Self-Leadership in Activity-Based Working - A Case Study exploring how Self-Leadership can help Employees to meet the rising Demands in ABW

Abstract: The growing popularity of Activity-Based Working (ABW), an advanced office design and management system, has also brought new office research to the scene. Current research offers limited solutions to how employees can meet the rising demands of an activity-based workplace. This article examines how self-leadership can help employees to meet these demands, in particular the complexity of everyday decision-making, an output-driven environment and environmental stressors. In a multiple-case study, three themes were identified, which each offer a distinct solution to individual employees: (i) Employees should leverage reflective decision-making by conducting self-observation in order to increase self-awareness; (ii) employees should apply and communicate self-goal setting in order to reach a new level of trust within the firm; (iii) employees should employ a specific set of self-leadership strategies in order to cope with the increased responsibility and autonomy. In conclusion - assuming that self-leadership is an appropriate leadership style for an activity-based workplace - this article shows how employees can meet the rising demands of ABW by making use of specific self-leadership strategies.