NEWS AND INSIGHT
ENHANCING PROVISION FOR
CO-WORKING SPACES’ WEAKNESS EXPOSED COUNTRY: UK SCHOOL: Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) City, University of London Co-working spaces are often heralded as a hotbed of entrepreneurial thinking and innovation, but a new study has exposed weaknesses in their ability to foster collaborative practices that are key to creativity. Bayes Business School professor Stefan Haefliger, who co-authored the study with IESEG School of Management associate professor Ghassan Yacoub, highlighted that while co-working spaces’ informal setting was great at supporting initial opportunities to work collectively, it ultimately hindered collaborations from developing further. Co-working space, or hub, users surveyed in the study also flagged problems caused by the hub’s own reliance on occupancy and scalability. Moving more companies in, for example, was said to have negatively impacted how incumbents could make use of the space. The study centred on Level 39, a hub in London’s financial centre of Canary Wharf that is popular with tech and fintech startups. Published in Organization , it has clear takeaways for those who run co-working spaces as well as those who use them. “It is the responsibility of the host of the space and those that use it to make it a setting that can see booming partnerships and a hotbed of next generation ideas. Entrepreneurs need to embrace the early-stage interactions to take the first step towards collaborative working, with workspace managers working as catalysts to drive these partnerships,” Haefliger said. The Bayes Business School professor went on to underline the importance of managing co-working spaces effectively. “The rise of co-working spaces as new forms of work has redefined our understanding of the traditional physical, temporal and spatial boundaries of organisations. Post-pandemic, we can expect more uncertainty in how space is re‑appropriated by individuals and entrepreneurial teams forming collaboration. Workspace managers may need to leave room for experimentation and allow flexibility,” he explained. TBD
THOSE WITH DISABILITIES
COUNTRY: France SCHOOL: EDHEC Business School
EDHEC Business School (EDHEC) has reinforced its disability policy and increased its technical and human resources to provide students with more support. “It’s important to clearly understand the needs of each person and their disability,” explained Ségolène Binet, who is the main point of contact for students with disabilities at EDHEC and provides customised support from enrolment to graduation. “We also take the time to determine which support measures are liable to help them the most, in conjunction with the university doctor, and talk about their wellbeing,” Binet continued. The school’s Handicap Committee is designed to ensure that all students can access all of its services. The committee, for example, has identified 160 partner institutions which also operate a handicap policy and which would, therefore, offer internship or academic exchange opportunities for those with disabilities. The school has also underlined its commitment to help students with disabilities with their academics – for example, by lending computers to students and granting students extra time during exams. Ayrton, an EDHEC student who suffers from dysgraphia, has personal experience: “When I arrived at EDHEC, I presented my records straightaway in order to have the right to do my classes on a computer and to obtain specific adjustment measures for my exams, such as use of a computer and Excel for quantitative subjects, right to extra time and printing of subjects on A3 paper. I was impressed by EDHEC’s adaptability and attentiveness.” The school has also put in place facilities to help students move around its campuses in Lille, Nice and Paris, installing lowered wash basins and steps as well as direction-finding floor strips. In addition, it also runs an annual day-long event which aims to raise the visibility of all disabilities and at which employers are invited to showcase how they are fostering inclusion in their companies. EB
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Ambition | FEBRUARY 2023 | 11
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