New Workspace New Culture - Office Design as a Catalyst for Change
New Workspace New Culture Office Design as a Catalyst for Change
Gavin Turner and Jeremy MyersonGower,UK ISBN 0-566-08028-1
Keywords Facilities management, Offices
Turner and Myerson have teamed up to produce a very readable and thought provoking book. Turner has a commercial background in the design of office environments and Myerson a research background in design, architecture and the workplace. The authors state that they have "attempted to write a different type of book about office design aimed directly at a senior management audience ...What has been missing in the literature is a book aimed at alerting senior managers to the importance of the social mechanics of the office in the context of the physical environment a book which deals with the underlying principles without getting bogged down in the practicalities of space-planning and office design".
At times I felt I wanted to become "bogged down" in the practicalities that arise from some of the social and organisational issues that they referred to. Whilst the latter chapters discuss workplace innovations such as the participative office, the discussion stays strictly with management parlance. However, given the intended audience,this is defensible.
The book makes reference to a study by the authors of 40 UK Government offices where many government departments are making strides to reshape their working environment. Their key observation was that "few senior managers appreciated that the prime financial justification for an office move or a major refurbishment could be found in the long-term effects on productivity of a radically changed environment and management style".
Overall, I think this book is a good attempt to educate senior managers about the influence of the build environment on organisational effectiveness. Hopefully it will help to raise the level of understanding of facilities management as an organisational function.
Ed Finch
