Community and Collaboration in a Shared Multi-space Office
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.v10i3.121841Keywords:
Health, Working Environment & Wellbeing, Identity, Meaning & Culture, Organization & ManagementAbstract
Open and shared work environments such as activity-based offices, multi-space offices and co-working spaces have become more popular in recent years. This paper reports the results of a qualitative case study of community and collaboration in a multi-space office shared by six publicly owned companies in Finland. Using interviews (n = 29) and participant observation, the study examines how collaboration and community are understood in the six companies, and how they change during an intervention process. We argue that even though a sense of community, collaboration and synergies are expected to arise from sharing an office space, they do not necessarily emerge spontaneously without effort on the part of management.
Author Biographies
Heli Ansio, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
Researcher. E-mail: heli.ansio@ttl.fi
Sari Käpykangas, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
Researcher
Pia Houni, Humak University of Applied Sciences
Senior lecturer
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