Autonomy and control: exploring relations between job quality and the academic workplace

Alshahrani, Heba Mohammed, Patel, Hiral ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7783-5952 and Pustelnikovaite, Toma ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3278-1369 2026. Autonomy and control: exploring relations between job quality and the academic workplace. Presented at: 5th Transdisciplinary Workplace Research (TWR) Conference, Zürich, Switzerland, 2–5 September 2026. Published in: Windlinger, Lukas, Iurilli, Carla, Radtke, Kathrin and Häne, Eunji eds. Proceedings of the 5th Transdisciplinary Workplace Research (TWR) Conference. TWR Network, pp. 497-509. 10.21256/zhaw-2861

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Abstract

Autonomy is a defining feature of academic work and a core dimension of job quality. Although management and organisation studies have examined the conditions that support autonomy, the spatial conditions that facilitate it remain underexplored. Autonomy is understood as the ability to exercise discretion and control over how, when, and where academic work is performed, including the capacity to adjust or select spatial settings within institutional constraints. This paper highlights the architectural dimension of autonomy, examining how the design and use of academic offices relate to the experiences of academic staff, particularly their experiences of control over their work and workspaces on university campuses. The study draws on the outputs from a creative visual methods workshop at Cardiff University involving nine academic staff and PhD researchers with teaching commitments. The workshop activity included mapping the workspaces that academics use for different activities on and off campus, followed by a generative design exercise to create their ideal on-campus workspace. The findings suggest that autonomy is experienced unevenly and negotiated through daily spatial and temporal practices. Participants experienced varying degrees of control over their workspaces and schedules. They enacted autonomy through everyday forms of control, such as choosing where to work, managing their availability, and adapting the workspace to meet task demands. However, autonomy was also shaped, and sometimes restricted, by attendance policies, disciplinary cultures, and institutional layouts that imposed uniform spatial arrangements despite diverse working styles and needs. The paper contributes to interdisciplinary debates on autonomy and workplace design by reframing autonomy as a spatial condition of academic life.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item - published (Paper)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Architecture Schools > Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	TWR Network
ISBN:	978-3-033-12553-7
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2026 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190072

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