Excellence by design: Transforming workplace and work practice
| Type | Book, Whole |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Horgen,T. H. , Joroff,M. L. , Porter,W. L. , SchÖn,D. A. |
| Publication year | 1999 |
| Notes | ID: HORGEN1999; The link between organisational culture and the effectiveness or otherwise of less traditional workplace designs is an emerging field in the literature (Turner and Myerson, 1998; Burnes, 1999; Cairns, 1999; Ward and Holtham, 2000; Ward 2000). This important book by the MIT SPORG team makes more explicit the overlapping roles of the workplace designer and 'process' (in the sense of interpersonal dynamics rather than business process) introducing what they term process architecture: a term which, for this reviewer at least, captures the challenge for the facilities design consultant of the future. Another coined term - the design game, is used to describe the political competition of $"interests, freedoms and powers that is endemic to work-place making". $The successful process architect must engage with what others (Scott-Morgan, 1994; Price and Shaw; 1998) have termed the unwritten rules of the organisation. Case studies are used to demonstrate, in one case the emergence of cost-overruns and building dysfunctionality due to the influence of powerful actors seeking a 'memorial' building and in another the failure of an organisation seeking to implement a particapatory environment in an authoritarian culture. A consultant whose conception of technical-rational expertise is descibed as leaving him $"no room for politics as a topic of professional attention"$ is described as floundering in an environment where they were about as useful as moving wickets. In one sense the book is short of data on the impact of new workplace intiatives, indeed the authors would perhaps say that the subject was beyond what they were trying to achieve. The largest single case, reconfiguration of a Rank Xerox research laboratory to encourage more spontaneous communication does however highlight some metrics. Five out of eight available awards for outstanding performance went to individuals in this particular laboratory. It was also credited with producing three times the patent output of larger compatitors and shortening a time to market of a new product from an anticipated 5 years to 18 months.$$ $$ |
| Start page | 1 |
| End page | 304 |
| Relevance to practice | High |
| Ease of application | Probably low for many professionals |
| Stage of application | Design |
| Evidence base | Moderate in terms of performance, High for design process |
| Readability | High |
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