Beyond The Cube

June 7th, 2010 in Trends    No Comments

Beyond the cube, workplace design now embraces such lofty concepts as enhancing communication, facilitating work-in-process, managing technology and providing an up-to-date alternative to “cube life”. Sound too easy? Let’s break it down.

• Planning principals begin with storage and work surfaces, not cubicle panels.
• Natural light is shared and collaboration is enhanced.
• Work in Progress is displayed & organized as the user wants it.
• Wires, cords and connections are smartly managed and easily accessible.

Access to natural light can be increased by lowering panel height. If privacy is then an issue, incorporate translucent privacy screens. (more…)

Does Your Current Workspace Support Your Workers and Their Work?

June 7th, 2010 in Design    No Comments

Gone are the workplace concepts of the 1970’s. Floor plan designs created isolating and non-stimulating environments. Physical barriers of cubicle design, circulation patterns, and the lack of daylight views for most employees blend together to inhibit collaboration and inspiration.

Teams are therefore slower complete tasks, thus affecting team, and individual results.

Workplaces also must be reinvented to accommodate new technologies, beyond just the impact of wireless technology. New hardware and software is causing workers to think and behave differently, and therefore, accomplish daily tasks in a new way. (more…)

Office Design Responds To Need For Flexibility, Communication

March 13th, 2009 in Design    No Comments

Office spaces are becoming more sophisticated and flexible as designers respond to technological advances and changing communication needs. This article sees current trends in office design as reflective of the desire to address a multigenerational workforce with supportive and sustainable design. In the words of one expert, “It not only fosters communication, forms a sense of community, facilitates learning, but most of all it addresses generational gaps.” (more…)

The Need for Speed

January 1st, 2003 in Culture    No Comments

Only Those Institutions that Can Adapt And Respond Quickly To Shifts In Consumer Preferences Are Likely To Survive

The speed of technological change has become extraordinary, as has its ability to transform our lives. Corporations have likewise been buffeted, with new companies like Nokia emerging as market leaders while former market leaders that responded too slowly to new competition and changes in consumer preferences disappeared.

The key for company survival in changing times is speed and agility. This article points out that people are the ultimate means by which companies leverage themselves into becoming faster and more agile, but notes that only a minority of companies have their human relations leaders playing a role in this effort. The result, they report, is much wasted effort. Speed without clarity simply results in dumb decisions made faster, while agility without focus results in companies straying from their core business and mission.

Unfortunately, speed and agility can’t be bought or dictated. To achieve the right tension between agility and speed, to understand the subtleties of rhythm and pace, to navigate in a faster and more uncertain world all require a talented workforce and well-founded plans and procedures. The author notes that fast and agile companies seem to share “five basic characteristics which overlap, interact, and create a momentum that’s hard to beat”:

1. Clear purpose
2. Engaging climate
3. Small unit accountability
4. Outside-In focus
5. Collective will

The article discusses each of these characteristics in detail and provides examples of companies that achieve success in each. It then provides “a six-step process that can literally get a company moving in the right direction in 60 days or less.” The author concludes by warning that once an organization is fast and agile it faces a formidable task to avoid complacency. After all, Bill Gates asserts that Microsoft is never more than two years from going out of business.

Source: Robert Gandossy, Journal of Business Strategy; January-February, 2003

A New-Faced Workplace

October 1st, 2002 in Trends    No Comments

The changing economy has many building owners and developers looking to build flexible workspaces that can be reconfigured as their needs change. This article points to moveable wall systems as an economically prudent trend when compared to traditional gypsum drywall construction. Additional design trends identified here include environmentally friendly products like carpet, wall-coverings and textiles.

Source: Mindi Zissman, Building Design & Construction, October, 2002