Article

Individual Flexibility in the Workplace: A Spatial Perspective

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Abstract

During the past few decades, scholars have undertaken numerous studies to map various determinants of flexibility at various levels: organizational, group, and individual. However, limited attention has been paid to the role of context and spatiality in realizing individual flexibility. This article aims to fill this gap and seeks to inquire into links between flexibility and spatiality. More specifically, this article will explore how organizational spatial layouts affect individual flexibility as everyday work activities are undertaken in the production of services in two settings, namely, health care and financial services. The findings show that spatial layout is important to better understand and conceptualize individual and organizational flexibility. The findings also show how spatial layout affords various and unexpected outcomes and that layouts that unilaterally foster flexibility are difficult to achieve due to the polymorphous nature of flexibility.

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... Instead, CW users might experience additional conflicts (Ayoko and Härtel, 2003;Värlander, 2012), reduced social cohesion (Kingma, 2019), and uncooperative behaviors (Morrison and Macky, 2017) that limit collaborative endeavors. ...
... To cope with these tensions, managers in CWs often achieve some structure by increasing the frequency of planned group meetings (e.g., Bosch-Sijtsema, Ruohomäki and Vartiainen, 2010;Värlander, 2012;Wohlers and Hertel, 2018). As a result, CW users structure their work to a greater extent, investing most of their office time in interacting with group members within planned meetings. ...
... Although allowing for some relational stability, it also limits the opportunities for new, fruitful encounters at the office, as it rematerializes the boundaries around different groups (cf. Värlander, 2012;Irving, Ayoko and Ashkanasy, 2020). ...
Article
Full-text available
Companies are increasingly implementing collaborative workplaces (CWs) to promote office collaboration and flexibility. Despite the rapid diffusion of CWs across industries and organizations, research findings suggest that their benefits often fail to materialize due to the existence of tensions and contradictions that develop through the daily actions and interactions of workplace users. This literature review sheds some light on the development of tensions and contradictions in CWs by focusing on their implications for social relations at work. This review identifies the oppositional tensions that surface in CW research findings: flexibility vs structure , fluidity vs stability and exposure vs privacy . In disclosing the underlying mechanisms, this study connects these tensions and their management to the autonomy–control paradox that emerges in CWs. It concludes by suggesting some approaches that are available to managers to assist them in dealing with tensions and unleashing creativity, participation and adaptability.
... Although the collaboration literature (see Bridwell-Mitchell, 2016;Feller et al., 2013) highlights the positive role of physical proximity as a facilitator of chance encounters and collaboration, the literature on physical proximity and serendipity (e.g. Bernstein & Turban, 2018;Värlander, 2012) suggests that the positive impact of physical proximity on collaboration can fail to materialize. To understand this puzzle better, we turn to this literature. ...
... Although the literature offers some initial hints about why physically proximate employees may avoid chance encounters, existing studies provide little insight into how such employees might overcome the obligation to interact to avoid fostering new collaborative partnerships. In this regard, scholars who study buildings intended to promote modernization (Hirst & Humphreys, 2013), flexible work (Hirst, 2011;Värlander, 2012), and transparency (Bernstein, 2012) note the strategies employees use to subvert the intended use of these physical spaces. Yet, these studies provide limited insights into the strategies involved in avoiding collaboration in the context of buildings intended for collaboration. ...
... In sum, the literature on collaboration, physical proximity and serendipity suggests that although physical proximity between employees can facilitate collaboration in some circumstances, employees may also try to avoid collaborating in collaborative buildings (e.g. Dale;2005, Van Marrewijk & Van den Ende, 2018Värlander, 2012). Yet, we lack a nuanced understanding of the strategies that employees use to overcome the obligation to interact and avoid chance encounters that we would expect to facilitate new collaborative partnerships under conditions of physical proximity. ...
Article
Full-text available
Despite the adoption of collaborative buildings and office spaces to improve collaboration, the expected benefits of spatial interventions often fail to materialize. In a study of an ostensibly ‘collaborative building’, we identified strategies that employees use to avoid collaborating (i.e. ‘focusing on existing collaborations’, ‘reinforcing group boundaries’, ‘enacting legacy policies’ and ‘minimizing social interactions’). These strategies combined to minimize serendipitous encounters, which led to the avoidance of new collaborations. Our findings address a theoretical tension in the literature as to whether proximity facilitates or inhibits collaboration. We also show that, while it is often difficult to facilitate serendipitous encounters in an ostensibly collaborative building, serendipity nonetheless plays a central role in the development of new collaborative partnerships.
... Architecture (Groák 1992) Building science (Arge and Landstad 2002) Corporate Real Estate (CRE) (Gibson 2003) Facilities Management (FM) (Nutt 1988(Nutt , 2000 Space planning (Duffy and Powell 1997;Becker and Steele 1995) external environment (Värlander 2012). Emphasis on the strategic importance of flexibility increased in the 1990s in response to quickly changing business environments fuelled by increasing global competition and rapidly developing technology (Skyrme 1994). ...
... Flexible working, in terms of more flexible contracts, working hours and working patterns enabled by mobile technology were seen as ways of increasing flexibility (Gibson 2003;Skyrme 1994). Teamwork was understood as contributing to organisational flexibility through the ability of teams to manage themselves (Värlander 2012). Individual flexibility as a component of organisational flexibility is perhaps more loosely defined, but can be seen as workers' ability to deal with new situations or see change as an opportunity (Värlander 2012). ...
... Teamwork was understood as contributing to organisational flexibility through the ability of teams to manage themselves (Värlander 2012). Individual flexibility as a component of organisational flexibility is perhaps more loosely defined, but can be seen as workers' ability to deal with new situations or see change as an opportunity (Värlander 2012). ...
Article
Flexible office concepts offer organisations the ability to adapt quickly to changes, and provide users with possibilities to work flexibly. Ideas about flexible working shape the design concepts employed in office design, and have consequences for users’ everyday work practices. But do ideas of flexible space make users more flexible? And are the concepts and the solutions supporting those ideas? Taking a socio-material perspective, this paper explores how strategies of flexibility in office architecture affect the everyday spatial practices of knowledge workers. The paper draws on data from a case study in a Norwegian public organisation. Our findings suggest that flexible architecture on its own does not produce flexible workers. Rather, flexibility can be co-produced by users and architecture through emergent practices of appropriation and negotiation. Enhancing flexible work for users requires an understanding of what flexibility entails in their particular context, and adjusting strategies to their needs over time. Users should able to actively engage with and adapt architecture to their specific needs, which may require less standardisation in office design. By drawing on insights from architectural theory, facilities management research, and organisation studies, this paper provides new understandings of the effects of flexible office concepts.
... Although the collaboration literature (see Bridwell-Mitchell, 2016;Feller et al., 2013) highlights the positive role of physical proximity as a facilitator of chance encounters and collaboration, the literature on physical proximity and serendipity (e.g. Bernstein & Turban, 2018;Värlander, 2012) suggests that the positive impact of physical proximity on collaboration can fail to materialize. To understand this puzzle better, we turn to this literature. ...
... Although the literature offers some initial hints about why physically proximate employees may avoid chance encounters, existing studies provide little insight into how such employees might overcome the obligation to interact to avoid fostering new collaborative partnerships. In this regard, scholars who study buildings intended to promote modernization (Hirst & Humphreys, 2013), flexible work (Hirst, 2011;Värlander, 2012), and transparency (Bernstein, 2012) note the strategies employees use to subvert the intended use of these physical spaces. Yet, these studies provide limited insights into the strategies involved in avoiding collaboration in the context of buildings intended for collaboration. ...
... In sum, the literature on collaboration, physical proximity and serendipity suggests that although physical proximity between employees can facilitate collaboration in some circumstances, employees may also try to avoid collaborating in collaborative buildings (e.g. Dale;2005, Van Marrewijk & Van den Ende, 2018Värlander, 2012). Yet, we lack a nuanced understanding of the strategies that employees use to overcome the obligation to interact and avoid chance encounters that we would expect to facilitate new collaborative partnerships under conditions of physical proximity. ...
... At the end, the university decided to change part of the layout of this new building. Other studies demonstrated that ABW gave rise even to squatting and colonisation of space in unassigned areas (Värlander, 2012). Experiences like these triggered questioning on which kind of workspace layout academics require Toker and Gray, 2008). ...
... A single office can reflect real needs given the fact that academic activity is often individual in nature and collaborators are frequently different from those on the same office floor. On the other hand, scholars question if single offices only reflect a status (Hopland and Kvamsdal, 2020) and academic work effectively became less dependent on dedicated workspaces, and less space-demanding in general (Vitasovich et al., 2016) given the low occupancy rates usually associated with traditional academic spaces Lansdale et al., 2011;Värlander, 2012). Other contributions associate open plans offices to gender inequality issues. ...
Thesis
Work autonomy, low degree of formalization, and unconventional organizational structure character-ize academic work. These features make academics free to choose their work location, differently from other knowledge workers, whose work location choices are more constrained. In recent decades, thanks to the diffusion of information and communication technologies, academics have increasingly performed their research work outside university campuses, in off-campus locations (e.g., their own houses, public libraries, dedicated laboratories, firm premises, or even coworking spaces, cafés, and parks). The university campus moved beyond a static space to a more blurred place that alternatively includes multiple locations (i.e., the university, the home, and other third spaces). The recent pandemic exacerbated this trend. Despite the increasing diffusion of this phenomenon, up to now, scholars have paid little attention to why and how academics choose the location of their research work. Moreover, it is not clear whether such choices influence their work outcomes. This PhD project explores academics’ spatial practices for research on- and off-campus and the role of the physical workspaces in influencing the choice to work either on- or off-campus, stimulating ac-ademic productivity, and shaping the academic work experience. Overall, this thesis takes advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic period as a privileged time frame to study academic work. This research aims at providing a first interpretation of the disruptive Covid-working period and its potential long-term consequences on academic work. Namely, this research aims at (a) identifying academics’ loca-tion choices for research activities among university, home, and other third spaces; (b) measuring the effects of these location choices on- and off-campus on academic productivity; and (c) understand-ing key spatial implications of academic work in those multiple locations (university, home, and other third spaces). To reach these objectives, this thesis adopts a mixed-method approach, including econometric analy-sis of survey data (7,865 responses) on the whole population of Italian tenured academics, secondary data, scraped from public databases on academic productivity (i.e., Scopus Database), and 22 interviews with academics from three public universities in Milan as well as visual data. Drawing upon these analyses, this thesis posits four important scientific contributions. First, this research brings new empirical evidence about academic location choices by recognizing four clusters: Home-centric, Between home and university, Multi-located and University-centric. Second, this research synthetizes the different determinants of location choices in academia. Each of the four clusters is explained by different determinants. Mostly, work-related factors (i.e., discipline) influence location choices. However, workspace-related factors (i.e., on-campus workspace spatial quality, the need for a laboratory and commuting time) are crucial factors for work location decisions. Finally, private life-related factors (i.e., living with school children or a partner) and demographic fac-tors (i.e., gender) push academics in increasing work-from-home. Third, this thesis finds that working from the university during the Covid-19 pandemic increases aca-demic productivity more than any other location choice, while working from home negatively influ-ences productivity. Noteworthy, the relation between each location choice and academic productivity strongly depends on the characteristics of the workspace at home and on-campus as well as on indi-vidual traits such as gender. Fourth, referring to Lefebvre’s spatial theory, this thesis reveals how academics produce their work-space within and beyond the boundaries of their university campuses. Spatial practices across multiple workspaces span from losing the workspace in favour of the accelerated rhythms of academic work and university obligations (i.e., domination of space), towards recovering the workspace through strategies for protecting work freedom and autonomy (i.e., appropriation of space). From a practical perspective, this thesis identifies some approaches that universities decision makers and academics themselves should consider when designing future policies and future spaces for aca-demic work.
... Dennoch finden sich in verschiedenen Forschungstraditionen Arbeiten zur organisationalen Bedeutung des Raumes. Värlander (2012) stellt mit Rückgriff auf Gibson's Konzept der Affordanz eine schlüssige Verbindung zwischen der räumlichen Gestaltung von Organisationen (organizational spatial arrangements) und der Flexibilität von Beschäftigten her, wobei ein Teil dieser räumlichen Einflüsse, Anregungen und Behinderungen jenseits der Intentionen, Erwartungen und direkten Kontrolle der Menschen liegen. Ihrer Auffassung nach sind mögliche Effekte räumlicher Gestaltung nicht hinreichend erklärbar: "Spatial design can be an efficient tool in implementing change, but there is a need for awareness of the unpredictability of spatial design, and simplistic views of openness as unequivocally leading to flexibility, innovation, and other favorable or desirable organizational outcomes need to be challenged" (ebd., 56). ...
... Several professionals view their treatment room as a sanctuary where they tolerate little interference. This is interesting because the flexibility of individual employees, managers, or CEOs ultimately determines the flexibility of the organization (Varlander, 2012). Future research is needed to determine when an individual needs to leave their comfort zone to face uncertainty and how organizations can facilitate that process. ...
Article
Purpose: Flexibility is essential for healthcare organizations to anticipate the increasing internal and external dynamics. Mental healthcare organizations in the Netherlands face major policy reforms made by the government, increasing involvement from municipalities and gradual replacement of clinical care with outpatient care. Top management plays an important strategic role in creating this flexibility because they make important choices, give direction and structure the organization. To create flexibility, managers have to deal with complexity and paradoxes. In this study, the authors aim to contribute to the knowledge on how healthcare managers can create flexibility in their organizations. Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative empirical field study. In total, 21 managers of mental healthcare organizations participated in open in-depth interviews. The authors explored flexibility on three perspectives: organizational direction, structure and operations. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity to explore flexibility. The authors asked participants to reflect on their organization's response to the pandemic. Findings: Most mental healthcare organizations create flexibility in an implicit way. Flexibility and resilience are closely linked mechanisms. Flexibility ensures a quick response while resilience provides the counterforce and rebound needed to adapt. Adaption ensures that healthcare professionals learn from their experiences and do not return completely to the way things were done before. The primary urge to survive ensured rapid and adequate responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether this is a manifestation of flexibility remains difficult to conclude. Practical implications: The complexity theory offers some guidance in creating a flexible organization without losing consistency. Flexibility and resilience are closely linked mechanisms that antagonize and protect each other. With this insight, managers in mental healthcare can utilize the qualities and balance them without falling into the various pitfalls. Originality/value: In this research, the authors are concerned with flexibility as a proactive attitude and capacity of organizations. By looking at the response of organizations to the COVID-19 crisis, the authors find out that responding to a disaster out of survival instinct is something else than flexibility. There is an interesting relationship between flexibility, resilience and adaptability, and they can balance each other.
... By structuring the physical space in which people workwhether it is in offices, on floors, up front, out back, or elsewhere-organizations affect and reflect the class-based valuations of different categories of workers. Moreover, spaces are symbolic of choices that constrain and enable interaction in organizations, which are relevant to the classed rules for exchange in work/places (Värlander, 2012). Below, we describe the ways in which organizations unequally allocate spaces (e.g., location, size, and privacy) and differentially maintain the comfort and safety of different work spaces. ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Dignity is widely considered to be an essential element of decent work. However, the extent to which people are able to derive a sense of worth and value from their work roles and the extent to which they are treated respectfully while on the job can vary greatly. One social identity that is particularly salient for understanding the achievement of workplace dignity is social class, as social class is both a consequence and a source of organizational inequalities. In this manuscript, we identify five frames through which work/places organize social class: organizing distributions of material rewards, organizing contributions to be made through work, organizing construction of physical work spaces, organizing power and status within workplaces, and organizing status and stigma outside the work domain. As a result of identity-indifferent and identity-sensitive inequalities embedded within these organizing frames, working-class employees face unique challenges in achieving dignity at work. Therefore, we conclude by addressing critical questions about management’s ethical responsibilities for addressing working-class employees’ unique dignity concerns.
... By structuring the physical space in which people workwhether it is in offices, on floors, up front, out back, or elsewhere-organizations affect and reflect the class-based valuations of different categories of workers. Moreover, spaces are symbolic of choices that constrain and enable interaction in organizations, which are relevant to the classed rules for exchange in work/places (Värlander, 2012). Below, we describe the ways in which organizations unequally allocate spaces (e.g., location, size, and privacy) and differentially maintain the comfort and safety of different work spaces. ...
... Open office is an outcome of the urge to find flexibility in office layouts. Organizational behaviour can be correlated with spatial quality in terms of flexibility (Varlander, 2012). ...
Article
Full-text available
Comparing architectural designs as well as measuring their level of success is a challenging task. Tracking of occupant movements provides objective data facilitating the development of new metrics for evaluating spatial layouts. This paper starts by outlining an overall methodology for Spatial Layout Evaluation based on occupant movements. Then, a platform for acquisition and interpretation of objective data to better understand how space is utilized by occupants is introduced. This platform is the Trajectory Data Processing Framework (TDPF). It supports investigating correlations between occupant movements and problems associated with spatial layouts. Finally, as a proof-of-concept implementation of this frame-work, a set of tools for analysis of occupant interaction with layouts, called Occu-pant Layout Interaction Analysis (OLIA), is presented.
... By structuring the physical space in which people workwhether it is in offices, on floors, up front, out back, or elsewhere-organizations affect and reflect the class-based valuations of different categories of workers. Moreover, spaces are symbolic of choices that constrain and enable interaction in organizations, which are relevant to the classed rules for exchange in work/places (Värlander, 2012). Below, we describe the ways in which organizations unequally allocate spaces (e.g., location, size, and privacy) and differentially maintain the comfort and safety of different work spaces. ...
... Becker, 1999) is known for being good for concentrated, individual work and confidential communication, project managers underscored and appreciated the rich opportunities for interaction and communication that the open plan office allows for. Although research has had mixed results (Maher and von Hippel, 2005;Värlander, 2012), one main benefit of open plan offices like work zones (in addition to cost savings), is facilitation of communication (Allen and Gerstberger, 1973;Hundert and Greenfield, 1969;Zhan, 1991) and broader interaction, which contributes to increased information sharing, satisfaction and productivity (Brennan et al., 2002;Oldham, 1988;Vaagaasar, 2015). However, when work satisfaction, motivation and work involvement are taken into account, these findings are not necessarily verified. ...
Article
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the triadic relationship between project workspace (i.e. spatial context), project type and project manager’s leadership style. It develops the concept of leadership construct (i.e. mental models of leadership to predispose the way leadership is performed) to explain related preferences for workspace and behaviors. Design/methodology/approach A combination of phenomenological inquiry on preferred workspaces in different project types is combined with a conceptual study on related leadership styles in these settings. Findings Four different leadership constructs are identified, which are conditioned by workspace and project type: one-on-one, virtual, interactive and mixed leadership. Also, four leadership patterns are identified, and these are related to open office and virtual office settings in product, service, software development and infrastructure construction projects. Research limitations/implications The results show the interaction of workspace, project type and leadership styles, which extends existing leadership theory and provides more granularity in determining appropriate leadership styles for project managers. Practical implications Practitioners benefit from a more conscious selection of appropriate leadership styles, which positively impacts project results. Originality/value By linking workspace, project type and leadership styles, the study is the first of its kind and a novel contribution to theory in project leadership.
... Värlander (2012) explored relationships between layout and labor flexibility, i.e. their50 51 ability to deal with new and unexpected situations. Flexibility to accommodate to different functions was 52 53 one of the major considerations in Mossa's (2012) analysis of the layout of an amputee rehabilitation 55 56 facility in Iraq. ...
Article
Full-text available
This study presents a systematic review of the literature on layout planning in healthcare facilities. The review includes 81 articles from journals, conferences, books, and other documents. Articles were classified in two groups according to their main contents including (i) concepts and guidelines and (ii) techniques and tools to assist in layout planning in healthcare facilities. Results indicate that a great variety of concepts and tools have been used to solve layout problems in healthcare. However, healthcare environments such as hospitals can be complex, limiting the ability to obtain optimal layout solutions. Influential factors may include the flows of patients, staff, materials, and information; layout planning and implementation costs; staff and patients safety and well-being; and environmental contamination, among others. The articles reviewed discussed and often proposed solutions covering one or more factors. Results helped us to propose future research directions on the subject.
... The relationship between space and work place behaviour has also been explored by investigating spatial design solutions such as workstation layouts (Värlander 2012), walls separating workstations (Heerwagen et al. 2004), as well as open-plan offices, and how these can be designed to increase interaction between employees (Maher and von Hippel 2005). These various spatial designs can create proximity and distance in space, but they can also influence behaviour by providing visibility or separate individuals. ...
Article
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Collaboration across company borders in multi-partner construction projects has proven to be challenging. An increasing number of projects aim to strengthen such collaboration by collocating project members from different companies in the same physical space. Yet we know little about the management practices required for taking advantage of such a collaborative space. To begin to remedy this shortcoming, we present an in-depth case study of a hospital construction project that applied a collaborative space and focus on the management practices influencing this space. With the help of affordance theory, we identified two types of management practices and show how they transform across project phases. These management practices included designing the physical elements of the collaborative space, and creating shared collaboration practices for the space. We contribute to the construction management literature by taking the first step in conceptualizing the connections between space, management and collaboration practices in the context of multi-partner projects. We suggest managers to consider carefully what kind of collaboration practices the space is expected to enhance and plan the physical and social space to support it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Open access: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01446193.2017.1347268
... Flexibility 'Flexibility is a capability to cope with new unexpected situations and to recover from any difficulties in the workplace' ( Varlander 2012) Competence and knowledge development; communication and information exchange Wojtczuk-Turek and Turek (2015) Learning capability 'Learning capability is the capacity to assimilate knowledge (for imitation)' ( Kim 1998, 507) Organisational structure 'Organizational structure includes the nature of formalization, layers of hierarchy, level of horizontal integration, centralization of authority (locus of decision-making), and patterns of communication' ( Nahm, Vonderembse, and Koufteros 2003, 283) Communication and information exchange Cardinal, Alessandri, and Turner (2001), Chen, Zhu, and Xie (2004), Marr, Schiuma, and Neely (2004) and Hayton (2005) Organisational learning 'Organizational learning is a process through which workers learn gradually in the work context through experience, reflection on work practice and collaboration with colleagues' ( Mulholland et al. 2001, 337) Competence and knowledge development; Communication and information exchange Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), Cardinal, Alessandri, and Turner (2001), Alwert, Bornemann, and Kivikas (2004), Chen, Zhu, and Xie (2004, to sharing knowledge and helping others within the team were considered to be practically indistinguishable by managers). Finally, the level of understanding and importance assessment was used to refine the communication and operationalisation of indicators that were not intuitive or logical from a practical perspective (e.g. ...
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Recent developments in engineering design management point to the need for more dynamic, fine-grain measurement approaches able to deal with multi-dimensional, cross-level process performance in product design. Thus, this paper proposes a new approach to the measurement and management of individual and teamwork performance in engineering design projects. This integrates multiple, previously disparate, aspects of design management and performance measurement theory in a single framework. Further, a fully realised performance measurement approach is developed, which complements existing management strategies. This framework is synthesised from an extensive review and illustrated via an in-depth case study. As such, this work contributes to performance measurement theory in engineering design and has significant implications for both engineering design research and industry.
... By structuring the physical space in which people workwhether it is in offices, on floors, up front, out back, or elsewhere-organizations affect and reflect the class-based valuations of different categories of workers. Moreover, spaces are symbolic of choices that constrain and enable interaction in organizations, which are relevant to the classed rules for exchange in work/places (Värlander, 2012). Below, we describe the ways in which organizations unequally allocate spaces (e.g., location, size, and privacy) and differentially maintain the comfort and safety of different work spaces. ...
Article
Dignity is widely considered to be an essential element of decent work. However, the extent to which people are able to derive a sense of worth and value from their work roles and the extent to which they are treated respectfully while on the job can vary greatly. One social identity that is particularly salient for understanding the achievement of workplace dignity is social class, as social class is both a consequence and a source of organizational inequalities. In this manuscript, we identify five frames through which work/places organize social class: organizing distributions of material rewards, organizing contributions to be made through work, organizing construction of physical work spaces, organizing power and status within workplaces, and organizing status and stigma outside the work domain. As a result of identity-indifferent and identity-sensitive inequalities embedded within these organizing frames, working-class employees face unique challenges in achieving dignity at work. Therefore, we conclude by addressing critical questions about management’s ethical responsibilities for addressing working-class employees’ unique dignity concerns.
... Moderne onderwijsgebouwen die zich nauwelijks van een gemiddeld kantoor onderscheiden, hebben het door hun gebrek aan herkenbaarheid al bij voorbaat lastig (Temple, 2009 (Värlander, 2012). Zodra er maar enigszins sprake is van vaste werkplekken zie je dan ook personalisatie optreden -zelfs in een clean desk-omgeving. ...
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This study explores the pre‐ and post‐renovation differences in communication behaviors of office workers at a construction company's research facility that had carried out renovations to promote open innovation through internal and external interactions. We conducted an analysis by combining both objective survey of conversation time, conversation partners, and stay location information using sensing terminals and subjective evaluations by office workers using a questionnaire survey. As the work style transitioned from fixed seats pre‐renovation to activity‐based working post‐renovation, the attendance rate analysis around each worker's personal workspace throughout the measurement period decreased from 74% to 60%, and the tendency to use various places in the office increased. Additionally, the number of conversation partners increased by 1.9 times on average and inter‐department conversation rate increased from 46% to 53% when activity‐based working was performed post‐renovation. However, while the introduction of activity‐based working significantly increased the level of communication satisfaction among workers in other departments, it tended to decrease the level of communication satisfaction within a department. This study maintains that organizational and operational efforts must sustain and promote intra‐departmental communication when activity‐based working is introduced and confirms that the introduction of activity‐based working was effective in promoting interaction between office workers.
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Organizations are increasingly introducing new work arrangements triggered by fast-paced knowledge acquisition, exponential technological growth, and demographic changes. Even though many studies have provided an in-depth understanding of how technology changed individual forms of modern work (e.g. virtual teams, shared leadership, remote work), the field needs a broader view of what constitutes technology-driven work arrangements and why they are implemented in organizations. The purpose of our paper is to systematically review, structure, and integrate the empirical evidence on current research on technology-driven work arrangements and to identify blind spots, which will serve as a springboard for the further development of the field. Based on our understanding of technology-driven work arrangements as flexible approaches to work within and beyond organizational boundaries that result from technology-driven transformation processes characterized by intensified spread, speed, and depth, we identify 191 studies that meet our inclusion criteria and organize them into six thematic clusters. We integrate our findings into an overarching framework based on complexity theory. We argue that three thematic clusters identified in our systematic literature review (organizational architectures across boundaries, knowledge integration processes across boundaries, and flexible employment relations across organizational boundaries) address an organization’s need for external flexibility. In contrast, three other clusters (virtual teams within organizations, virtual communication processes within organizations, and enhancement of self-responsibility of organizational actors) address internal flexibility needs, reflecting the overall goal of technology-driven work arrangements to achieve internal and external flexibility via coordinated and consistent patterns of action across all clusters. We additionally highlight underexplored research opportunities and provide promising avenues for future research.
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The extant literature has demonstrated that physical distance negatively affects knowledge sharing, even within the same building. Moreover, the impact of physical barriers, such as doors and walls, has been flagged as an important avenue for research. We contribute to the micro-geography literature by unpacking the effects of physical barriers on knowledge sharing and moderators of that relationship. Based on micro-level, single-firm observational data on employees’ knowledge-sharing dyads, we find that physical barriers impede knowledge sharing after accounting for distance. Simultaneously, we theorise on and find evidence of several moderators of the negative relationship between physical barriers and knowledge sharing at the dyadic and individual levels: strong ties, participation in coordination mechanisms across departments, job autonomy, and location in an office near a printer room. The study has implications for managers in charge of office allocation and the physical layout of offices.
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Objective The objective of this study was to examine whether linkage with mental health treatment differed across three different Integrated Care Arrangements, following incident Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) diagnoses given by Primary Care Providers (PCPs) in the pediatric setting. Methods Using claims linking with multiple public data sources, we examined the treatment initiation among children receiving an incident diagnosis of ADHD or MDD from PCPs working in practices with various Integrated Care Arrangements (ICA). ICA was categorized as PCP practiced alone (non-co-located), PCP practiced with specialist outside the practice but co-located at the practice site (co-located), and employed specialists who were co-located (co-located and co-affiliated). Results A total of 4,203 incident ADHD and 298 incident MDD cases diagnosed by PCPs were identified, of which 3,123 (74%) with ADHD and 200 (67%) with MDD received treatment within 90 days since the diagnosis. Children diagnosed with ADHD by co-located and co-affiliated PCPs were twice as likely to receive treatment as those diagnosed by non-co-located PCPs (OR=1.93; 95%CI: 1.24-2.78). Of those treated, children diagnosed by co-located and co-affiliated PCPs were two times more likely to receive guideline recommended psychotherapy (OR=2.15; 95% CI: 1.35-3.44). These patients were also more likely to be treated at the diagnosing site versus elsewhere. Similar beneficial effects were not observed in those first diagnosed by co-located but non-affiliated PCPs. Conclusions Service co-location between co-affiliated PCPs and MH specialists was associated with significant higher ADHD treatment rate and the receipt of guideline-concordant psychotherapy.
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As flexibility has become a sine-qua-non of the contemporary workplace, we performed a critical review of its different uses and understandings in business and management research. Analyzing the literature on workplace flexibility in the period 1970-2018, using a four-part conceptual framework, and on the basis of subsequent content analysis of 262 most relevant publications, we identify two axes of tension embedding scholarly work on flexibility: the flexibility of vs. flexibility for organizations and employees, and a favorability-criticality tension. We further explain how internal divisions are attributable to three different paradigms of flexibility (two of which dominate), resulting from divergent sets of assumptions regarding: its target, rationale, approach to it, as well as methodologies involved in studying it. We propose a research agenda indicating the ways in which paradigmatic underpinnings of flexibility research may be further clarified and divisions between the paradigms made sense of.
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Drawing on theories of place identity and social identity, this study explicitly aims to make a theoretical contribution vis-à-vis the internal-stakeholders’ cognitions of place identity attitudes, place architecture attitudes, and identification triad. The research was undertaken within a business school at a time when that school had acquired a new business school building with a distinctive internal architecture. The resultant theoretical framework was based on 309 stakeholder responses, while covariance-based structural equation was used for the data analysis. The findings from the stakeholders' perspectives identify the main components of place identity attitudes and place architecture attitudes. The findings also reveal the importance of place identity attitudes in enhancing place architecture attitudes and stakeholders’ identification. According to the results, there is a relationship between place identity attitudes and identification; corporate visual identity and physical structure and stimuli; and communication and place architecture attitudes. Moreover, certain key implications for place managers and researchers are highlighted.
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Introduction: Body Politics The Body and Organisation Studies Written on the Body: Social Theory and the Body Bodily Knowledge: An Approach to Embodied Subjectivity The Scalpel: An Introduction to the Anatomising Urge Under the Knife: Anatomising Organisation Theory The Mirror Replicating Organisation Conclusions
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This research examines changes in reactions of employees to work after they moved from a conventional office to an open-plan office design (i.e., an office with no interior walls or partitions). Data were collected from 81 employees three times, once, before the move to the open-plan office and twice after the facility change. Results show that employee satisfaction and internal motivation decreased significantly after the move to the open office. Moreover, analyses suggest that changes in job characteristics that accompanied the change in facilities explain much of the decline in satisfaction and motivation. Implications of these results are discussed.
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The role of individual differences, task complexity, and privacy in determining performance and environmental satisfaction was explored.Greater arousal levels in a nonprivate office were predicted to decrease satisfaction expressed for nonprivate settings but to increase performance by producing a social facilitation effect. It was proposed that sex and introversion/extroversion would interact with task complexity and privacy. Research participants were 169 introductory psychology students who were randomly placed in either private or nonprivate offices. Results indicated that greater satisfaction was expressed by those working in the private offices. In addition, people working on the complex task were more satisfied in the private setting than the nonprivate one. The social facilitation hypothesis was supported, and male introverts performed best in the nonprivate office on the simple task. Implications for organizations and for future research are discussed. Organizations vary considerably in the layout and design of their offices. However, the effects of spatial characteristics on employees in the office have only recently begun to receive attention (Wineman, 1986). One concern is whether or not the open office is an asset to the organization
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States that organizations are using teams and groups to an increasing extent yet current researchers often use the terms interchangeably, despite literature indicating both that their processes and outputs may be very different, and that these differences may have important consequences. Examines how, in order to differentiate between management teams and groups based on the descriptions of managers’ experience in the workplace, 319 part-time MBA students completed a checklist comprising 149 adjectives. Analyses showed that both teams and groups were best described by separate one factor solutions. Discusses how teams and groups were described equally as “affective”, “effective”, “energetic” and “flexible”; teams were described as “creative”, “innovative”, and “well rounded”, groups were described as “negotiating”, “networking”, “persuasive”, and “the sum of individual goals”. Posits that such characterizations were taken as suggesting that teams create resources and add to their environments while groups manage and redistribute their resources, and further, that teams have stable, valued interpersonal relations but groups do not.
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Strategic flexibility is an increasingly sought-after competitive element in today’s fast-paced and changing world. Theoretical discussion on how to achieve flexibility includes, among other things, building dynamic capabilities, maintaining multiple options, and supporting horizontal communication and teamwork among employees. These and other aspects of flexibility can, in part, be supported through the organizational structure. Organizational theory offers a number of combinations of options for the designer. With a variety of choices, and a need to have both control of execution and flexibility for change, a two-level structure may support the combination of benefits that is a source of advantage. Proposes that organizations can maintain their operational structure at one level, while experimenting with a loosely bounded developmental organizational layer. Suggests that this complementary organizational tier provides space and support for a combination of self-development and self-organized efforts consistent with established incentives and values.
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This study used a quasi-experimental design to assess the effectiveness of self-managing teams in a telecommunications company. These teams performed customer service, technical support, administrative support, and managerial functions in a variety of locations. The balance of evidence indicates that self-managing teams were more effective than comparable traditionally-managed groups that performed the same type of work. The study illustrates the value of a collaborative research project in which researchers and clients jointly define the research questions, study design, and methods.
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This article proposes a new model of industrial labor process control that maintains discipline under conditions of teamwork. The model draws on theoretical and empirical studies to examine how work monitoring undertaken using management information systems interacts with the peer-group scrutiny that goes on in teams. These represent "vertical" and "horizontal" forms of surveillance, respectively, creating the conditions for a hybrid or "chimerical" mode of workplace control to operate. The article concludes by assessing the practical and theoretical implications that the model holds for further studies of the labor process.•.
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People are innately curious and, as social animals, are naturally motivated to interact and learn from one another. Over thousands of years, families, clans, and communities have evolved as teaching and learning groups, with individuals sharing information and synthesizing knowledge as a central part of their binding social interchange and as a key engine of their collective progress. Yet, somehow, modern corporations have been constructed in a way that constrains, impedes, and sometimes kills this natural human instinct. Focused on maximizing short-term static efficiency, most have been designed to extract as much value as possible from all their assets, including people. In that process, however, they have sacrificed the long-term dynamic efficiencies that come from continuously enhancing and upgrading the capabilities of individuals so as to enable them to create new value.
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In the discourse on modern management, the concept of flexibility is often mentioned as a desirable characteristic of firms and employees. Flexible organizations exhibit an ability to change in response to market changes. It should be clear, however, that a range of possibilities exist between “rigid” organizations and truly flexible ones. This range is discussed. Further, a firm’s ability to demonstrate flexibility depends to a large degree on the flexibility exhibited by its employees. Firms exhibiting different degrees of flexibility have different demands on the flexibility of their coworkers, which means that a matching between supply and demand exists. Employee flexibility has several dimensions, which are also discussed as well as some conditions for a flexible work- cum lifestyle. The starting point for the discussion is the assumption that neither the firms themselves nor the surrounding society are especially adapted to a lifestyle of flexible work. Some measures to alleviate these conditions are proposed.
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Stress has been largely addressed from an individual perspective yet a strategic initiative on stress can only be achieved by understanding stress as part of the fabric of organisation life. Organisation membership and work require psychological adaptations by individuals in order to accommodate the demands of the organisation. The organisation develops mechanisms for protecting individuals from psychological disturbance and the individual adapts to the organisation. Organisation change will raise some of the concerns that have been kept unconscious by the adaptation process. This requires that psychological adaptation be re-worked. However, in the new employment age, employees will need to be more mature and autonomous. This requires that different processes be adopted. A model is presented that provides insight into the adaptation process at three levels, including unconscious adaptation, an understanding of which will be necessary to address stress in the future.
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Strategic flexibility is proposed as an expedient capability for managing capricious settings, such as those confronted in technology-intensive arenas. This article examines the historical evolution of the concept of flexibility and analyses its different senses by relating it to other concepts with a ‘family resemblance’. A conceptual framework is subsequently developed, which integrates the temporal and intentional dimensions of flexibility. Four archetypal manoeuvres, derived from the framework, are proposed as a means of attaining strategic flexibility. The deployment of these manoeuvres is exemplified by means of selected strategic engagements of firms in the computer peripherals arena. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the research.
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This paper examines the processes of organizational adaptation and competitiveness of firms in an emerging economy. The study is set in the Argentinian context of the 1990s when a combination of economic and political change triggered a massive change in the competitive context of indigenous firms. Two highly flexible firms and two less-flexible firms are studied from the pharmaceutical and edible oil industries and longitudinal data are supplied to explore the determinants of organizational flexibility in those organizations.
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This study examines the relationship between firm absorptive capacity and organizational responsiveness in the context of growth-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By testing the different dimensions of absorptive capacity, external knowledge acquisition and intrafirm knowledge dissemination were found to be positively related to organizational responsiveness. In addition, the relationships between absorptive capacity and organizational responsiveness were moderated by environmental dynamism and the SMEs’ strategic orientation. Results demonstrate that the responsiveness of growth-oriented SMEs is expected to increase if (1) they have well-developed capabilities in external knowledge acquisition and intrafirm knowledge dissemination; (2) they have a well-developed external knowledge acquisition capability and adopt a more proactive strategy, such as being a prospector; (3) they face a turbulent environment and have a well developed internal knowledge dissemination capability. Implications and future research directions are provided.