A method, apparatus and system arranged to provide a contract between an application server and a resource adapter that allows the resource adapter to do work (monitor network endpoints, call application components, etc) by submitting work instances to an application server for execution. In the described embodiment, the application server dispatches threads to execute submitted work instances thereby allowing the requesting resource adapter to avoid creating or managing threads directly. In this way, a mechanism for the resource adapter to do its work is provided as well as allowing the application server to efficiently pool threads and have more control over its runtime environment.