Hybrid Copresence: Issues of Re-Spatialization of Remote Work in Coworking Spaces

Camille Pfeffer

doi:10.37725/mgmt.2024.8054

Camille Pfeffer UCLy (Lyon Catholic University), ESDES, Lyon, France and UCLy (Lyon Catholic University), UR Confluence: Sciences et Humanités (EA1598), Lyon, France https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6621-3133

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.2024.8054

Keywords: Re-spatialization, Hybridization, Telework, Coworking Spaces, Copresence

Abstract

The re-spatialization of work in coworking spaces alters the social experience of teleworkers by involving two copresences associated with distinct organizational and spatiotemporal contexts: a remote copresence with the company and a physical copresence in the coworking space. Each can be experienced to different degrees between social isolation and perceived proximity. Nevertheless, the current literature does not provide an opportunity to make sense of the combination of copresences. From this perspective, data collected during an organizational ethnography conducted within two networks of coworking spaces were analyzed. The results show that the re-spatialization of work in coworking spaces generates a hybrid copresence that can be experienced in four ways: (reinforced) isolation, ubiquity, (guilty) compensation, and (frustrated) refocusing. The characteristics of these distinct situations and the possible evolutions from one to the other are explored and explained. The results are discussed in relation to the evolution of work in a post-COVID-19 era that seems to encourage the development of more hybrid practices and spatialities. Contributions to three fields of organizational literature are made: organizational space, telecommuting and distantiated forms of work, and coworking spaces. Managerial implications are also discussed around reflections on a more hybrid and multi-spatialized organization of work practices in organizations.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Camille Pfeffer, UCLy (Lyon Catholic University), ESDES, Lyon, France and UCLy (Lyon Catholic University), UR Confluence: Sciences et Humanités (EA1598), Lyon, France

Camille Pfeffer holds an PhD in management science from Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University (iaelyon/Magellan Research Center). Her research explores new ways of working and organizing in a context of hybridization of work environments. She particularly questions these topics regarding workers’ identity and organizational identification, mainly through qualitative and processual approaches. After working as an assistant professor at ESDES Business School, she recently joined Ifross (Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University) as an associate professor in management (HRM and healthcare organizations).

References

Aroles, J., Cecez-Kecmanovic, D., Dale, K., Kingma, S. F., & Mitev, N. (2021). New ways of working (NWW): Workplace transformation in the digital age. Information and Organization, 31(4), 100378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2021.100378

Aroles, J., Mitev, N., & De Vaujany, F.-X. (2019). Mapping themes in the study of new work practices. New Technology, Work and Employment, 34(3), 285–299. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12146

Ayache, M., & Dumez, H. (2011). Le codage dans la recherche qualitative une nouvelle perspective ? Le Libellio d’Aegis, 7(2), 33–46. Retrieved from http://lelibellio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Libellio-Dossier-Codage-2011.pdf

Bailey, D., & Kurland, N. (2002). A review of telework research: Findings, new directions and lessons for the study of modern work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(4), 383–400. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.144

Baruch, Y. (2000). Teleworking: Benefits and pitfalls as perceived by professionals and managers. New Technology, Work and Employment, 15(1), 34–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-005X.00063

Bayart, D. (2007). De l’étude de cas à l’analyse comparative fondée sur une typologie : le « typological theorizing ». Le Libellio d’Aegis, 3(3), 10–13. Retrieved from http://lelibellio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/libellio7.pdf

Bechky, B. A., & O’Mahony, S. (2015). Leveraging comparative field data for theory generation. In K. D. Elsbach & R. Kramer (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative organizational research: Innovative pathways and methods (pp. 168–176). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315849072

Beyes, T., & Steyaert, C. (2012). Spacing organization: Non-representational theory and performing organizational space. Organization, 19(1), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508411401946

Blagoev, B., Costas, J., & Kärreman, D. (2019). “We are all herd animals”: Community and organizationality in coworking spaces. Organization, 26(6), 894–916. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508418821008

Boboc, A., Bouchareb, K., Deruelle, V., & Metzger, J.-L. (2014). Le coworking : un dispositif pour sortir de l’isolement ? SociologieS. https://doi.org/10.4000/sociologies.4873

Campos-Castillo, C., & Hitlin, S. (2013). Copresence: Revisiting a building block for social interaction theories. Sociological Theory, 31(2), 168–192. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275113489811

Capdevila, I. (2015). Co-working spaces and the localized dynamics of innovation in Barcelona. International Journal of Innovation Management, 19(3). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2502813

Cefrio. (2001). Télétravail. Concilier performance et qualité de vie (Ed. L. D’Amours). Isabelle Quentin.

Chênevert, D., Giauque, D., Abord de Chatillon, E., Delobbe, N., & Vayre, É (2023). Du télétravail à l’hybridité : une nouvelle manière de penser la gestion de nos organisations ? Revue internationale de psychosociologie et de gestion des comportements organisationnels, 24(77), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.54695/rips2.077.0005

Curchod, C. (2007). De l’analyse critique des typologies bricolées. Le Libellio d’Aegis, 3(3), 14–18. Retrieved from http://lelibellio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/libellio7.pdf

Deskmag. (2017). The 2017 global coworking survey. Deskmag.

Deskmag. (2019). The 2019 global coworking survey. Deskmag.

De Vaujany, F.-X., & Mitev, N. (2013). Introduction: Space in organizations and sociomateriality. In F.-X. De Vaujany & N. Mitev (Eds.), Materiality and space: Organizations, artefacts and practices (pp. 1–21). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137304094_1

De Vaujany, F.-X., & Mitev, N. (2016). Introduction au tournant matériel. In F.-X. De Vaujany, A. Hussenot, & J.-F. Chanlat (Eds.), Théories des organisations, Nouveaux tournants (pp. 137–155). Economica.

Endrissat, N., & Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, A. (2021). From sites to vibes: Technology and the spatial production of coworking spaces. Information and Organization, 31(4), 100353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2021.100353

Fabbri, J., & Charue-Duboc, F. (2016). Les espaces de coworking : nouveaux intermédiaires d’innovation ouverte ? Revue française de gestion, 254(1), 163–180. https://doi.org/10.3166/rfg.2016.00007

Felstead, A., Jewson, N., & Walters, S. (2003). Managerial control of employees working at home. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41(2), 241–264. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8543.00271

Felstead, A., Jewson, N., & Walters, S. (2005a). Changing places of work. Palgrave Macmillan.

Felstead, A., Jewson, N., & Walters, S. (2005b). The shifting locations of work. Work, Employment and Society, 19(2), 415–431. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017005053186

Fernandez, V., Guillot, C., & Marrauld, L. (2014). Télétravail et « travail à distance équipé ». Quelles compétences, tactiques et pratiques professionnelles ? Revue française de gestion, 238(1), 101–118. https://doi.org/10.3166/RFG.238.101-118

Gandini, A. (2015). The rise of coworking spaces: A literature review. Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organizations, 15(1), 193–205. Retrieved from https://ephemerajournal.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/contribution/15-1gandini.pdf

Gandini, A., & Cossu, A. (2021). The third wave of coworking: “Neo-corporate” model versus “resilient” practice. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 24(2), 430–447. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549419886060

Garrett, L. E., Spreitzer, G. M., & Bacevice, P. A. (2017). Co-constructing a sense of community at work: The emergence of community in coworking spaces. Organization Studies, 38(6), 821–842. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840616685354

Gerdenitsch, C., Scheel, T. E., Andorfer, J., & Korunka, C. (2016). Coworking spaces: A source of social support for independent professionals. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(581), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00581

Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford University Press.

Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Aldine.

Goffman, E. (1963). Behavior in public places. Free Press.

Goffman, E. (1983). The interaction order. American Sociological Review, 48(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095141

Grabher, G., & Ibert, O. (2014). Distance as asset? Knowledge collaboration in hybrid virtual communities. Journal of Economic Geography, 14(1), 97–123. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbt014

Grabher, G., Melchior, A., Schiemer, B., Schüßler, E., & Sydow, J. (2018). From being there to being aware: Confronting geographical and sociological imaginations of copresence. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 50(1), 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X17743507

Hafermalz, E., & Riemer, K. (2020). Interpersonal connectivity work: Being there with and for geographically distant others. Organization Studies, 41(12), 1627–1648. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840620973664

Halford, S. (2005). Hybrid workspace: Re-spatialisations of work, organisation and management. New Technology, Work and Employment, 20(1), 13–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2005.00141.x

Hislop, D., & Axtell, C. (2007). The neglect of spatial mobility in contemporary studies of work: The case of telework. New Technology, Work and Employment, 22(1), 34–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2007.00182.x

Hislop, D., & Axtell, C. (2009). To infinity and beyond? Workspace and the multi-location worker. New Technology, Work and Employment, 24(1), 60–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2008.00218.x

Jakonen, M., Kivinen, N., Salovaara, P., & Hirkman, P. (2017). Towards an economy of encounters? A critical study of affectual assemblages in coworking. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 33(4), 235–242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scaman.2017.10.003

Kingma, S. F. (2016). The constitution of third workspaces in between the home and the corporate office. New Technology, Work and Employment, 31(2), 176–193. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12068

Kingma, S. F. (2019). New ways of working (NWW): Work space and cultural change in virtualizing organizations. Culture and Organization, 25(5), 383–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2018.1427747

Knorr-Cetina, K. (2009). The synthetic situation: Interactionism for a global world. Symbolic Interaction, 32(1), 61–87. https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2009.32.1.61

Knorr Cetina, K., & Bruegger, U. (2002). Global microstructures: The virtual societies of financial markets. American Journal of Sociology, 107(4), 905–950. https://doi.org/10.1086/341045

Kojo, I., & Nenonen, S. (2017). Evolution of co-working places: Drivers and possibilities. Intelligent Buildings International, 9(3), 164–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508975.2014.987640

Krauss, G. (2019). Les espaces de coworking et les trajectoires sociales de leurs fondateurs et utilisateurs : études de cas dans le sud-ouest de l’Allemagne dans une ville moyenne et dans une petite commune périphérique. In G. Krauss & D.-G. Tremblay (Eds.), Tiers-lieux. Travailler et entreprendre sur les territoires : espaces de coworking, fablabs, hacklabs… (pp. 19–40). Presses universitaires de Rennes.

Kurland, N. B., & Bailey, D. E. (1999). Telework: The advantages and challenges of working here, there, anywhere, and anytime. Organizational Dynamics, 28(2), 53–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0090-2616(00)80016-9

Kurland, N. B., & Cooper, C. D. (2002). Manager control and employee isolation in telecommuting environments. The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 13(1), 107–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1047-8310(01)00051-7

Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, A. (2021). Do coworking spaces promise a revolution or spark revenge? A Foucauldian spatio-material approach to the re-spatialization of remote work in coworking spaces. In N. Mitev, J. Aroles, K. A. Stephenson, & J. Malaurent (Eds.), New ways of working: Organizations and organizing in the digital age (pp. 151–174). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61687-8_7

Le Nadant, A. L., Marinos, C., & Krauss, G. (2018). Les espaces de coworking : Le rôle des proximités dans les dynamiques collaboratives. Revue française de gestion, 272(3), 121–137. https://doi.org/10.3166/rfg.2018.00233

Lussault, M. (2007). L’homme spatial. La construction sociale de l’espace humain. Le Seuil.

Messenger, J. C., & Gschwind, L. (2016). Three generations of telework: New ICTs and the (r)evolution from home office to virtual office. New Technology, Work and Employment, 31(3), 195–208. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12073

O’Leary, M. B., & Cummings, J. N. (2007). The spatial, temporal, and configurational characteristics of geographic dispersion in teams. MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems, 31(3), 433–452. https://doi.org/10.2307/25148802

O’Leary, M. B., Wilson, J. M., & Metiu, A. (2014). Beyond being there: The symbolic role of communication and identification in perceptions of proximity to geographically disperses colleagues. MIS Quarterly, 38(4), 1219–1244.

Parrino, L. (2015). Coworking: Assessing the role of proximity in knowledge exchange. Knowledge Management Research and Practice, 13(3), 261–271. https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2013.47

Petriglieri, G., Ashford, S. J., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2019). Agony and ecstasy in the gig economy: Cultivating holding environments for precarious and personalized work identities. Administrative Science Quarterly, 64(1), 124–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839218759646

Rallet, A., & Torre, A. (2004). Proximité et localisation. Économie rurale, 280(1), 25–41. https://doi.org/10.3406/ecoru.2004.5470

Ross, P., & Ressia, S. (2015). Neither office nor home: Coworking as an emerging workplace choice. Employment Relations Record, 15(1), 42–57. Retrieved from https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.237909907440429

Ruiller, C., Dumas, M., & Chédotel, F. (2017). Comment maintenir le sentiment de proximité à distance ? Le cas des équipes dispersées par le télétravail. RIMHE: Revue interdisciplinaire management, homme & entreprise, 27(3), 3–28. https://doi.org/10.3917/rimhe.027.0003

Salovaara, P. (2015). What can the coworking movement tell us about the future of workplaces? In A. Ropo, P. Salovaara, E. Sauer, & D. de Paoli (Eds.), Leadership in spaces and places (pp. 27–48). Edward Elgar.

Scaillerez, A., & Tremblay, D.-G. (2019). Travailler et collaborer autrement : les espaces de coworking, une approche apparentée aux communautés de pratique. In G. Krauss & D.-G. Tremblay (Eds.), Tiers-lieux. Travailler et entreprendre sur les territoires : espaces de coworking, fablabs, hacklabs… (pp. 143–156). Presses universitaires de Rennes.

Sewell, G., & Taskin, L. (2015). Out of sight, out of mind in a new world of work? Autonomy, control, and spatiotemporal scaling in telework. Organization Studies, 36(11), 1507–1529. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840615593587

Spinuzzi, C. (2012). Working alone together: Coworking as emergent collaborative activity. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 26(4), 399–441. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651912444070

Spinuzzi, C., Bodrožić, Z., Scaratti, G., & Ivaldi, S. (2019). “Coworking is about community”: But what is “community” in coworking? Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 33(2), 112–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651918816357

Stephenson, K. A., Kuismin, A., Putman, L. L., & Sivunen, A. (2020). Process studies of organizational space. Academy of Management Annals, 14(2), 797–827. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2018.0146

Taha, L. H., & Caldwell, B. S. (1993). Social isolation and integration in electronic environments. Behaviour and Information Technology, 12(5), 276–283. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449299308924391

Taskin, L. (2006). Télétravail: Les enjeux de la déspatialisation pour le management humain. Interventions économiques, 34, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.4000/interventionseconomiques.680

Taskin, L. (2010). La déspatialisation. Enjeu de gestion. Revue française de gestion, 202(3), 61–76. Retrieved from https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-de-gestion-2010-3-page-61.htm

Taskin, L. (2021). Télétravail, organisation et management : enjeux et perspectives post-COVID. Regards économiques, 164, 13–19. Retrieved from https://www.regards-economiques.be/images/reco-pdf/reco_214.pdf

Vega, G., & Brennan, L. (2000). Isolation and technology: The human disconnect. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 13(5), 468–481. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810010377435

Vidaillet, B., & Bousalham, Y. (2018). Coworking spaces as places where economic diversity can be articulated: Towards a theory of syntopia. Organization, 27(1), 60–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508418794003

Weinfurtner, T., & Seidl, D. (2019). Towards a spatial perspective: An integrative review of research on organisational space. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 35(2), 101009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scaman.2018.02.003

Wilson, J. M., O’Leary, M. B., Metiu, A., & Jett, Q. R. (2008). Perceived proximity in virtual work: Explaining the paradox of far-but-close. Organization Studies, 29(7), 979–1002. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840607083105

Ybema, S., Yanow, D., Wels, H., & Kamsteeg, F. (Eds.). (2009). Organizational ethnography: Studying the complexities of everyday life. Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446278925

Zhao, S. (2003). Toward a taxonomy of copresence. Presence, 12(5), 445–455. https://doi.org/10.1162/105474603322761261

Zhao, S., & Elesh, D. (2008). Copresence as “being with”: Social contact in online public domains. Information Communication and Society, 11(4), 565–583. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691180801998995