the organisational field of temporary work agencies in italy

Transcript

Cesit Centro Studi sistemi di trasporto collettivo “Carlo Mario Guerci”
Piazza Bovio 14 80133 Napoli
Working paper series n. 5 2012
THE ORGANISATIONAL FIELD OF
TEMPORARY WORK AGENCIES IN
ITALY
Moschera Luigi, Consiglio Stefano
1. Introduction
Organisational studies of a neo-institutional nature have shown that the behaviour of
companies operating in the organisational field1 are conditioned by institutionalisation phases
of the field itself (Barley and Tolbert, 1997). Naturally, the strength and sequence of the
different types of pressures that influence a field and steer the organisations inside it to adopt
similar methods of organisation (organisational isomorphism) are conditioned by the
structural and “structuring” characteristics of the field itself (Tolbert and Zucker, 1996;
Granovetter, 1985; Di Maggio, 1991).
Basing itself on these assumptions, this essay intends to demonstrate how the impact of the
different institutional pressures on the various development phases of an organisational field
changes, as well as the subsequent type of conditioning occurring on the organisational
behaviour of the companies in the field. Its main aim is to analyse this phenomenon inside a
relatively “young” organisational field like temporary work agencies, established by Law No.
196/97 (c.d. Treu legislation package).
The study that we intend to present revolves around the following research assumption: “in
the organisational field of the temporary work agency (TWA) the main pressures, which steer
towards isomorphism, and in this sense condition the organisational behaviour of the
companies in the field, differ in the various development phases of the field itself”.
The work includes the results of a survey – conducted over a four-year period from 1997 to
date – on TWAs by: the setting-up of 25 semi-structured interviews, with representatives of
the companies, trading associations, trade unions and experts involved in various ways in the
1 Organisational field means “a group of organisations that together constitute an area of institutional life: key suppliers, consumers
of resources, and products, monitoring agencies and other organisations that produce similar services and products” see DiMaggio
and Powell, 1983, page 149.
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establishment of the field; completion of 31 questionnaires, the analysis of the balance sheets
lodged (1998-1999) of all the companies operating as at 31.12.99; the analysis of the
standards and the case studies regarding temporary work.
The characteristics of the temporary work tool, the structural order, the performances of the sector
and the main strategic and organisational decisions adopted by Italian TWAS are briefly outlined to
reach the documented objectives connected to the assumption formulated. The last part of the article
is aimed at explaining and identifying the criteria that have motivated and guided the strategic and
organisational action of each TWA.
2. Temporary Work in the Business of Flexibility
Increasingly dynamic and unpredictable competition forces companies to continually search for
the most suitable tools to cope with strategic and/or operating contingencies, which require
flexibility. The rapid changes brought by continual technological developments force companies to
adjust their strategies by using “trial and error” tools, which require a very agility type of
organisation. Agility is the main characteristic for dealing with competitive pressure and seizing
opportunities quicker than competitors; this can be achieved by resorting to work flexibility, just
one of the strategies that can be put into operation to pursue this objective.
The methods through which a company can satisfy the demands of work flexibility are varied
and can be separated into two main types: on one hand, a series of actions targeting in-house human
resources, on the other, the company can make use of services offered by structures operating in the
flexibility market (temporary work agencies, temporary management companies, work cooperatives, freelancers, consultants, outsourcing companies, etc.). Basically, the possibility of
meeting these demands passes through a transactional option: in fact, it is possible to turn to the
organisation and hierarchy by using a series of tools like overtime, fixed term contracts,
unemployment benefits etc., and it is also possible to rely on the market by entering into contracts
supplying independent work services2.
Therefore, work flexibility is depicted as a market consisting of clients (companies, public
administrations) with demands, (the need for flexibility) which can be met through the use of a
series of internal tools (internalisation) or by making use of specialised operators competing among
themselves.
2 Doeringer P.B., Piore M.J., 1971, Internal Labour Markets and Manpower Strategy, D.C. Heat, Lexington, MA.
2
The temporary work agencies fall within this market. Their mission is to satisfy the company’s
demand for flexibility by supplying human resources capable of meeting specific organisational
demands.
Temporary work is a tool the company can use to satisfy many different flexibility demands and
which consequently takes on different roles, depending on the requirements to be satisfied.
Companies only use this tool to replace absent workers, to manage temporary development phases,
to implement internal improvement programs, and to support recruitment and selection policies3.
3. Structural Order and Performance of The Sector
As at June 2001 the sector consisted of 60 temporary work agencies4. 63% of the TWAS are
exclusively Italian owned, but many are multi-national companies that – on their own or through
majority, joint or minority holding – operate on the Italian market in various ways. Present on the
Italian market are the French-Swiss group of Adecco - with Adecco and the specialised Horecca –
Manpower and Kelly Services from the United States, three Dutch multinationals5 (Start, Vedior,
and Randstad), four British groups, the German Allbecon, the French Sinergye, Generelle
Industrielle and Interim 25, two Austrian companies, a Swiss agency and one from Belgium.
As far as the type of companies that characterise the sector are concerned, it should be pointed
out that many of the TWAS have been formed by professionals, work consultants, ex personnel
managers or by companies operating in the field of human resource management, in particular
operating in personnel selection consultancy. This type of company, together with individual
entrepreneurs or family businesses, makes up 49.1% of the TWAS operating in Italy.
Another peculiarity of the sector is the extensive presence of financial and banking institutions;
approximately 15% of the TWAS have banking institutions in their share capital. A special case is
connected to the entry in Italy, in October 2000, of the large German financial institution Dresdner
Bank that has penetrated the Italian market through the parent merchant bank Dresdner Kleinwort
Benson. It has acquired significant shares in three TWAS and at the same time supported the
creation of the Eurolabor s.p.a network. The new company is made up of three medium-sized
temporary work agencies - Sinterim, Ergon Line and Tempor – and two companies, Sintex and
Sintexecutive, connected to Sinterim, and very active in human resource management consultancy,
especially selection of personnel.
3 For a closer examination on the outlook of temporary work refer to Consiglio S. Moschera L, 2001.
4 Between June and September 2001 six companies more have obtained the ministerial authorisation: Flessolabor, Incontro
Famiglia, In tempo, Alma, Adarte, Power Interim.
5 Italia Lavora S.r.l. is also associated with a Dutch and British group.
3
Another analytical category consists of the TWA partly owned and/or entirely controlled by
multinational companies, which currently represent 34.5% of the Italian temporary work agencies.
These agencies weigh heavily on sector performance, consisting of 69.1% of the earnings in 1998
and 72.5% in 1999.
Table 1 – Type of companies in the 55 TWAS operating in Italy, as at 15 June 2001
Type
Service companies and/or industrial groups
Work consultants, professionals, businessmen
and/or companies operating in human
resource management
Multinationals
Others*
Total
(of which) Multinational companies
specialising in temporary work
(of which) Control and/or presence of
banking groups and/or institutes
v.a.
8
27
val. %
14.5%
49.1%
19
1
55
8
34.5%
1.8%
100 %
14.5%
9
14.5%
* Obiettivo Lavoro S.c.r.l. whose partners include important Italian cooperatives.
Sector profits registered significant increases: from 257 billion in 1998 to approximately 3,400
billion in 2000. Similar growth rates were registered in the number of total employees: during the
three-year period TWAS have employed around 8,000 people, which also served to cope with the
heavy growth in the number of branches, that rose from 402 in 1998, to 2,290 in 2001.
Table 2 – The structural characteristics of the sector: summary data
Authorised TWAS
Profits
Employees
Branches
1998
34
257
1,360
402
1999
42
1424
2,580
740
Source: processing of budgets, questionnaires and Confinterm estimates
2000
50
3400
4,.710
1.350
2001
60*
5.150
7,990*
2.290*
* 15/6/2001
The temporary work sector in Italy has a high rate of concentration: in 1998 the first three
companies (Manpower, Adecco and Obiettivo Lavoro) made up 54.8% of the total profits in the
sector. 1999 saw an increase in the concentration with a rate of 61.2% for the first three companies,
and 50.3% for the first two multinational companies operating in Italy. The concentration is slightly
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lower when considering branches rather than profits: the first three TWAS control approximately
55.5% of the branches, the first two 45.6%.
In 2000, TWAs provided their services to approximately 93,000 client companies establishing
451,916 temporary work relationships. Therefore, each company has employed approximately five
workers on average, a slightly lower value compared to that registered in 1998 and 1999.
In 2000, average contract duration grew significantly compared to previous years: it increased by
25% compared to 1999 and 38% compared to 1998, with a total of 240 hours.
Table 3 – Collective sector performances
1998
1999
2000
1st half 2001
9,243
34,472
92,600
35,547
52,312 166,354 451,916
236,072
5.65
5.65
4.9
6.6
174
192
240
246
21,524
97,282 224,885
137,346
9,100
37,439 113,333
58,093
2.4
2.0
2.1
1.7
2.3
2.8
2.4
3.9
User companies
Missions established in the year
Average workers per user company
Average duration of contracts (in hours)
Supply contracts
Work hours supplied (in thousands)
Average workers initiated per supply contract
Number of contracts per user company
Source: Confinterim estimates on the entire sector except for 1999 and 2000 that only include the associated
companies
The number of supply contracts drawn up in 2000 (approx. 225,000) doubled in respect to the
previous year and is ten times higher than the value recorded in 1998; the amount of working hours
provided by TWAS exceeds 110 million, with an increase therefore, of 202% compared to 1999.
4. TWA - Strategic Approaches
The strategic approach adopted by a TWA is conditioned by a series of choices and in particular by
the degree of specialisation/differentiation, as well as the degree of diversification and
internationalisation.
Degree of specialisation/differentiation
Most of the companies adopt an undifferentiated approach: that is to say, they indiscriminately offer
a mixture of professionals by grading level, type of specialisation and sector of destination. The
companies that adopt these approaches can be defined as a generalist TWA.
Box 1: The generalist TWA
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“Our company has decided to consider the market in a standardised way. In this phase
we cannot run the risk of missing out on opportunities, even in those specialist
businesses that need an ad-hoc service.
Naturally, even we have specialisations in a certain sense, ….. in fact, even we operate
mainly for some specific clients. However, we do not believe it is the right time to
specialise. The market is still too volatile and the choice of turning to differentiation
strategies is too expensive and risky.
Source: interview with a generalist TWA manager
The general picture of the Italian TWA also shows the presence of companies that adopt a focused
approach and who choose to provide only a specific marketing mix to some professionals, or
companies belonging to a particular sector and/or focusing on a limited geographic area. There are
not many companies that adopt this approach to the market; in fact, only five specialist TWAs can
be found in the start-up phase of the field.
Box 2: The specialist TWA
“We intend to operate in very specialised sectors. Consequently the temporary work
agencies that I represent are managed with types and methods that differ with respect to
classic methods and typologies as far as type of market positioning is concerned,
including under an organisational profile. More specifically, we operate in the
aeronautic sector, in air maintenance and in the maintenance of all transport means in
general: i.e. in the naval and train sectors. This business choice was made for two
fundamental reasons: the first is the cardinal point constituted by the fact that the
company is part of a group that has acquired and continues to acquire specific
experience in the industrial sector, the second is that if we chose a business strategy
that was similar to our competitor then we would have been crushed by the dimensions
of the large companies that operate in the sector (Manpower, Adecco, Obiettivo
Lavoro) and therefore would have had difficulty in finding our own niche.”
Source: interview with a manager of a specialist TWA.
Another approach to the market can be seen in the development phase of the sector, which was that
of offering a specialist service to some special market segments, with a differentiated marketing
mix. The companies that adopt this approach are known as multi-strategy TWAs. This category
usually includes those larger-sized companies, who adopt a generalist approach to the market in
their overall structure, but at the same time, set up independent divisions to reach segments of
market that have special demands. It should be pointed out that in this way the multi-strategy TWA
can serve some market segments in a differentiated way, through the specialist division, and the
remaining segments with an undifferentiated approach.
Box 3: The multi-strategy TWA
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“The decision to have specialised divisions is not dictated by the possible difficulties in
having to set up new companies. It may even be a deterrent for Italy, at least in the
initial phase, because the prerequisites and business conditions are rather weighty.
Therefore doubling, tripling, quadrupling, would be tough. It mainly comes from the
need and the opportunity of sharing a complete series of back-office services, which are
absolutely identical and are not connected to the type of personnel supplied. The choice
of a specialist division is actually determined by the possibility of specialising the
resources that are the main speakers for the companies of that specific sector.”
Source: interview with a multi-strategy TWA representative
TWA: Degree of Diversification
The strategic attitudes of the TWA also differ with regard to the degree of diversification. After the
start-up phase that developed in the three years between 1997-200, about eight Italian TWAs have
engaged in diversification procedures, in particular in the area of recruitment and selection. In this
way, the TWA can reuse previously acquired skills, know-how, client portfolios and, especially the
database with the curricula of the candidates. In fact, some companies are present in the business of
private placement6, of services for the management of outsourcing and payrolling processes.
Degree of Internationalisation
The degree of internationalisation of the companies is another differentiation factor of TWA
strategic attitudes. In Italy, the companies with a high degree of internationalisation are only those
formed in association with multinational companies. Instead, the Italian supply companies operate
exclusively inside Italy, with the only exception being Quanta S.p.a., which opened a branch in
Switzerland in 2001.
5. Organisational Order
The examination of the organisational characteristics of the TWAs operating in Italy has shown that
there is a reference “dominant” organisational order, despite the physiological differences in the
organisation of the various companies. Every company aspires to this “dominant” organisational
order.
The Basic Characteristics of The “Dominant” Organisational Order
In the “dominant” organisational order the activities are united using two alternative group bases at
the same time, a functional group and a group relating to the geographic market served. All the
6
Private placement was introduced into the Italian legal working order with legislative decree no. 469, 23.12.1997.
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TWAs use the functional criteria to group the main strategic and back office activities; this creates
organisational units that group together specialised skills internally. The geographic grouping, on
the other hand, creates decentralised organisational units in Italy, the branches. All the activities
necessary for the production and the supplying of the service (front office activities) are combined
in these branches.
The “dominant” order can be divided into two fundamental organisational levels, relative to the
relevant choices based on the grouping:
- head office;
- branch networks.
The head office is the “brain” of the TWA, the place where business strategies are defined and
where main “back office activities are managed to support the branch network (legal services,
computer system, personnel management) and the operating policies that the TWA decides to
manage centrally (marketing and sales, administration and finance).
The network of the branches, however, establishes the procedures that link the TWA to the supply
market (the temporary workers) and outlets (the client companies), transforming and distributing
the final and complementary services. Therefore, each individual branch has the job of managing
the main front office activities and, in particular, those connected to the acquisition and management
of the workers and the clients, in a specific geographic area.
Branch organisation only provides for two organisational positions that cover highly specialised
duties: the first concerns commercial activities and generally supervises the entire management of
the branch; the second concerns activities inherent to recruitment and selection of temporary
workers. In many TWAs, apart from these two roles, another figure undertakes administrative
activities.
Another standard factor, which characterises TWA organisational order (Mercurio, Martinez, 2005),
is the frequent use of persons and structures to integrate and co-ordinate, so that the structure has
better market orientation. In particular, the main integrating mechanisms used in the TWA are to
integrate managers in charge of specific market segments (sector managers), or regional or national
key account managers, who are responsible for the management of larger clients.
Another alternative solution for transversal problems adopted frequently by the TWA is the use of a
mechanism of individual temporary co-ordination, like project managers or program managers. In
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these cases troubleshooting is assigned to a specific manager who must co-ordinate with the various
operating and/or territorial units to implement the initiative.
Box 4: The project "from south to north"
To resolve the problem of a shortage of professionals in some areas of
Italy, mainly in the northeast, we have created the “south-north
mobility” project. This is managed by a project manager supported by a
staff entirely dedicated to this service, that by linking itself with all
Italian branches, collect requests for personnel coming from companies
with recruiting difficulties and the applications of people available to
work in geographic regions other than those where they live.
The group also has the responsibility of managing all support activities
for temporary workers interested in mobility and that mainly involves
facilities for finding accommodation and for relocating.
As far as the decision system of the “dominant” order is concerned, there is an organisational form
characterised by a noticeable degree of centralization, mitigated by delegation processes that
concern the service’s production management and distribution policies (Berni et al, 2011).
The companies adopt an inter-organisational information system of a co-operative nature to ensure
that organisational actions are standardised and define required standardisation methods between
the central offices and the branch network. They also implement systems that control performance
in branch co-ordination and make extensive use of mainly collective incentive schemes.
Table 4 – The characteristics of the “dominant” organisational order.
Group base
Functional to group main strategic and back office
activities;
Geographic for activities required for service production
and distribution (front office activities).
Fundamental parts of the structure
Central Office
Network of the Italian branches
Main integrating mechanisms
Integrating Managers (sector managers, key account
managers, project and program managers) introduced to
give the TWA structure more market orientation.
Degree of decision centralisation
High degree of centralisation, mitigated by processes of
delegation to branches, relating to management of service
operating production and distribution policies.
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Main Variations to The “dominant” Organisational Order
The organisational isomorphism that characterises the field of the Italian companies is partially
mitigated by some variations identified in the organisational structure of some companies during
2000. In fact, the analysis carried out has shown that the companies undertaking specialisation and
differentiation business strategies are more likely to adopt organisational forms aimed to satisfy
specific market segments, rather than solutions favouring undifferentiated approaches. This
propensity is evident in a series of organisational choices that alter the “dominant” order, especially
in relation to the choice of the group base and the organisation of the branches.
Some TWAs tend to differentiate themselves from an organisational point of view, with respect to
the “dominant” order, by introducing a matrix structure. This co-ordinating and integrating
mechanism allows the TWA to use two group bases simultaneously: a geographic group and a
client/market group. Thus, the people operating inside the branches simultaneously report to the
manager of the Italian units and to the managers of the divisions that cover a specific sector
(tourism, ICT, hotel, pharmaceutical, banking, etc.) or with a specific group of professionals (for
example, call centre workers, accountants, etc.). In this sense the divisional managers are the
process owners who coordinate all the activities necessary for correct and efficient management of
standardized orders.
Box 5: The matrix structure
We have a matrix structure, on one hand we have the offices that we call branches, and
on the other hand we have five business divisions to manage the product areas, more
precisely, specific professionals. That’s why each branch depends on the central office
and also on one or more areas. The business divisions always depend directly on the
central office, but are “interbranches”, in the sense that they use the Italian branches
that serve several business divisions for the distribution of the specialised service.
Source: interview with a TWA manager
A more noticeable variation compared to the “dominant” order was found when analysing
organisation of companies that adopt a multi-strategy market approach. The main difference with
the reference model lies in the various grouping methods of the activities. In fact, the organisational
structure of the multi-strategy companies is no longer characterised by operational directions, but
also by divisions that manage some specialist market segments in relative autonomy and with their
own hierarchy. The presence of a divisional organisational structure with specialised and dedicated
branches differentiates this organisational form from the matrix. Finally, it must be pointed out that
the Adecco temporary work agency has chosen to transform a division into an autonomous supply
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company to increase visibility and differentiate itself from the division in the eyes of the client.
Other companies, in particular Obiettivo Lavoro and Quanta S.p.a., on the other hand, have set up
new, specialised TWA through partnership agreements with others.
The other, more significant, variation of the dominant order concerns the various ways of
organising the work inside the branches. The TWAs that wish to ensure a higher market orientation
for their branches tend to define individual positions with a less prominent degree of horizontal
specialisation. Commercial duties and those connected to recruitment of temporary workers are
given to each employee in this type of branch. In this way the branches comprise a group of account
managers who manage in an integrated way the distribution process of the service to satisfy the
demands of one or more specific clients. In some cases the account manager also takes care of all
the legal and administrative aspects relating to the supplying of the service.
Box 6: The Branch Account Manger
Two or more Account Managers work in each branch, who are the focal point of our
organisation since they carry out two duties. In fact, their job is to contact the client
companies and to analyse their need to find personnel; at the same time they control
selection of candidates personally. In this way they are able to find the right worker for
the job where their professionalism will be most suitable.
Source: interview with a TWA manager
This model can ease co-ordination problems perceived in the standard organisational forms of the
branches, where the responsibility of a single process of distribution relating to a supply is spread
between three different professionals.
On the other hand it is necessary to point out that this model requires professionals who specialise
in sectors (experts in the banking sector, experts in the pharmaceutical, hotel sectors etc.) and who
are multi-skilled, that is to say, are able to cover commercial duties as well as the acquisition of
human resources.
6. Institutional and Competitive Pressures in The Field’s Various Life Phases
A possible key to interpreting TWA behaviour lies in a neo-institutionalist framework. According to
this branch of organisational research, the propensity for isomorphism that characterises Italian
TWAs may be the result of two possible pressures arising in the field, and in particular institutional
pressures (that trigger normative and coercitive processes) and competitive pressures (that trigger
imitation processes).
The stronger the conditional force of these two types of conditioning, the stronger the degree of
institutionalisation of the field and, therefore, the shift towards isomorphism.
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The process of formation and creation of the field was characterised by many phases, characterised
by ideology clashes, information and awareness activities, negotiating processes, lobbying
activities, and only in the last few years by legal activities, which officially marked the beginning of
the activities of the field. Many companies operating in the field took part in the institutionalisation
process, in different capacities and with various contributions: some stimulating and promoting the
tool, others obstructing and slowing down its introduction. The result of this long and complicated
process, which lasted ten years, led to a standard system that is mid-way between the laissez-faire
models, typical of the Anglo-Saxon world, and the rigid models inspired by strong logical civil
liberties.
The constraints imposed by the “Treu legalisation packet” and by subsequent modifications and
integrations applied by the legislator through the use of regulations, controls, modifications and
articles of the law, can be read as depending on the principal action they undertake which fall into
two main critical dimensions: influence on the aspects typically connected to TWA organisational
form and its relevant mechanisms, as well as the contribution provided for weaving the cognitive
and “regulation” fabric of the field itself.
In particular, the “Treu Legalisation Packet” identifies a series of obligations that defines the
essential characteristics of companies wanting to supply temporary work services in Italia.
Therefore, the motives that have led most of the TWAs to adapt to a “dominant” organisational
model derive from the need to respond to institutional pressures emerging from legal devices, from
relative implementation decisions and from sanctioning and control systems. The regulating
pressures that manifest themselves in the TWA field operate more forcefully on some of the
principal characteristics of the “dominant” order.
The presence in the sector of a prevailing legal form (TWAs are all joint-stock companies) derives
from regulations that do not permit the adoption of other forms. The law also obliges companies to
set up capital of at least one billion lire, to pay caution money of 700 million lire and to have their
registered office or a branch office in Italy7.
Although these aspects do not directly affect the organisational structure, they do however condition
a series of elements including decision-making processes, demands for transparency and another
series of corporate administrative, accounting and tax aspects that indirectly influences TWA
organisation. Moreover, all these obligations have made it difficult for small operators, as well as
supply companies already operating abroad, to enter the market.
7 The “financial” law of 2001 (art. 117) finally allowed companies with a registered office in a territory of the European Union to
enter the Italian temporary employment business, it being understood that all other requirements must be met.
12
The legislation and a series of implementation circulars also create another peculiarity of the
“dominant” model, which has already been said is characterised by use of a territorial group base to
coordinate supply services operations management and distribution activities. In fact, the companies
all have a head office and numerous territorial branches. This type of choice, that in part is
undoubtedly consistent with the type of service a TWA offers, is also required by law, which
obliges all companies to have branches in at least four regions.
Also, institutional regulative pressure applied through a series of implementation circulars, has in
some ways shaped the basic characteristics of head office and individual branch organisation,
imposing quality and quantity parameters with regard to the people to employ. In fact, the circulars
envisage the employment of suitably qualified and skilled professionals within the structures, to
guarantee an effective supply of labour. Minimum quantity limits laid down are four units for head
offices and two units for individual branches.
The legislator’s choice to make the temporary work open-ended has also contributed to increasing
the level of bureaucracy for procedures connected to administrative management of work
relationships. The bureaucratic weight brought by this choice has obliged TWAs to delegate the
task of formal duties required each time a new work contract is drawn up, to individual branches
(formal communications to INPS (National Social Welfare Institution, to the Employment Office,
etc.), even if contracts for only a few hours a day are involved.
Even the limited tendency to diversify manifested by TWAs during the initial phases of the field’s
establishment, was partly due to the legislator’s choice. In fact, the law obliges companies to have
as their sole scope the “supply of temporary work”. As a consequence TWAs who wish to
undertake a diversification strategy must set up a new company, and therefore adopt ad holding
organisational forms.
Legislation pressure also influences the language shared and used, values, myths, beliefs and the
main communicating models in the field (Meyer and Rowan, 1983). For example, all the companies
have “temporary work agency” in their company name, adopt a shared and standardised language,
use mainly standard professional profiles both for the type of training and for skills, knowledge and
past experiences. Finally, TWAs are obliged to use the same formal procedures and formats for
communicating with the outside world (formal characteristics of the supply contract,
communication with the Ministry, the Employment Office, INPS, etc.).
Institutional pressures that arose during the field’s initial phases, triggered an isomorphic-type
coercive process, and were therefore the main cause that brought about a dominant organisational
order in the TWA compartment.
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The field’s subsequent development phases, characterised by the first signs of a slow down in the
strong growth rate of the business, show strategic and organisational behaviour that not only replies
to institutional pressures, but is also strongly conditioned by imitation logics of successful models
or models perceived as being equipped with a high level of legitimisation.
In the first six months of 2000, the behaviour of some TWAs, who are the first to push approaches
of major strategic and organisational differentiation, in some cases through inter-organisational cooperative methods, triggered competitive pressures within the field, causing several cases of
imitation processes.
In fact, it is in this phase that some companies engage in: differentiation strategies (multi-strategy
approach) and in specialisations, aimed to offer some specific market segments a customised
service; actions targeting diversification of their offer into other businesses capable of serving their
clients more efficiently and making the most of the acquired skills; research processes of interorganisational collaboration aimed to increase marketing power and valorise scale economies
existing in the businesses.
As previously state, from a organisational point of view in the first six months of 2000, the various
TWAs introduced a series of changes to the dominant model, and a particular tendency emerges to:
turn frequently to the matrix structures; set up specialised divisions to serve specific market
segments; reshape typical branch organisation.
7. Conclusions
In conclusion, it is possible to affirm that compared to other fields that originate and develop in
response to market demands or technological innovations (Tolbert and Zucker, 1996), the TWA
field developed mainly in response to the strong regulating pressure formalised in institutive law no.
196/97. Moreover, the organisational behaviour of the TWA is deeply influenced by this type of
conditioning and, in fact, the legal system has significantly conditioned sector structure and trends,
as well as TWA organisational characteristics.
However, while in the start up phase the legislative structure (Scott, 1995) imposes the field’s
institutional frame and legal template, in subsequent phases competitive pressures begin to be felt
and they activate imitation processes between TWAs. The strength of the latter pressure, however,
could be analysed and evaluated in more detail, in the light of profound, rapid changes occurring in
the field.
The analysis of formation, start-up and development processes has shown that within the field
(Martinez 2007), TWAs have played a very important role contributing to conditioning legislative
14
and competitive pressures. In fact, it emerged that in the formation process of the field an aspiring
TWA group contributed considerably to overcoming barriers that were hindering the introduction of
the tool in the Italian system and to defining its legal status. This activity was developed in
particular by some leading multinational temporary work agencies like Adecco, Kelly, Manpower
and Start, and by some Italian companies operating in the personnel consultancy sector.
The analysis of the field’s formation process showed that some TWAs, individually and through
associations, participated in the process that led to defining the legislative structure, conditioning it
strongly. This means that the institutional pressure that conditioned TWA strategic and
organisational order during the initial phases of the field, cannot be considered an external pressure
to the compartment, but can be interpreted as the result of a negotiating process in which the TWAs
participated actively, and to which they contributed. However, the action of these subjects cannot be
restricted solely to the formation phase of the field, but was also to be seen in start up and
development phases. In particular, leading TWAs, especially the two most important multinational
companies, contributed to diffusing the tool to potential users and temporary workers, imposing
language and behaviour in the field’s initial phase. Without doubt the development of advertising
campaigns, “evangelistic” selling activity, massive presence in Italy with many branches, all
contributed to asserting common, shared behaviour, attitudes and languages. This aspect was further
strengthened by the mechanism of strong and evident turnover, even in the numerous passages of
personnel from one company to the other, which has also underpinned the field’s standard and
cognitive.
However, the role of these subjects is even more significant in the field’s development phase.
In this phase the principal TWAs continue to play a key role in defining the field’s organisational
order, no longer participating in institutional pressures but implementing competitive pressure on
other TWAs.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to point out that not only large multinational companies operating in
the sector implement competitive pressures; in fact, strong incentive action arrives, for example,
from small Italian or international companies specialising in matrices that verified the presence of
specialist segments requiring specific organisational formulas. It is not by chance that most of the
younger companies to receive ministerial authorisations present a strong tendency to serve specialist
segments.
15
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the organisational field of temporary work agencies in italy

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