MIT Sloan Management Review

Management of Technology and Innovation

 

Strategic Work-Space Planning

By Jacqueline C. Vischer

October 15, 1995

COMPANIES ARE EXAMINING THEIR USE OF SPACE MORE CAREFULLY TO REDUCE OCCUPANCY COSTS. MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE ROLE OF ACCOMMODATION IN ORGANIZATIONS have led to costly inefficiencies in space planning and building use. Reducing square footage provides a company with a two-stage opportunity for improvement. First, space “right sizing” and redesign can lead to a better “fit” between work-space design and users’ tasks; employees’ work space can more effectively support work performance and improve productivity. Second, the process of making space cuts and changes is an opportunity for initiating broader-based corporate change in companies seeking to reduce overhead, empower employees, and reengineer work processes. The author shows how some companies have used work-space changes to transform their business.

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Space, buildings, and architecture are not the first things a company thinks about when it is “transforming work.” Yet changes to space and time are basic to evolving concepts of what work means. Employee empowerment, reengineered work processes, organizational learning, and the elimination of work-family barriers do not seem to be connected conceptually to a company’s accommodation, yet companies looking forward to growing and thriving — to more than just survival —are learning to examine their work spaces in new ways.

Corporate trends toward outsourcing and downsizing, reducing overhead, and consolidating all have space design implications — not just for real estate, but also in terms of the physical space in which employees perform their tasks. In this article, I examine attitudes toward space design and accommodation in light of two objectives: (1) to reduce costs and (2) to increase worker effectiveness. Not enough companies are taking advantage of the opportunity to “right size” their space, first, by using their real estate dollars more effectively and, second, by using the streamlining of accommodation expenditures as an opportunity to transform the organization. (I use the term “accommodation” to refer not only to the physical space an organization inhabits, but also to the elements of the work environment that make the space function, such as office technology, furniture, building services, and ambient environmental conditions — lighting,... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.

 
 

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