THE IMPORTANCE OF FLEXIBILITY IN THE FUNCTIONING OF ENTERPRISES IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

The requirements of contemporary market and the dynamic environment exert pressure on the organizations to continually monitor the changes, to have the flexibility of operation and a rapid response to the signals appearing in the company's internal and external environment. As a consequence, flexibility or adaptability has become an indispensable part of running a business. Flexibility of an organization is one of the main challenges of modern management. This issue has been widely described in the sphere of theory. Generally, flexibility is defined as the ability to adapt to a changing environment without losing the organization's identity (Regev, Wegmann, 2011, pp. 91-98). However, it should be noted that the term "flexibility" is often used to describe concepts of a different meaning, so its essence is not always clear (Soffer, 2005, p. 35). Many contemporary concepts of management emphasize the fact that rapid response to ambient signals is one of the key success factors in the market. The issue of business flexibility and the factors affecting them may relate to different areas of the organization's functioning: production processes, human resources, products in offer, size of operations etc. The purpose of this article is to present flexibility as a factor influencing the competitive advantage of a construction company. The paper was based on the analysis of secondary sources: literature, reports, analysis, statistical data and analysis of author'sown empirical research - a case study of a construction company. The article presents the essence and dimensions of flexibility of an organization, some factors affecting flexibility and variability of prosperity in the construction industry that determines the adaptation of an enterprises to its environment.