Do professions matter?

Abstract: The thesis examines the concept of the activity-based workplace in relation to different professions. The activity-based workplace is a type of working environment, designed to help the employees execute their tasks in a setting dovetailed for this specific task. Presumably, different work tasks demand different prerequisites and consequently, different professions have different needs. The thesis aims to fill an empirical gap and answer the following research question: How do different professions view the activity-based workplace and does it fit some professions better than others? The thesis is a qualitative study based on interviews with five different groups of professions (business, HR, IT, communication and management). The study shows that there are no evident distinctive differences between how the different professions perceive the activity-based workplace. Consequently, it is not possible to find that any of the five professions are better suited for it. The perceptions rather seem to be based on individual preferences. However, some tasks seem to fit the activity-based workplace better than others: administrative tasks, telephone calls, agile work, formal meetings, individual work, meetings and tasks that require help from outside of the team. It is important to acknowledge that the sample size is too small to draw any general conclusions regarding the professions. Therefore, our study should be considered an example of how the perceptions can differ between the five chosen professions. This study can be considered valuable for the management of a company, since it shows how different employees within different professions perceive the activity-based workplace.