Workplace Design

Abstract

Since the advent of industrialization, most office workplaces have been designed using a similar template: corner offices for executives, offices with doors for managers, and bullpens or cubicles for rank-and-file workers. However, postindustrialization (with its heavy reliance on technology, information, and services rather than on the production of tangible goods) frequently requires that this traditional approach be rethought. Many organizations increasingly rely on teamwork and collaboration to help them manage innovations and gain or maintain a competitive edge in the global marketplace. Such workplaces frequently require a more open approach to workplace design in order to encourage synergy. However, this approach, too, is not appropriate for every organization or every situation. Indeed, technology enables an increasing number of workers to telework without the need for a central office or face-to-face communications to effectively and efficiently accomplish their tasks. Sound workplace design is much more than a matter of aesthetics and decorating trends. Social scientists have an important role in research to determine the underlying principles of workplace design and to make sure that these are appropriately applied so that the needs of the organization and its employees can be met.

Overview

When setting up a new workspace, there are always a lot of things to be done before the space is designed for optimal productivity. However, once the layout of a desk is set, it usually requires little additional thought. For example, the best placement of a coffee mug, lighting, writing instruments, pads of paper, reference books, and thumb drives on a desk are all aspects of design, as are the arrangement of multiple offices to encourage or inhibit the flow of communication between workers.

Historically, workplace design has often been little more than this. Traditionally, many organizations designed their facilities according to standard layouts: corner offices with windows for executives or upper-level managers, offices with doors for other managers, cubicles or bullpens in the middle of the floor for lower-level workers, and a few strategically placed conference rooms often designed to impress visiting clients. Although many organizations still design their workspaces in this general manner, some observers believe that this inappropriately spends money (particularly for the big offices for upper-level managers) while making communication between employees—particularly those who need to work closely together—difficult. Many businesses are becoming increasingly concerned with the design of a workplace that will help them attract and retain the best workers. Many contemporary workplace designers, therefore, place emphasis on the interrelatedness of social, organizational, financial, design, and technological aspects of workplace design with the goal of designing workplaces that will support the new ways in which employees must work in the postindustrial age (Magnum, 1999).

Contemporary Workplace Design. Contemporary workplace design philosophy stems from the assumption that an appropriately designed workspace can help enhance an organization's competitive advantage by giving it an aura of innovation, intimacy, and operational excellence. Contemporary workplace design seeks to do this by arranging the workplace in a way to help employees be more productive and be better able to take advantage of the synergy that can occur when people are allowed to interact during creative endeavors. Designers Linda Groat and Lawrence Stern (2000) suggest several ways that these goals can be accomplished. First, workplace design needs to be the outgrowth of a comprehensive business process rather than a narrowly focused facility design process. This means in part that workplace design needs to consider not only the efficiency of a layout or design, but also its effectiveness in supporting workers to getting their jobs done and increasing their productivity.

In addition, workplace design should take into account not only the physical architecture of the workplace but the social architecture as well. In the past, it was frequently assumed that it was necessary to reduce the "nonessential" interaction of workers for fear of losing productivity to social interaction. However, modern organizations increasingly rely on teamwork to produce synergy that results in innovation, particularly when dealing with technology. In such cases, it can actually be an advantage for team members to be able to easily interact with each other rather than being isolated in a cubicle where each person works on their own piece of the process. To design such workspaces, many theorists recommend that workspace design decisions not be made in isolation by individuals not directly affected by the design but by teams that represent all affected parties (Groat & Stern, 2000).

Scientific & Aesthetic Trends. There are a number of trends that are included in the contemporary approach to workplace design (Richter, 2001). Some of these are aesthetic in nature and are meant to express associated aspects of the organizational culture (for example, the use of unconventional color palettes to express an innovative or creative organization, or an open floor plan to express free thinking). However, others are more functionally based. For example, many workplaces use open workspaces to encourage collaborative teamwork with fellow employees and boost creativity and innovation. This is often done through such things as the use of open-floor plans to encourage collaboration and the design of offices without doors for managers to make the managers appear more welcoming to subordinates. Further, individual workspaces are often designed with low cubicle partitions in order to encourage interactions between coworkers and to help employees feel more comfortable. For similar reasons, desks are often placed facing each other within multiple-person cubicles.

As appealing as such ideas may sound on a superficial level, little scientific research has been done to back these claims. Further, it is important to realize that such open designs will not foster productivity in every type of organization or work situation. For example, doors are frequently put on the doors to managers' offices not so much to keep others out, but in order to afford managers the privacy they need to do confidential work such as writing performance appraisals, counseling employees, and talking to clients. Further, in offices that require the use of classified material, it is frequently important that the doors can be locked to keep out others without a proper clearance level.

In addition, not everyone works well in an open-floor plan situation that encourages interruptions from coworkers and exposes one to numerous other distractions. Fortunately, it is not always necessary to go into a centralized location with multiple offices in order to be a productive and effective worker. Most employees who work in office workplaces use a computer to input data and information, create and manipulate documents, or perform other tasks. Many times, their interactions with clients or customers (and often even with fellow employees) are over the phone, by email, or in face-to-face contact outside the company's offices. In many cases, therefore, there is little reason for these tasks to be done from a centralized organizational office. With a computer and internet connectivity, it is not even necessary in many instances to have face-to-face meetings. Audio and videoconferencing capabilities and electronic document exchange capabilities can often obviate the need for local or long-distance travel to meetings, thereby reducing or eliminating not only the expenses related to out-of-town travel but also the need for an artistically designed workplace and high-end conference rooms to entertain clients. Other technology such as video teleconferencing and electronic bulletin boards allow group members to participate fully in meetings, sharing not only audio and visual communications in real time but documents as well. Further, advances in computer and telecommunications technology along with the realities of globalization mean that employees working together as a team may not be collocated within the same building, the same company, or even within the same country.

Such situations in which team members are geographically or organizationally dispersed are referred to as a virtual team. Members of virtual teams interact primarily through communication technology and may never meet face-to-face. Virtual team situations are conducive to teleworking environments. In fact, many organizations have found that the creation of virtual teams can be advantageous, particularly when dealing with a specific project on which they can bring complementary skills.

Teleworking. An increasing number of organizations allow their employees various options for teleworking so that they do not even have to come in to an office in order to do their work. For many people, being able to work at home or another venue that is quieter and has fewer interruptions is more conducive to productivity and creativity than is working in a workplace with an open-floor plan. Telecommunications and information technology today have advanced to the point where one can easily communicate with others when it is convenient or necessary but not be exposed to unwelcome interruptions that derail one's train of thought. In telework (also known as telecommuting), employees are physically dispersed and most communications occur using communications technology (phone, internet, videoconferencing) rather than face to face. Similarly, data and documents are also transmitted and exchanged between employees via telecommunications or network technology, including the internet. For most situations, telework requires little more than a personal computer and internet access by which the teleworker can connect to the company's network.

However, the principles of workplace design to enhance productivity still apply even in a home office. Telework requires more than a corner of the kitchen table or a workstation in the living room, and the home workspace needs to be arranged to enhance productivity and reduce distractions. Therefore, teleworkers need to set up a dedicated space that will both supply them with the technology and support they need to do their work as well as a place that will minimize the distractions of the home. Most home offices or virtual workplaces typically require a personal computer, printer, a telephone line, internet access, office supplies, and, in some cases, a scanner and other office equipment. All these things need to be arranged in such a way that will support efficient work habits.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic the gripped the world beginning in 2020 brought much attention to the issue of telework. With many offices and other spaces closed down in an effort to avoid spreading the coronavirus, many companies were forced to switch to remote work on an unprecedented scale. Many resources emerged on how to adapt home space for working life, and there was considerable discussion and debate over the advantages and disadvantages of telework. As offices did begin to reopen, sometimes in a diminished capacity, there was also much discussion about how the rise of widespread remote work would impact workplace design for those who did return to a central office. For example, allowing for social distancing and ensuring good air quality became notable concerns for many workplace designers (Overstreet, 2020; Beard, 2021).

Applications

Systems Approach. As discussed above, there is more than one approach to designing the contemporary workplace. However, there continues to be relatively little scientific research available to back the various views. Dan Holtshouse (2006) recommends taking a systems approach to workplace design to help ensure that a balanced and optimized approach is taken to designing a workplace based on the needs of the organization and its workers rather than on current design trends. Specifically, Holtshouse recommends ways that the four types of space should be considered in workplace design. The first of these is the physical space and layout of the workplace. A good workplace design needs to facilitate workers in performing their tasks. Although it is important to design a workplace in such a way as to support teamwork, collaboration, and synergy, it is equally important to design a workplace that is free of distractions. A good workplace design will take all of these factors into consideration.

The second type of space that needs to be considered is information space. This comprises the tools, systems, and information technology that are necessary to support workers in their tasks. Too often, organizations have a generic approach to information space that does not take into account the needs of individual workers. Information technology continues to rapidly develop, and new tools are constantly being designed to maximize the effectiveness of individuals and teams in the workplace. Appropriate information technology needs to be given to workers based on the needs of their jobs and the way in which they best work rather than as a reward for being in a particular place in the organizational hierarchy.

The third type of space that needs to be considered in the design of a workplace is organizational space. This comprises concerns over such issues as governance, hierarchy, projects, teams, and social networks. An organization needs to be concerned for not only the formal organization (i.e., the goals, structure, skills, technology, and other resources of the organization that are readily observable to others), but the informal organization as well (i.e., the attitudes, values, feelings, interactions, and group norms that affect organizational functioning and effectiveness). For example, a workplace design that isolates workers is unlikely to foster cooperation just as a workplace design that marginalizes lower-level workers is unlikely to foster teamwork or employee satisfaction.

Finally, workspace design needs to take into account cognitive space by including features that support the individuality of each worker, including consideration of those things that will best support the individual in maximizing his or her creativity and productivity in the organization. Although these four "spaces" express some of the thinking about workplace design, much more research is needed before these factors and their interaction and their influence to the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization are well understood (Holtshouse, 2006).

The design of a workplace that not only creates an environment that is conducive to productivity and creativity but also represents and reinforces the organization's goals is much more than a matter of aesthetics and popular trends. There are a number of areas of social science research that would be of help in the design of workplaces that better meet the evolving needs of organizations. Physical, informational, organizational, and cognitive spaces do not occur in isolation. Particularly from a systems point of view, it is important to better understand not only the contribution of these factors to the effectiveness of a workplace design but also to understand how they are interrelated. The complexity of the interrelationship between these factors and the requirements of the real world might best be served through the development of a model that can help workplace designers base their designs on needs rather than on trends. Finally, there will never be one best approach to workplace design: while one organization may need an open-floor plan that allows coworkers to freely share ideas and collaborate, in another organization this could be seen as facilitating untimely and unwelcome interruptions that detract from productivity and effectiveness. More research is needed to help social scientists and designers better understand the principles underlying sound workplace design so that the needs of the organization can be taken into account and a design that best supports all the workers in their tasks can be developed.

Conclusion

Through a combination of rapidly advancing technology and globalization, the traditional workplace is changing in many ways. Technology allows organizations to store, access, and process vast amounts of data in ways that were not possible even a generation ago. To remain competitive in a global marketplace, many organizations need to use these capabilities in order to manage dispersed staffs or respond to the needs of global clients. Technology enables workers to communicate not merely across the building or across the city at near instantaneous speeds but to do so around the globe. Technology enables organizations to reinvent its business processes so that employees no longer need to be collocated in order to work effectively. Globalization requires that organizations do so in order to provide around-the-clock, responsive customer service to customers around the world and manage dispersed supply chains that provide needed parts and materials in time for other processes.

Contemporary workplace design seeks ways in which to foster creativity, innovation, and synergy and to improve employee satisfaction and productivity. In some situations, this means the creation of a workplace in which employees can physically work together as teams. In other cases, however, this means the design of a virtual workplace that leverages the latest technology to enable employees to have both the privacy and isolation they need to translate thoughts into innovation and the communication systems to be able to work with coworkers when this supports the process better.

Most observers today realize that the nature of the organization and how people work together and communicate with one another in the organization is changing. This has led to a proliferation of ideas about how workplaces can be better designed to meet these changing needs. However, the nature and needs of the workplace are still evolving. Unsubstantiated theories are not sufficient to meet these needs. More empirical research is needed to better understand contemporary workplaces and how they can be designed in order to best support today's organizations and their employees in gaining and maintaining a competitive edge in today's global marketplace.

Terms & Concepts

Globalization: Globalization is the process of businesses or technologies spreading and integrating across the world. This creates an interconnected, global marketplace operating outside constraints of time zone or national boundary. Although globalization means an expanded marketplace, products are typically adapted to fit the specific needs of each locality or culture to which they are marketed.

Information Technology: The use of computers, communications networks, and other technology in the creation, storage, and dispersal of data and information.

Innovations: Products or processes that are new or significant improvements over previous products or processes that have been introduced in the marketplace or used in production.

Organizational Culture: The basic shared assumptions, beliefs, norms, and values held by a group of people. These may be either consciously or unconsciously held.

Personal Computer: A relatively compact, microprocessor-based computer designed for individual use. Business applications of personal computers include word processing, spreadsheets, graphic design, desktop publishing, database management, and personal productivity.

Postindustrial: The nature of a society whose economy is no longer dependent on the manufacture of goods (industrial), but is primarily based upon the processing and control of information and the provision of services.

Supply Chain: A network of organizations involved in production, delivery, and sale of a product. The supply chain may include suppliers, manufacturers, storage facilities, transporters, and retailers. Each organization in the network provides a value-added activity to the product or service. The supply chain includes the flow of tangible goods and materials, funds, and information between the organizations in the network.

Synergy: The process by which the combined product resulting from the work of a team of individuals is greater than the results of their individual efforts.

Systems Theory: A cornerstone of organizational behavior theory that assumes that the organization comprises multiple subsystems and that the functioning of each subsystem affects both the functioning of the others and the organization as a whole.

Virtual Team: A team in which the members are dispersed physically or organizationally. Virtual team members interact primarily through communication technology and may never meet face to face.

Virtual Workplace: An organization in which employees work remotely from each other and their manager. Workers in a virtual workplace typically telecommute.

Workplace: The physical area in which an employee performs their primary tasks. One's workplace includes where the work will physically be done, the technology necessary to enable the worker to perform their tasks, the physical environment necessary to support that work (office layout, furniture, equipment, ambient conditions), and the technology or methods by which workers to interact to exchange information.

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Bernsten, H. Ø. & Seim, R. (2007, May). Design research through the lens of sociology of technology. Retrieved September 22, 2008 from SeFun Project Website: http://www2.uiah.fi/sefun/DSIU%5fpapers/DSIU%20%5f%20Berntsen&Seeim%20%5f%20Design%20research.pdf.

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McNamara, C., & Georgi, W. (2015). The other office 2. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Frame.

Richter, C. (2001). Workplace design: A laboratory for inventiveness. Journal for Quality and Participation, 24 , 52–55. Retrieved September 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5190523&site=ehost-live.

Savlendy, G. (Ed.) (1987). Handbook of human factors. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

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