Page 29 - WHERE WE WORK - Schlegelmilch

Introduction
they imply for our understanding of contemporary work and workplaces.
While the first study in chapter 2 zoomed in on mostly freelance workers, my second study in chapter 3 concentrates on workers in an organizational context. I investigate how workplace configurations – an individual worker’s arrangement of workplaces in a specific combination – shape their work relationships, and particularly how workers cope with a radical change to their workplace configuration. This study is guided by the research question: How do workplace configurations shape work relationships, and how do employees cope with changes to their workplace configurations? By drawing on interviews, documents and video blogs, I present three dimensions of workplace configurations: shared centrality, locational transparency and negotiated legitimacy. I find that a change in the workplace configuration’s dimensions affected their work relationships. Specifically, I find three relationship layers, namely core, mid and peripheral layer. Their closest relationships intensify, whereas their mid-layer and peripheral relationships dilute. Furthermore, I also find that the employees are able to cope with the loss of the office by reconfiguring around new physical and digital centers, except for mimicking chance encounters and situational richness. I discuss the implications of these findings in a semispatial setting for our understanding of work relationships and studying workplaces.
Third, in chapter 4, I bring a concept to the foreground that the literature on open-plan offices has primarily treated as context: workplace transparency. I hypothesize and test whether workplace transparency, defined as access to information about other’s presence, behavior, expertise and responsibilities, increases the innovative behaviors of idea sharing and idea implementation, as well as a moderating role of workplace flexibility on this link. Therefore, I ask: What is the impact of perceived workplace transparency on employees’ idea sharing and idea implementation? And to what degree does workplace flexibility influence this relationship? Based on survey data at a Dutch construction company, I find that, in line with my hypotheses, transparency was positively associated with idea sharing.
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