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New Ways of Working in academia: maneuvering in and with ambiguity in workspace design processes

Author

Listed:
  • Grégory Jemine

    (HEC Liège)

  • François Pichault

    (HEC Liège)

  • Christophe Dubois

    (Université de Liège)

Abstract

As a result of growing financial pressures and changing space demands, universities are increasingly looking to modernize and rationalize their workspaces through projects of New Ways of Working (NWoW). So far, extant research has mostly investigated the managerial construct of NWoW and its outcomes on organizational members, leaving the design process leading NWoW to be implemented in local contexts understudied. By contrast, the present study sets out to redefine NWoW as open-ended projects of organizational change that are unavoidably ambiguous and conflictual, hence seeking to overcome the tendency to conceal tensions arising at early stages of the change process under the abstract black-box of "resistance to change". It is shown that ambiguity, simultaneously understood as an organizational problem causing tensions and as a rhetorical resource enabling collective action, plays a major role in the design process of such equivocal projects. The paper further advances our understanding of ambiguity as a multifaceted concept to bridge between individual rationalities and collective decision-making in the course of complex design processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Grégory Jemine & François Pichault & Christophe Dubois, 2021. "New Ways of Working in academia: maneuvering in and with ambiguity in workspace design processes," Post-Print hal-03419339, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03419339
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03419339
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jeremy Aroles & Nathalie Mitev & François-Xavier de Vaujany, 2019. "Mapping themes in the study of new work practices," Post-Print hal-02327015, HAL.
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    3. Gerards, Ruud & de Grip, Andries & Weustink, A., 2018. "Do new ways of working increase informal learning?," Research Memorandum 010, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    4. Jean-Louis Denis & Geneviève Dompierre & Ann Langley & Linda Rouleau, 2011. "Escalating Indecision: Between Reification and Strategic Ambiguity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 225-244, February.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    New Ways of Working; NWoW; NWW; Ambiguity; Academic workspaces; Organizational change; Workspace design; Espace de travail; Ambigüité;
    All these keywords.

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