypotheses...........................................................
1.21. Conceptualization................................................
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1.22. Preliminary Data Collection..........................................
1.23. Method of Data Collection.............................................
4 Data Analysis and Discussion...................................................
1.24. Introduction....................................................................
1.25. Data Coding...................................................................
1.26. Reliability of the Dataset...............................................
1.27. Data Distribution............................................................
1.28. Descriptive Statistics......................................................
1.29. Objective 1: Usage of Flexible Working Arrangements
1.30. Widely Used Flexible Working Arrangements.............
1.31. Nature of the Job and Working Environment............... .
1.32. Objective 2: Testing Group Hypothesis A.................... .
1.33. Objective 3: Testing Group Hypothesis B.................... .
1.34. Summary of Hypothesis Testing....................................
5 Conclusion and Recommendations............................................
1.35. Introduction.................................................................... .
1.36. Summary of Contribution.............................................. .
1.37. Recommendations.......................................................... .
1.38. Limitations..................................................................... .
1.39. Future Directions........................................................... .
6 References.................................................................................
7 Appendix I - Pre-survey questionnaire......................................
8 Appendix II - Questionnaire (35 Questions)............................
9 Appendix III - Rules of Coding................................................
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LIST OF TABLES
9Table 2.1: Multifactor Productivity Measurement...........................
Table 3.1: Flexible Working Arrangements Usage..........................
Table 3.2: Independent Variables......................................................
Table 3.3: Dependent Variables........................................................
Table 3.4: Variables Group A...........................................................
Table 3.5: Variables Group B...........................................................
Table 3.6: Operationalising the Variables........................................
Table 4.1: Sample Data Coding for Questionnaire..........................
Table 4.2: Overall Reliability Statistics............................................
Table 4.3: Reliability Statistics - Flextime........................................
Table 4.4: Reliability Statistics - Telecommuting............................
Table 4.5: Reliability Statistics - Part-time.......................................
Table 4.6: Reliability Statistics - Compressed Work Week.............
Table 4.7: Reliability Statistics - Software Quantity Measurements 
Table 4.8: Item Total Statistics - Software Quantity Measurements 
Table 4.9: Reliability Statistics - Software Quality Measurements.. 
Table 4.10: Item Total Statistics - Software Quality Measurements
Table 4.11: Sample Demographic - Gender....................................
Table 4.12: Sample Demographics - Age........................................
Table 4.13: Sample Distribution - Marital Status............................
Table 4.14: Descriptive Statistics of the Variables..........................
Table 4.15: Descriptive Statistics for Flextime................................
Table 4.16: Descriptive Statistics for Telecommuting.................... .
Table 4.17: Descriptive Statistics for Part-time.............................. .
Table 4.18: Descriptive Statistics for Compressed Work Week.....
Table 4.19: Descriptive Statistics for Software Quality..................
Table 4.20: Descriptive Statistics for Software Quality..................
Table 4.21: Flextime Usage.............................................................
Table 4.22: Telecommuting Usage.................................................
Table 4.23: Part-time Usage.............................................................
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Table 4.24: Compressed Work Week Usage...............................
Table 4.25: Level of Interaction with Subordinates during Work
Table 4.26: Accessing Facilities at Work......................................
Table 4.27: Correlation - Hypothesis 1.........................................
Table 4.28: Correlation - Hypothesis 2.........................................
Table 4.29: Correlation - Hypothesis 3.........................................
Table 4.30: Correlation - Hypothesis 4.........................................
Table 4.31: Correlation - Hypothesis 5.........................................
Table 4.32: Correlation - Hypothesis 6.........................................
Table 4.33: Correlation - Hypothesis 7.........................................
Table 4.34: Correlation - Hypothesis 8.........................................
Table 4.35: Summery of Hypothesis Testing Results..................
Table 5.1: Widely Used Flexible Working Arrangements...........
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LIST OF FIGURES
18Figure 3.1: Research Methodology................................................
Figure 3.2: Generic Productivity Model........................................
Figure 3.3: Service Productivity Model [Source: Jonas R (2005)]
Figure 3.4: Conceptual Model........................................................
Figure 3.5: Analysis Group A........................................................
Figure 3.6: Analysis Group B........................................................
Figure4.4.1: Sample Demographic - Gender................................
Figure 4.2: Sample Demographics - Age.....................................
Figure 4.3: Sample Distribution - Marital Status..........................
Figure 4.4: Distribution of Flextime..............................................
Figure 4.5: Distribution of Telecommuting..................................
Figure 4.6: Distribution of Part-time..............................................
Figure 4.7: Distribution of Compressed Work Week...................
Figure 4.8: Distribution of Software Quantity..............................
Figure 4.9: Distribution of Software Quality................................
Figure 4.10: Widely Used Flexible Working Arrangements........
Figure 4.11: Level of Interaction with Subordinates during Work
Figure 4.12: Accessing Facilities at Work.....................................
Figure 4.13: Scatter Plot for Flextime and Software Quantity Measurement Aspects
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Figure 4.14: Scatter Plot for Telecommuting and Software Quantity Measurement
Aspects.......................................................................................................................
Figure 4.15: Scatter Plot for Compressed Work Week and Software Quantity
Measurement Aspects................................................................................................
Figure 4.16: Scatter Plot for Part-time and Software Quantity Measurement Aspects
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Figure 4.17: Scatter Plot for Flextime and Software Quality Measurement Aspects 62 
Figure 4.18: Scatter Plot for Telecommuting and Software Quality Measurement 
Aspects 64
IX
Figure 4.19: Scatter Plot for Compressed Work Week and Software Quality
Measurement Aspects................................................................................
Figure 4.20: Scatter Plot for Part-time and Software Quality Measurement Aspects 67
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