Deconstructing New Ways of Working: A Five-Dimensional Conceptualization Proposal

New Ways of Working in Academia: Maneuvering in and with Ambiguity in Workspace Design Processes

“…Still others have argued that NWoW could also include output-based management, knowledge accessibility, and flexible working relations (Gerards et al, 2018). Yet, at the end of the day, there is no agreement to be found in the literature on the constituting practices of NWoW (Jemine, 2021). Existing case studies of NWoW projects (e.g., Gorgievski et al, 2010;Jemine et al, 2020b;Kingma, 2019) suggest that they primarily focus on workspace changes, while cultural transformations and technological innovations vary in importance and ambition (Gorgievski et al, 2010;Jemine et al, 2020a).…”

“…These changes in physical working environments have resulted in new ways of experiencing work that have been extensively documented by researchers through post-occupancy studies (e.g., Engelen et al, 2019;Lai et al, 2021). However, to this day, the processes through which NWoW projects are implemented in organizational contexts have remained poorly understood (Jemine, 2021). The literature on NWoW has developed a tendency to conceal the conflicts and negotiations that are part of the design stage of NWoW under the evasive black-box of 'resistance to change' (e.g., Peters, 2014;Vitasovich et al, 2016).…”

“…The literature on NWoW has developed a tendency to conceal the conflicts and negotiations that are part of the design stage of NWoW under the evasive black-box of 'resistance to change' (e.g., Peters, 2014;Vitasovich et al, 2016). The change process is often used as a scapegoat to distinguish, in retrospect, between 'good' and 'bad' cases of NWoW implementation (Brunia et al, 2016) while remaining understudied (Jemine, 2021).…”

“…Hence, it is assumed that NWoW projects, which are expected to unfold over several years and have wide-ranging implications for the organization as a whole (Jemine et al, 2020a), should generate considerable ambiguity in the design stage. Indeed, NWoW can be viewed as a 'management fashion' which, similarly to other management fashions (e.g., Giroux, 2006), leads organizational members to develop conflicting interpretations and viewpoints on what it means and how it should be implemented (Jemine, 2021). Ambiguity, therefore, is expected to play different roles in these complex change projects, as organizational members have to navigate, make sense of, reduce, and/or sustain ambiguity throughout the design stage of NWoW.…”