Hybrid workspace: re-spatialisations of work, organisation and management

Abstract

New information and communication technologies enable the spatial reconfiguration of work opening up possibilities for work to take place across multiple locations. This paper explores the implications of hybrid workspace through a new empirical study. It argues that spatial hybridity changes the nature of work, organisation and management across domestic space, organisational space and in cyberspace. IntroductionOne of the central issues in the study of new technology, work and employment has been the way that information and communication technologies (ICTs) enable the spatial reconfiguration of work, management and organisation. Specifically, there has been wide ranging interest in the (interconnected) possibilities for teleworking and for virtual organisation. In the former case, ICTs are used to enable remote working, usually from home. In the latter case, similar technologies are employed to enable virtual organisational structures and relationships to operate with little or no face-toface contact. In spatial terms, there is a hollowing out of the fixed organisational workspace and a polarisation towards the relocation of work into domestic space on the one hand and the dislocation of work into cyberspace on the other. In both cases, there has been speculation and research suggesting that new organisational, social and personal relationships may accompany these new spatial arrangements, highlighting the entangled interrelations between space, work and organisation.However, research on both homeworking and virtual organisation fails to address directly an important empirical aspect to this re-spatialisation. That is, that significant numbers of people work both from home and from an organisational workplace, using virtual technologies to connect the two spaces. Whilst previous debates about teleworking and virtual organisation are relevant to this group, none explores directly the individual or organisational practices, experiences and implications of this mode of New Technology, Work and Employment 20:1 working. Being employed to work both at home and also in an organisational setting, using ICTs to maintain workloads and relationships across both domestic and organisational spaces raises new questions that lead beyond the sum of existing debates about teleworking and virtual organisation. Specifically, these concern hybrid workspace. These individuals work at home and engage in embodied organisational spaces; they conduct relationships virtually and in close proximity. How does this combination of organisational and domestic spaces, mediated in cyberspace, impact on practices of work, organisation and management?This paper explores these questions, examining working practices, organisational relationships, and managerial techniques in hybrid workspace. Based on a new empirical study of managerial and technical staff, the paper examines the impact of spatial hybridity at both individual and organisational levels. Through the empirical material, the paper shows that spatial hybridity changes the nature of wo...

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