Call for chapters / The flexible workplace / Springer Nature

The flexible workplace: Coworking and other modern workplace transformations

Series
Springer Book Series on “Human Resource Management” (Series Ed. Reio, Jr., Thomas G.)

Edited by
Marko Orel, PhD, Assistant Professor, Head of Center for Workplace Studies, University of Economics, Prague
Ondřej Dvouletý, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Economics, Prague
Vanessa Ratten, PhD, Associate Professor, La Trobe University, Melbourne

Synopsis
With the socio-economic development trends and changing landscape of work, modern work facilities are progressively becoming a subject of flexibilization and hybridisation. Contemporary office environments are commonly adapting to the needs of the labour market, offering the non-territorial and rotation-based practice of allocating desks to workers on dynamic schedules (Constantinescu & Devisch, 2018). Freelancing individuals regularly find themselves alongside remote workers and distributed teams, sharing the individual, open-ended office space that interlaces them in on-site networks (Merkel, 2015). The increased popularity of flexible workplaces cannot be earmarked solely based on increased mobility and flexibility in the way related work processes evolve, but also because of the positive implications such as increased innovativeness (Cabral & Van Winden, 2016), creativity (Brown, 2017), knowledge-sharing (Bouncken & Reuschl, 2018) and tendency to collaborate on problem solving amongst flexible workspace users (Bianchi et al., 2018).

Third-party managerial structures are being used to establish mediation and other support mechanisms that promote interactivity amongst flexible office space users, thus forming collaborative orientated ecosystems that are frequently addressed as coworking spaces or corpoworking environments (Mitev et al. 2015). Google has, for example, recently subcontracted IWG, a large serviced office provider, by signing a multiyear deal to establish their new offices in the heart of Toronto’s financial district. Their rival coworking space company and a SoftBank-backed start-up WeWork provides short and long-term flexible workspace leases to many other large corporate players.

Increased demand has caused the rapid popularization of these flexible workplace models, and industry reports such as Global Coworking Growth Study (2019) show that an estimated 2,188 new coworking spaces opened worldwide in 2018 with the projected growth showing an increase of 42% new workplaces to be opened by 2022 (Hobson, 2019). With the current global market value of flexible workspaces estimated at an approximate $26 billion (Amador, 2019), industry reports predict that coworking and other types of flexible office spaces will continue to gain popularity and see substantial growth in the following years. Companies of all sizes are indeed transitioning to the collaborative age, and the demand for coworking spaces and other types progressively of contemporary flexible work environments will continue to rise.

The proposed book will, therefore, explore different perspectives and trends in flexible workplace industry, and would be thus appealing not solely for academics, but also industry experts, relevant policymakers and wider readership.

We welcome book chapter contributions centred (but not exclusively) on the following themes:
• Developmental trends of flexible workplaces
• Challenges of increasing demand for flexible workspaces in developing countries
• Positive and negative impacts of flexible workplace growth
• Digital nomadism and impact on local economies
• Effectiveness of mediation mechanisms in flexible workplaces
• Supportiveness of flexible workspace staff in flexible workplaces
• The distinction between coworking environments and corpoworking spaces
• The effect of coworking spaces on shaping local entrepreneurial cultures
• Governmental support for the growth of flexible workplaces
• The hybridisation of coworking environments and their classification
• Innovation and knowledge creation in flexible workplaces

Chapter proposal submissions are invited from researchers and practitioners on or before March 30, 2020.

Proposals should be limited to between 250-500 words, explaining the
mission and concerns of the chapter and how it fits into the general theme of the book. In addition, the proposal must include information on methodological aspects.

Full chapter submission is to be expected by June 15, 2020.

Only electronic submissions in Word (.doc, .docx) format will be considered. Please send your proposal to the editor-in-chief, Marko Orel: marko.orel@vse.cz