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

Several academics interested in workspace transformations have investigated what has been broadly framed as “new forms of organizing” or “New Ways of Working” (NWoW). In this chapter, we argue that the literature has added considerable complexity around the term “NWoW” by producing multiple and conflicting “definitions” of NWoW. Several scholars imprecisely and indiscriminately refer to NWoW as a “philosophy”, a “phenomenon”, a “concept”, a “mix of practices” or a “type of work organization”. This chapter aims to provide support for five ways of conceptualizing NWoW (1) as a management fashion diffused across organizational fields, (2) as a set of discourses and narratives, (3) as an organizational change project, (4) as a material workspace, and (5) as a set of work practices and behaviors.