Appropriation process of activity-based work environments. Towards a situated approach

Our research focuses on activity-based workplaces which offer a diversity of workplace configurations which, instead of being attributed to users, are shared according to the needs of their activities. Indeed, we question the way these activity-based workplaces configure the ways in which individuals and collectives carry out their activity. Our proposal consists on a exploratory study carried out within an energetic French organization. We have established a two-phase methodology. Three days of observation amid three different units evolving in activity-based workplaces have helped us to identify the uses that emerged from these spatial typologies. Then, a set of two interviews with 8 participants have been conducted based on the four dimensions of the situated acceptance model (Bobillier Chaumon, 2013) and on picture elicitation. Our results provide an overview of the social and psychological consequences of activity-based workspaces on workers, their work collective, and their activity. Our conclusions can be mobilized in activity-based real estate projects, for example during the design stage. This research conducted with a situated approach based upon the study of the development of the activity proposes a change from the usual managerial approach about these activity-based workplaces, which prescribe an ideal way of working within the workplaces.