New ways of working; nwow; nww; ambiguity; change process; organizational change; new workspaces; academia; academic workspaces; workspace design; uncertainty; work spaces; espaces de travail; ambiguité; incertitude; gestion du changement; new public management; new way of working
Abstract :
[en] 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.
Research center :
LENTIC - Laboratoire d'Études sur les Nouvelles Formes de Travail, l'Innovation et le Changement - ULiège
Disciplines :
Human resources management General management, entrepreneurship & organizational theory Strategy & innovation
Author, co-author :
Jemine, Grégory ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > Transitional Labour Market and Labour Relations
Pichault, François ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Management : Gestion des ressources humaines
Dubois, Christophe ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences sociales > Socio. proc. de gouv. et de digi. des orga. et des marchés
Language :
English
Title :
New Ways of Working in academia: maneuvering in and with ambiguity in workspace design processes
Publication date :
2022
Journal title :
M@n@gement
eISSN :
1286-4692
Publisher :
Centre de recherche DMSP, Paris, France
Volume :
25
Issue :
4
Pages :
16-30
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Funders :
F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique [BE]
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