Page 40 - WHERE WE WORK - Schlegelmilch

Moving between places
professionals to work independently of designated locations (Barley et al., 2017). Specifically, the increasingly available data infrastructure (Colbert et al., 2016; Johns & Gratton, 2013) plays a pivotal role in pushing the spatial boundaries of work within and beyond organizations (Azad et al., 2016; Mazmanian et al., 2013). Within organizations, managements implement open office plans and workplace policies to increase flexibility and reduce facility costs (Baldry & Barnes, 2012; Brennan et al., 2002; Lee & Brand, 2005; Oldham & Brass, 1979). Work has expanded to locations beyond the organizational boundaries, and working is not constrained to “permanent and fixed locations” anymore (Hislop & Axtell, 2009, p. 60), such as the office or the home (Ashford et al., 2007; Bailey & Kurland, 2002; Boell et al., 2016).
The ability to conduct work seemingly from ‘anywhere and anytime’ (Chayka, 2018) has created an increasing amount of choice for workers, particularly those autonomous over their location of work. Increasingly, space [place] has also been recognized to play a role in theory development as an essential part of work (Ashkanasy, Ayoko, & Jehn, 2014; Davis, 1984). While many workers may not be bound to a specific work location anymore, places are still central to organizing for work. For example, co-working spaces – which are shared office facilities provided by a third party – offer flexible workplaces for a distributed network of entrepreneurs to fulfill their need to connect with others for networking all around the world (Spinuzzi, 2012). They offer an alternative to more conventional work locations (Garrett et al., 2014; Gerdenitsch et al., 2016; Kingma, 2016; Spinuzzi, 2012). Furthermore, third workplaces (Kingma, 2016), such as cafés and public places, are increasingly popular amongst freelance professionals for networking, and being inspired. Even employees work 'on the go', e.g., on the way to a meeting (Azad et al., 2016) or during the commute (Gripsrud & Hjorthol, 2012). Overall, workers have become “accustomed to working in an assortment of locales” (Kurland & Bailey, 1999, p. 55).
The variety of places where people conduct work nowadays – designated and non-designated – illustrates that we need to look at places not only based on their intended use but also on how users perceive them to be used. While in some places you can work instantaneously, as an office,
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