Concepts Of Organizational Behaviour

This report is all about organization behavior and management, what kind of problems are face by organization due to the behavior of all stake holders of any organization? And what steps and decision of management are help to overcome all the problems and what is the current scenario of OB and why it is necessary to study of OB?

INTRODUCTION

Concepts of OB

Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structures have on behavior within the organization. This impact works towards improving the organization’s effectiveness.

Of all the resources, human resources are precious and the behaviour of human being is unpredictable, thus unique in nature. As such an understanding of their interaction in Organisations is necessary, for the purpose of integrating human effort towards realisation of goals.

In order to understand human behaviour, a specified field of faculty of knowledge is being developed. It is called organizational Behaviour (OB).

Focuses on three levels of analysis

Individuals, Groups, and Organisations

It normative and value centred science

The study of people at work

It is concerned with the understanding, prediction and control of human behaviour

Study of how people act in organisation

Help suggest ways of improving organisational problems in general

Related to work related behaviour and job satisfaction. Primarily related to people.

OB include the core topics of motivation…leader…behaviour…& power .interpersonal communication…group structure & process…Learning ….attitude…& perception…Work design…work stress….

Organization

When two or more people get together and agree to coordinate their activities in order to achieve their common goals, an organization has been born. “The responsibilities by means of which the activities of the enterprise are dispersed among the (managerial, supervisory, and specialist) personnel employed in its service; and b. the formal interrelations established among the personnel by virtue of such responsibilities.”

A consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.

-Stephen p. Robbins

A consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common or set of goals.

Organisation is the place where managers practise the art of management

It formal in structure, clear roles and responsibility, hierarchy, authority etc…

Complementary relationship among member of organisation

Not open for everybody

Organization is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals

Behavior

The action that communicates and exhibits the character of individual is behaviour.

The reaction of something under specified circumstances can be defined as behaviour.

Definition of OB

Organizational behaviour can classified as an Action & attitudes of individuals & groups toward one another and towards organization’s as a whole & its effect on organization’s functioning & performance. “The study and application of knowledge about how people as individuals and groups act within Organisations, it strives to identify ways in which people can act more effectively.” -John nestrom & Keith Davis

“The understanding, prediction and management of human behaviour in organization.”

-Fred Luthans

Robbins “organizational behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within Organisations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving organization’s effectiveness’.

– Robbins

OB is field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organization.

OB is concerned with the study of what people do in an organization and how their behaviour affect the organization’s performance

Evolution of Organizational Behaviour

Concepts of OB in Vedas —

Four Varna (Allocation of work), Four Purusarth (allocation of activities), Home and work distance (Township)

Kautilaya’s Arthsastra

Relationship with friend, superior, subordinate, ministers, servant etc.

Wage rate and differences

Values in organizations

1800 BC Babylonian Code

Minimum Wage Rate

Incentive Wage Rate

1800 – Robert Owen

Father or Personnel Management

Emphasize the human factor in organization

Refused to give employment to children

Teach workers the importance of working conditions and cleanliness

1835 – Andrew Ure

The philosophy of Manufacturers

Provide snacks, medical treatment and sickness benefits

1840 – J N Tata

Emphasize the dignity of labor at organization

Improve the working conditions

1886 – introduce pensions plans

1895 – accident compensations schemes

1880 – Scientific Management

Frederiek Taylor decides to time each and every worker at the Midvale Steel Company. His view of the future becomes highly accurate:

“In the past man was first. In the future the system will be first.”

In scientific management the managers were elevated while the workers’ roles were negated.

Science, not rule of thumb,” said Taylor.

The decisions of supervisors, based upon experience and intuition, were no longer important. Employees were not allowed to have ideas of responsibility. Yet the question remains — is this promotion of managers to centre-stage justified?

Scientific selection of workers and cooperation of labors and management

A clear division of tasks and responsibilities between management and workers.

Use of scientific methods to determine the best way of doing a job.

Productivity was concerned

More work in less time

1922: Max Weber gives the concept of Bureaucracy

1930-1950 –Human Relation Management

Elton Mayo

Non economic and Social factors were considered

Employee cooperation and morale program

The social process of group behavior can be understood in terms of clinical method

1932 – The Hawthorne Studies

Elton Mayo becomes the first to question the behavioural assumptions of scientific management. The studies concluded that human factors were often more important than physical conditions in motivating employees to greater productivity.

Illumination Experiment

Really assembly test room experiments

Incentives, rest period, changing working hours

Mass interviewing Programme — Do you like your supervisor

Bank wiring Observation Room Experiments

Fear of unemployment

Fear of raising the standards

Protection of slower workers

Satisfaction on the part of management

Classical Organizational Theory

Henry Fayol – a French industrialist

Interrelations between people and their jobs

Division of labor

Manager’s authority over subordinate

Well defined command

Hierarch f authority

OB in Modern Era

1954 – Hierarchy of Needs

Malow’s theory of hierarchy need is published in his book Motivation and Personality. This provides a framework for gaining employees’ commitment.

1954 – Leadership/Management

Drucker writes The Practice of Management and introduces the 5 basic roles of managers. He writes, “The first question in discussing organization structure must be: What is our business and what should it be? Organization structure must be designed so as to make possible the attainment of objectives of the business for five, ten, fifteen years hence.”

1959 – Hygiene and Motivational Factors

Frederick Herzberg developed a list of factors which are closely based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, except it more closely related to work. Hygiene factors must be present in the job before motivators can be used to stimulate the workers.

1960s – Organization Development

In the 1950s and 1960s a new, integrated approach originated known as Organization Development (OD): the systematic application of behavioral science knowledge at various levels (group, intergroup, and total organization) to bring about planned change

1960 – Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y principles influence the design and implementation of personnel policies and practices.

Late 1960s – Action Learning

An Unheralded British academic was invited to try out his theories in Belgium — it led to an upturn in the Belgian economy. “Unless your ideas are ridiculed by experts they are worth nothing,” says the British academic Reg Revens, creator of action learning:

L = P + Q ([L] Learning occurs through a combination of programmed knowledge [P] and the ability to ask insightful questions [Q])

Note that his work has had little impact on this side of the ocean, although it remains one of the best ways to learn and to improve an organization.

1964 – Management Grid

Robert Blake and Jane Mouton develop a management model that conceptualizes management styles and relations. Their Grid uses two axes. “Concern for people” is plotted using the vertical axis and “Concern for task” is along the horizontal axis. The notion that just two dimensions can describe a managerial behavior has the attraction of simplicity.

1990 – Learning Organization

Peter Senge popularized the “Learning Organization” in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. He describes the organization as an organism with the capacity to enhance its capabilities and shape its own future. A learning organization is any organization (e.g. school, business, government agency) that understands itself as a complex, organic system that has a vision and purpose. It uses feedback systems and alignment mechanisms to achieve its goals.

1995 – Ethics

On December 11, 1995 a fire burned most of Malden Mills to the ground and put 3,000 people out of work. Most of the 3,000 thought they were out of work permanently. CEO Aaron Feuerstein says, “This is not the end” — he spent millions keeping all 3,000 employees on the payroll with full benefits for 3 months until he could get another factory up and running. Why? He answers, “The fundamental difference is that I consider our workers an asset, not an expense.”

Q-1. Critically discuss what you believe are the most important factors that are likely to determine the successful performance of work organizations. What do you see as the main obstacles to effective organizational performance and how would you attempt to overcome them?

Factors of successful performance of work organization

Motivation in the Workplace:-

The job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees. But that’s easier said than done! Motivation practice and theory are difficult subjects, touching on several disciplines. Human nature can be very simple, yet very complex too. An understanding and appreciation of this is a prerequisite to effective employee motivation in the workplace and therefore effective management and leadership. Quite apart from the benefit and moral value of an altruistic approach to treating colleagues as human beings and respecting human dignity in all its forms, research and observations show that well motivated employees are more productive and creative. The inverse also holds true. The schematic below indicates the potential contribution the practical application of the principles this paper has on reducing work content in the organization.

Environmental Scanning:-

Environmental scanning is the acquisition and use of information about events, trends, and relationships in an organization’s external environment, the knowledge of which would assist management in planning the organization’s future course of action. Depending on the organization’s beliefs about environmental analyzability and the extent that it intrudes into the environment to understand it, four modes of scanning may be differentiated: undirected viewing, conditioned viewing, enacting, and searching. We analyze each mode of scanning by examining its characteristic information needs, information seeking, and information use behaviors. In addition, we analyze organizational learning processes by considering the sense making, knowledge creating and decision making processes at work in each mode.

3. Job Satisfaction:-

Initial research indicated that neuroticism is negatively correlated with job satisfaction, whereas conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness are positively correlated with job satisfaction. Openness to experience has a negligible impact on job satisfaction. Additional research, however, has only been able to replicate correlations among the factors of neuroticism and extraversion, with extraversion being positively correlated with job satisfaction and neuroticism being negatively correlated. This could be due to the social nature of the workplace (Judge, Heller, & Mount, 2002).

This finding may be due to the low level of arousability for extraverted individuals (Hebb’s theory). If the workplace is a social environment, then extraverted employees are more likely to be at a low level of arousal while at work, whereas at their home there is less stimulation. Introverts, on the other hand, are more likely at their optimal level of arousal outside of the workplace, where there is less stimulation, and therefore are more likely dissatisfied with the level of stimulation that they experience while at work.

Deviation in the Workplace:-

Workplace deviance occurs when an employee voluntarily pursues a course of action that threatens the well-being of the individual or the organization. Examples include stealing, hostile behavior towards coworkers, and withholding effort. Stealing and withholding effort are categorized as organizational deviance, whereas hostile and rude behavior toward coworkers is categorized as interpersonal deviance.

Workplace deviance is related to the five-factor model of personality. Interpersonal deviance is negatively correlated with high levels of agreeableness. Organizational deviance is negatively correlated with high levels of conscientiousness and positively correlated with high levels of neuroticism. This implies that individuals who are emotionally stable and conscientious are less likely to withhold effort or steal, whereas those who are agreeable are less likely to be hostile to their coworkers.

Another entirely different factor to consider is perception of the workplace. Employees who had a positive perception of their workplace were less likely to pursue deviant behavior. Research indicates that personality acts as a moderating factor: workplace deviance was more likely to be endorsed with respect to an individual when both the perception of the workplace was negative and emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness was low (Colbert, Mount, Harter, Witt, & Barrick, 2004).

5. Teamwork:-

Oftentimes in the workplace the ability to be a team player is valued and is critical to job performance. Recent research has suggested that conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness are all related to cooperative behavior but that they are not related to task performance. Although this fortifies the case that job performance is related to the five-factor model via increased cooperativeness among coworkers, it lays siege to the role of personality by implying that actual job performance (task performance) is related to cognitive ability and not to personality (LePine & Dyne, 2001).

Leadership abilities are often essential in the workplace, especially for individuals who aspire to move up into the ranks of management. Studies of Asian military units have found that neuroticism is negatively correlated with leadership abilities. Contrary to what the researchers hypothesized, agreeableness is negatively correlated with leadership abilities as well. Openness to experience is unrelated to leadership abilities, but extraversion is positively correlated with leadership abilities (Lim & Ployhart, 2004). This evidence is consistent with the long-standing idea that in teams there are leaders and there are followers; the leaders make decisions and the followers abide by them. Although agreeableness is positively correlated with working with a team, it is negatively correlated with being a leader. Those followers who do not always agree and are willing to voice their own opinions end up moving up the ranks, whereas those who blindly agree are left as followers.

6. Personnel Selection

Research into the relation between the five-factor model and personnel hiring provides additional evidence that conscientiousness is the most valid predictor of job performance (Schmidt & Ryan, 1993). Given that conscientious individuals have a tendency to perform better as employees; it is easy to believe that employers will seek out that factor or the traits that coincide with it.

7. Personality:-

A person’s personality may not necessarily have a very high impact on a person’s job or productivity per se, depending on the type of work being done. As discussed by Sean P. Neubert, the notion that salespeople who exhibit high levels of extraversion will have better overall job performance is pretty evident, for being a salesperson requires a lot of social interaction, and an introverted salesperson would obviously be less effective than an extravert. Given that point, another point brought up is about conscientiousness in addition to extraversion and its positive correlation with job performance in terms of the social atmosphere present in most workplaces: a conscientious person is obviously more likely to be a more productive worker and an extraverted person will experience an optimal level of arousal in a social workplace. Personality influence would perhaps become less palpable if an individual’s place of work is not a highly social arena or the job is non-traditional.

Main obstacles to effective organizational performance and how would you attempt to overcome?

PRODUCTIVITY

An organisation is productive if it achieves its goals and does so by transferring inputs to outputs at the lowest cost as such productivity implies a concern for both effectiveness and efficiency.

A hospital, for e.g. is effective when it successfully meets the needs of its clientele. It is efficient when it can do so at a low cost. If a hospital manages to achieve higher output from its present staff by reducing the average number of days a patient is confined to a bed or by increasing the number of staff patient contacts per day. We say that the hospital has gain productive efficiency. A business firm is effective when it attains its sales or market share goals but its productivity also depends on achieving those goals efficiently.

ABSENTEEISM

Absenteeism is defined as the failure to report to work. Absenteeism is huge cost and disruption to employers. It’s difficult for an organization to operate smoothly and to attain its objectives if employees fail to report to their jobs. The work flow is disrupted, and often important decisions must be delayed. In organization that rely heavily on assembly-line production, absenteeism can be considerably more than a disruption; it can result in a drastic reduction in the quality of output, and in some cases, it can bring about a complete shutdown of the production facility. Level of absenteeism beyond the normal range in any organization has a direct impact on that organization’s effectiveness and efficiency.

TURNOVER

Turnover is the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organization. A high turnover rate results in increased recruiting, selection, and training coursing addition, a high rate of turnover can disrupt the efficient running of an organization when knowledgeable and experienced personal level and replacements must be found and prepared to assume positions of responsibility. In today’s changing world of work, reasonable level of employee-initiated turnover facilitated organizational flexibility and employee independence and they can listen the need of management-initiated layoffs.

OCB

Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning for the organization. Successful Organisations need employees who will do more than their usual job duties who will provide performance that is beyond expectations. Organisations want and need employees who will do those things that aren’t in any job description. And the evidence indicates that Organisations that have such employees out perform those that didn’t. As a result, OB is concerned with OCB as a dependent variable.

JOB SATISFACTION

The final dependent variable we all look at is job satisfaction, which we define as a private feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. Unlike the previous variable, job satisfaction to represents an attitude rather than behaviour. Why, then, has it become a primary dependent variable? For to reasons its demonstrated relationship to performance factors and the value preferences help by many OB researches. The belief that satisfied employees are more productive than dissatisfied employees. Has been a basic tenet among managers for years, though only now has research begun to support his theory after decades of questions about the satisfaction-performance relationship.

POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR:

By integrating positive psychology to organizational setting, Fred Luthans has pioneered the positive organizational behaviour research in 1999.

Positive organizational behaviour is the application of positive psychology to the workplace. Its focus is on strengths and on building the best in the workplace under the basic assumption that goodness and excellence can be analyzed and achieved.

The study and application of positive oriented human resource strength and psychological capacitates that can be measured, develop and effectively managed for performance improvement in today’s workplace. —-Luthan

Despite initial studies and conceptualizations, the field of POB is still in its infancy. Therefore the challenge currently a waiting with POB is to bring about a more profound understanding of the real impact of positive states for organizational functioning and how these states can be enhanced with the workplace.

Positive psychology – shift the emphasize away from “What is Wrong and what is Right”.

Five elements of positive approach in OB

Luthan has enumerated the five elements of positive approach in OB.

Confidence

In confidence, he includes self efficacy. Self efficacy refers to ‘how well one can execute courses of action required dealing with prospective situation.

Hope

Optimism

Subjective Wellbeing

High correlation with job satisfaction.

Emotional intelligence

It includes personality and leadership.

5 categories of the positive approach (ISOTC)

In order to retain a sharp focus, five categories of positive approach are given.

Internality – Personality

Self management

Optimism – Humanistic Tradition

Trust – Positive Expectancy

Collaboration

Internality – Personality

Internality, or internal locus of control, is the general orientation of an individual that results in a belief that he can shape his destiny. It refers to an individuals’ confidence in his ability to mobilize motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action to execute a task.

Self management

Self management is a part of emotional intelligence. There are two main elements of self management: self regulation or self restraint and perseverance. Those who resist temptation about getting something immediately or without any efforts are more competent, effective, self assertive and better able to cope with. This characteristic of gratification of a long term goal is a part of self management.

Optimism:

Instead of indulging in the recollection of misfortunes and bad experiences, individuals should get deeply involved in the activities they do. Such joy of work contributes not only to involvement but also to effectiveness.

Trust:

Trust as an orientation is reflected in

a. Positive image of others resulting in dialogue and delegation.

b. Positive reinforcement resulting in appreciation, recognition, reward, respect, sense of assurance, acceptance, etc.

Collaboration:

Collaboration includes group behavior. It is defined in terms of a person working with another person for the attainment of goal.

2. Consider the changing nature of modern work organization and attempt to challenge and criticize the validity of this statement

In today’s world, the structure, content, and process of work have changed. Work is now:

more cognitively complex

more team-based and collaborative

more dependent on social skills

more dependent on technological competence

more time pressured

More mobile and less dependent on geography.

In today’s world, you will also be working for an organization that is likely to be very different due to competitive pressures and technological breakthroughs. Organizations today are:

leaner and more agile

more focused on identifying value from the customer perspective

more tuned to dynamic competitive requirements and strategy

less hierarchical in structure and decision authority

less likely to provide lifelong careers and job security

Continually reorganizing to maintain or gain competitive advantage.

A. The Key Drivers for Changing Nature of Work

Although many factors ultimately contribute to the changing patterns of work, organizational theorists point to two key drivers:

Increasing pressures on organizations to be more competitive, agile, and customer focused-to be a “lean enterprise.”

Communication and information technology breakthroughs, especially mobile technologies and the Internet that enable work to be separated from time and space.

Changes in Organizational Focus: What does it mean to be Lean?

The Lean Enterprise model was introduced to the world by Toyota in the 1970s. Since then, it has fueled changes in organizations across the globe, particularly-but not exclusively-in manufacturing and product development.

The key principles of Lean Enterprise (or “lean thinking”, as it is sometimes called) are:

Define value from the customer’s perspective.

Identify internal activities and processes that add value for the customer and identify linkages between them (the “value chain”).

Eliminate non-value added activities (or “waste”) across the organization.

Reduce waste and inefficiencies in support (e.g., overhead) functions.

The lean enterprise principles enabled many organizations to respond more rapidly to the marketplace by reducing cycle time, developing mass customization processes, and supporting continual change and innovation.

Key organizational changes include:

Reduced hierarchical structure-Hierarchies are cumbersome and cannot respond quickly to changing market demands, such as pressures for reduced cycle time and continuous innovation. Hierarchies are being replaced by cross unit organizational groupings with fewer layers and more decentralized decision making.

Blurred boundaries-As organizations become more laterally structured, boundaries begin to breakdown as different parts of the organization need to work more effectively together. Boundaries between departments as well as between job categories (manager, professional, technical) become looser and there is a greater need for task and knowledge sharing.

Teams as basic building blocks-the move toward a team-based organizational structure results from pressures to make rapid decisions, to reduce inefficiencies, and to continually improve work processes.

New management perspective-Workers are no longer managed to comply with rules and orders, but rather to be committed to organizational goals and mission. The blurring of boundaries also affects organizational roles. As employees gain more decision authority and latitude, managers become more social supporters and coaches rather than commanders.

Continuous change-Organizations are expected to continue the cycles of reflection and reorganization. However, changes may be both large and small and are likely to be interspersed with periods of stability. Kling and Zmuidzinas identify three types of change-“metamorphosis” (far reaching, fundamental change), “migration” (shifts toward a new form), and “elaboration” (changes that enhance some aspect of work).

B. How Work is Changing for Individuals and Groups

Over the past two decades, a new pattern of work is emerging as the knowledge economy realizes the full potential of both new technologies and new organizational models. The changes fall into the following domains:

Cognitive competence

Social and interactive competence

The new “psychological contract” between employees and employers

Changes in process and place

Increased complexity of work-Workers need to know more, not only to do their jobs and tasks, but also to work effectively with others on teams. Many knowledge-based tasks require sound analytical and judgment skills to carry out work that is more novel, extemporaneous, and context based, with few rules and structured ways of working. Although demand for high cognitive skills are especially prominent in professional, technical, and managerial jobs, even administrative tasks require more independent decision making and operational decision making.

Continuous competency development-Not only do workers need to keep their technology skills up to date, they need to be continuous learners in their knowledge fields and to also be more conversant with business strategy. Time to read and attend training classes is no longer a perquisite of only a few, it is essential for all workers.

Different ways of thinking-Rosabeth Kantor argues that cross-functional and cross boundary teams require “kaleidoscope thinking,” the ability to see alternative angles and perspectives and to create new patterns of thinking that propel innovation. Workers also need to be able to synthesize disparate ideas in order to make the cognitive leaps that underlie innovation

Social and Interactive Competence

In a 2001 report on the changing nature of work, the National Research Council called attention to the importance of relational and interactive aspects of work. As collaboration and collective activity become more prevalent, workers need well-developed social skills-what the report calls “emotional labor.”

Good social skills are necessary for:

Team work and collaboration-Conflict resolution and negotiation skills are essential to collaborative work. Conflicts often occur about group goals, work methods, assignments, workloads, and recognition. Team members with good conflict and negotiation skills are better equipped to deal openly with problems, to listen and understand different perspectives, and to resolve issues in mutually beneficial ways.

Relationship development and networking-Sharing important information, fulfilling promises, willingness to be influenced, and listening are building blocks of reciprocity and the development of trust. When workers trust one another, they are more committed to attaining mutual goals, more likely to help one another through difficulties, and more willing to share and develop new ideas.

Learning and growth-Many organizations strive to be learning centers-to create conditions in which employees learn not only through formal training but through relationships with coworkers. Learning relationships build on joint problem solving, insight sharing, learning from mistakes, and working closely together to aid transmission of tacit knowledge. Learning also develops from mentoring relationships between newcomers and those with experience and organizational know-how.

C.The New Psychological Contract

As work changes, so does the nature of the relationships between employees and employers. In the new work context, the informal, “psychological contract” between workers and employers-what each expects of the other-focuses on competency development, continuous training, and work/life balance. In contrast, the old psychological contract was all about job security and steady advancement within the firm. As already discussed, few workers expect, or desire, lifelong employment in a single firm.

As job security declines, many management scientists see clouds on the horizon, including:

Corporate indifference-Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin, in The Support Economy, describe a new individualism among U.S. workers. These new individuals are invested in “psychological self determination.” They desire participation, expression, identity, and quality of life-all values which are espoused by organizations, but largely ignored in practice as organizations continue to focus on reducing fixed labor costs.

Reduced loyalty and commitment-With little expectation for advancement, workers feel less committed to organizational goals and more committed to their own learning and development. The knowledge and technological skills that employees bring with them to the workplace are transportable and are not lost when a new job is taken.

Increased time burdens-Years of downsizing and outsourcing have produced what Lesie Perlow calls a “time famine”-the feeling of having too much to do and too little time to do it. In order to keep up with workloads, many workers are spending longer hours at work, according to reports by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Center for Workforce Development.

Flexible work arrangements do not keep up with employee preferences-The Work Trends 2000 report found that 74% of workers were not allowed flexible hours and work arrangements (such as telecommuting). Those with flex hours have limited freedom regarding when and where to work. The vast majority of workers have to commit to a specific day to work at home or a specific day to take off if they work four10-hour days.

D. The Changing Workplace

The changing workplace is driven by the organizational issues described above and enabled by technologies that support mobility and easy access to information. These pressures and opportunities, however, have not resulted in a specific new workplace model. Many models and ideas exist concurrently, with designs depending upon the organization, its work practices, culture, and customers. Table 1 highlights key drivers, solutions, and potential issues raised by the solution.

Table 1. Drivers, Solutions, and Issues for the Changing Workplace

Drivers

Workplace and technology solutions

Issues and concerns

Increased use of teams and cross unit work; more pressure for communication and information flow

More meeting space

Greater variety of meeting spaces (open & enclosed, large & small)

Smaller individual workspaces

More open individual workspaces

Unassigned workspaces

Greater interior visibility to support awareness

Mobile supports (phones, laptops, PDAs, wireless)

Personal video, instant messaging, desktop team software

More use of project rooms

Displayed information and work progress

Small rooms for individual focus

Lockers for personal belongings

Increased noise

Increased distractions and interruptions

Potential for “over communicating”

Cultural barriers to behavioral change

Individuals working longer hours to compensate for lack of time to do individual tasks

Expectations that workers are always available

Greater use of dispersed work groups-often global

Increased use of video conferencing, computer-based team tools

More reliance on conference calls

Greater need for mobile technological supports for meeting rooms

Use of facilities beyond normal working hours

Expansion of the workday to accommodate geographically dispersed team meetings

Loss of opportunity to develop trust through face to face interaction

More difficulty managing and coordinating

Very high dependence on technological reliability

Continual reorganization and restructuring

Flexible infrastructure to support rapid reconfiguration

Mobile furnishings

Acoustical problems with loss of good enclosure

Potential for reduced ergonomic effectiveness

Reduced costs/more efficient space use

Shared or unassigned workspaces

Centralized filing system

Reduced workstation size and increased overall densities

Greater overall spatial variety to enable different kinds of work to be accommodated at same time

Increased distractions and interruptions

Increased noise

May meet with employee resistance

More difficult for paper intensive work

Improved quality of work life and attraction of new workers

More equitable access to daylight, views, and other amenities

More equitable spatial allocation and workspace features

Amenities for stress reduction and quiet relaxation

Resistance from those who support hierarchical space allocation