Workspace Strategies: Environment as a Tool for Work

✍ Scribed by Jacqueline C. Vischer PhD (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 252
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

We live in era of transformation--of technology, of social values, and of the way work is done. This book represents a timely and innovative ad­ dition to current thinking and writing about transformation in organiza­ tions. In order to meet an increasingly global and competitive environment, organizations are undergoing reengineering, work process redesign, "right sizing," creating a "virtual office," and other forms of restructur­ ing and basic change of the way work is accomplished. Such transfor­ mation means analyzing and redesigning core processes in organizations around new kinds of principles such as "total quality" and customer service. The eventual effect of these changes is likely to be the networked or "boundary-Iess" organization, in which the tradi­ tional boundaries between functions and between producers and their suppliers-and sometimes even between organizations and their com­ petitors-are broken down. The goal of such transformation is to make the work of the organization more efficient and productive-to produce more with fewer resources and at a lower cost. In the conventional view of the transformation process, certain sec­ ondary concerns, such as the need to protect the environment or to help an increasingly heterogeneous work force deal with its personal issues, are seen as problematic for this core thrust. Some recent work, however, is beginning to show that if these so-called secondary concerns are con­ sidered central, far from being problematic, they actually present strat­ egy opportunities for productive innovation and change.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xix
Corporate Excellence in Facilities: Why the Workplace is Important....Pages 1-24
Managing Environmental Quality: Current Trends in Office Occupancy....Pages 25-43
Using Occupancy Feedback: A Strategy for Managing Workspace Improvements....Pages 44-65
Building-In-Use Assessment: An Occupancy Feedback System....Pages 66-90
Building-In-Use Assessment of Building Systems: Air Quality, Thermal Comfort, and Building Noise Control....Pages 91-111
Building-In-Use Assessment of Planning and Design of Interior Space: Spatial Comfort, Privacy, and Office Noise Control....Pages 112-135
Building-In-Use Assessment of Lighting Comfort....Pages 136-151
Building Convenience and Building Amenities....Pages 152-163
Occupants’ Feedback as a Decision-Making Tool: Three Case Studies....Pages 164-187
The Politics of Occupants’ Feedback: Issues in Implementation....Pages 188-205
Optimizing Occupancy: Strategic Planning of the Organization-Accommodation Relationship....Pages 206-223
Back Matter....Pages 224-236

✦ Subjects

Science, general