This workplace-based mixed methods case study at a Swedish university explores the changed roles and positions of departmental administrators due to changes in internal work processes and organization, influenced by new public management doctrines and gender. It finds them to be in an indeterminate position in between different actors, expectations and organisational logics, which brings tensions as well as increased room for agency.

This compilation thesis consists of four research papers, deploying different conceptual lenses to explore the position of the departmental administrators and how they relate to other actors in the organisation. The individual papers highlight different aspects of the relations within organisations, contributing to different debates within worklife science and sociology of work. Paper 1 focuses on loyalties, paper 2 on the impact of new technology 2, paper 3 focuses on the role of belongings in an organisation and paper 4 discusses the effects of workplace visibility in terms of recognition and control.

While the four papers highlight different aspects of the departmental administrators’ job and workplace relations, they provide a picture of an indeterminate position in-between different actors, expectations and logics. This position comes with both risks related to tension between management and professionals and the different expectations of what the job should be, and possibilities in terms of increased agency as individuals and as a group.

This case study is situated within broader trends in society, such as new public management, and the transformation of gendered occupations. While set within a university, the transformation of management doctrines and administrative work is also well known to be occurring in other sectors, such as healthcare, education, and law enforcement (Forssell & Westberg, 2014; Hall, 2012; Hasenfeld, 2009), making the findings in this study relevant to other settings.

What happens to work relationships in the aftermath of organisational change? While the processes of reorganisation have been extensively studied, this workplace study of administrative staff at a Swedish university examines the evolving roles, relations, and positions of departmental administrators years after previous restructurings have taken place.

The results are presented in four research papers, focusing on aspects such as loyalties, technology, belongings and visibility, that together paint a picture of the administrators as being in an indeterminate position between different actors, expectations and organisational logics. This position comes with both risks related to the tension between management and academics, and possibilities in terms of increased agency as individuals as well as a group.

This case study is situated within broader trends in society, such as new public management and the transformation of gendered occupations. While set within a university, the transformation of management doctrines and administrative work is also well known to be occurring in other sectors, such as healthcare, education and law enforcement making the findings in this study relevant to other settings.