Optimising the university third space professional partnership in the world of work(er) dislocation
Conference Contribution ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
In the higher education context, university third space is a clever and relevant metaphor describing how the new and emerging ways of academic and professional staff’s working together are accompanied by crossing, disrupting and transcending the boundaries of their respective roles and identities, thereby challenging the confines of organisational structure (Soja, 1996, 2009; Whitchurch, 2008, 2012, 2018). It is a space characterised by appreciation of diverse thinking, co-creating new practices, and challenging and changing outdated systems and processes. It is also an imperceptible space of professional tensions and challenges that boundary crossing inevitably produces (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011a, 2011b). Drawing on the selective findings from the doctoral research of the university third space of professional collaborations in the intercultural (Australia and Singapore) environment, this paper presents an argument for the third space as a site of practice to enable and sustain university collaborations. Provided that certain motivational factors are met for staff, and cross-boundary capabilities are developed by staff, third space becomes a representational site for developing the organisational collaborative capital – an intangible form of capital fostering growth and development. In this paper, I provoke critical reflection on how the interconnected concepts of third space, boundary learning and collaborative capital can be mobilised strategically in the environment where technology continues to shape the future of work leading to perceived and actualised dislocation of traditional work(ers), redefinition of professional identities, reconceptualisation of competence and learning in the new digital economy.
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2nd International Conference on Business, Economics, Management, and Sustainability (BEMAS)
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2
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Cairns, QLD, Australia
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James Cook University
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Cairns, QLD, Australia
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