Centre for Strategy Studies in Organizations Speaker Series: Prof Maciej Workiewicz
Prof Maciej Workiewicz
Associate Professor of Management, ESSEC Business School
Organization Design and Learning in The Remote Era
Date: Friday, March 20, 2026
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Bronfman building, room 045
Abstract
Remote and hybrid work are now commonplace. Despite their clear benefits, concerns persist about their effects on knowledge transfer, organizational learning, and ultimately performance. We argue that these effects are not inherent to remote work but critically contingent on organizational design. Using a computational model, we examine how Remote Work Intensity (RWI) interacts with organizational structure and a firm鈥檚 task environment to shape learning outcomes. When structure is held constant, higher RWI can impede learning for firms operating in complex and turbulent environments. More importantly, redesigning organizational structure can mitigate these losses, which we show by analyzing canonical structures and then exploring broader design possibilities using evolutionary testbeds. These findings reframe remote work as a design challenge rather than a binary choice of work location.
