Description
Although at present more than half of all employees work ‘in the office,’ work itself is leaving the office. Complete processes are electronically imaged and displayed while digital communication, Internet, mobile work, wireless communication and working from home are revolutionising our work environment.
Will we even need central offices in future? Where is the work if it takes place in a virtual dimension? How do we design our collaboration processes? When and where do we meet? How close is the contact between workers and customers? What balance can be achieved between work and private life? What will happen to management when the workers themselves take on more responsibility? And lastly, what influence does this have on our social surroundings, on the ties between members of a group, on identification with the enterprise and on creativity? These are the key questions of our time.
In the media, debate is primarily about the effects of technology on the consumer market. The picture they portray is characterised by examples like home banking, virtual travel agencies or the online sale of consumer goods. At the same time, corporate processes are undergoing fundamental changes, even if these are much less evident. In this connection, one speaks of e-business, the implementation of Internet technology for all organisational operations. The effects of communications technology on the functioning of enterprises are far greater than their significance in consumer business. The use of new technologies also affects the exchange of information and knowledge, marketing, purchasing, research and development, and in particular, the start-up of enterprises too (e.g. in the form of virtual enterprises), by means of which entire corporate processes are redefined. After organisations’ efforts over the years to build up internal information systems, the boundaries are now being displaced and external communication is being integrated into the processes. For almost all companies, this new external dimension is crucial for corporate goals and results, as it concerns customer contact, collaboration with external partners and the corporate profile.
What will the future of our economy look like, and what will it mean for corporate modes of work? There are different opinions about the answer to this question, but the general trend is clear.
Many enterprises are developing away from the traditional bureaucratic structures towards those in which staff work on projects flexibly and in changing teams. Increasingly, the focus is being placed on result-oriented working and entrepreneurial thinking on the part of each individual worker.
In their book, Net Worth – Shaping Markets When Customers Make the Rules, published in 1999, John Hagel and Marc Singer even went as far as to say that they are talking about a fundamental reorientation of corporate activities. Traditionally, a company consists of a production apparatus, a marketing apparatus and development activities – everything under one roof. These authors question this way of working. They see a development in which mega-enterprises are emerging on two fronts; on the one hand, on the production side, where the capital-intensive facilities of different enterprises are merged into huge, specialised production enterprises, and on the other, an increasing concentration of activities based on enormous customer databanks as seen in the marketing domain.
The third and most important principal activity, development, concerns almost all corporate processes, such as market development, product development, organisational development and personnel development. Most of today’s office tasks could already be described as development activities. Traditional operational office work is becoming increasingly replaced through technology, i.e. automated.
The development activities mentioned above are an increasingly critical factor in the success of an enterprise. They are strongly dependent on knowledge, creativity, collaboration and flexibility. However, large size is not necessarily an advantage for an enterprise, as it is precisely the small teams with changing membership that are essential for success. These teams are less and less restricted by the boundaries of an enterprise. Often they are multi-disciplinary and composed of internal and external workers. Undoubtedly some individuals are put in the limelight this way, for it is precisely the development activities that are very work-intensive and dependent on individual motivation, know-how and experience.
We are already seeing that many enterprises regard the acquisition and above all the development of the intellectual potential of their staff as one of their most strategically important activities. It has been recognised that the value of human capital in the knowledge economy is of much greater significance than physical capital.
Knowledge workers require new work styles. To these belong new office concepts. Our old work mentality (“working doggedly from nine to five”) appears to be outdated. We have to learn to work at the most suitable place on a particular day, i.e. at home, in the office or on the road, and at the same time we have to find a new balance between work and private life.
When the company server is connected to the Internet corporate information is accessible to everyone, at the office, at home, from airport lounges, Internet cafes or from any other site with an Internet connection. For a large project, for example, all those involved in different organisations could use a joint information platform on the joint server. It is interesting to see that the corporate strategies of enterprises like Sun, Cisco, Dell and Sony, familiar as they are with the new possibilities, focus on the Internet.
These developments lead to new opportunities and new challenges: Internet technology, part-time work, telework, temporary leave, flexible working conditions, the organisation of household work and new, more flexible pension regulations. For example, for a long time telework was only of limited importance. Today, however, we are seeing a breakthrough that cannot be rescinded.
Enterprises such as Sun Microsystems and The Vision Web have integrated telework in the corporate process. The Dutch Telewerkforum is doing intensive research in this area and expects that by the year 2006 circa one million Dutch people (about 15 percent of that part of the population which works in offices) will no longer work in an office but will do their work in other places. Workplace analyses already show that on average, less than 50% of unoccupied office workplaces remain empty due to holidays, business trips, meetings and illness.1 There are fewer and fewer people in offices.
We have to adjust our work processes to this new situation. The quantity of personal exchanges in the office will decrease; however, at the same time their quality must be radically improved.
It is advantageous that technology facilitates the necessary exchange of information and makes us less dependent on chance meetings and chance information in the office. This also enables more effective planning of the workday and better use of our valuable time.
The autonomy of individual workers and smaller teams is a crucial factor that leads to new modes of work, a different office culture and a new corporate work style. Flexible office concepts, mobile work and Internet foster these developments. Almost all large European organisations are becoming familiar with these issues. At the end of the eighties, the first experiments with new office concepts were taking place in Scandinavia. In particular, international IT concerns such as Ericsson and Digital demonstrated new approaches and put them into practice. Since 1996, we have been seeing further developments and concepts that have reached a remarkable degree of maturity in the Netherlands, the United States and Germany.
Enterprises like The Vision Web (Netherlands), dvg Datenverarbeitungsgesellschaft (Germany) and Sun Microsystems (USA) have transferred a great deal of responsibility to their workers. Teams have been directly motivated to adopt an entrepreneurial work style. The office has turned into a business club in which everyone works flexibly, without permanently assigned office workplaces.
In the “new work environment,” enterprises set more and more store on the social bond between workers, and they actively cultivate it. The office was formerly the social site where team spirit and shared identity played an important role. The new concepts manage these social components in a much more targeted fashion, as it is no longer the case that people will meet automatically, every day. Being together is now staged – brainstorming, seminars and workshops are pleasant and effective activities when they take place in business clubs instead of in office cells, and social events (that include families) create social bonds.
Many enterprises are changing to new modes of working and a new office culture. However, there are very few enterprises that achieve this changeover in an integral fashion, thus assuring their advancement. In the following, we will present three examples that we consider to be models: The Vision Web, dvg Datenverarbeitungsgesellschaft and Sun Microsystems.
The Vision Web (Delft, Netherlands)
This young IT consulting venture presents what is certainly one of the most extreme examples of new work modes. It was founded in 1995 by three partners who had previously gained their experience as top consultants in complex creative IT projects.
Their goal was not just to found yet another enterprise – they wanted to establish a very special structure that would entirely dispense with a fixed hierarchy. Their corporate vision is expressed in the motto “turning talent into profit.” Every staff member was to be an entrepreneur and acquire business for him/herself. For this reason, at the Vision Web, every individual is now responsible for acquiring new customers and new staff.
The Vision Web is an organisational network with many independent micro-enterprises that are responsible for their own corporate results. For all these small units, “The Vision Web” is the common platform over which information is exchanged and by means of which the social bond between the workers is fostered.
Instead of a conventional office the Vision Web staff use the “Grand Cafés”, comfortable meeting points
The philosophy of the Vision Web is that offices in the conventional sense are no longer needed. Everyone can work everywhere; all office processes are mirrored on the intranet in a way that supports collaboration and the exchange of knowledge. Every staff member who has an Internet connection at home, at the customer’s site or elsewhere, has access to all data. In consequence, the office, the headquarters of the enterprise, has lost its traditional role; instead it serves only as a meeting point. It becomes the site for communication, inspiration and identification, and should therefore be designed to be very attractive in order to support team spirit. The Vision Web has called these meeting points “Grand Cafés” and with them, has created places to which the workers like to come to converse with colleagues and business partners in a comfortable atmosphere.
The enterprise is very successful and is growing very quickly. Today approximately 600 staff members are organised into circa 40-50 micro-enterprises. There are three Grand Cafés in the Netherlands and international sites are now being planned in Australia, Spain and Germany.
One of the forerunners for new office concepts in Germany is the dvg Datenverabeitungsgesellschaft, one of the German savings banks finance group’s leading information technology service providers that introduced a business club concept for its new building in Hanover. In dvg’s new building, approximately 1800 employees work at 1350 workplaces, none of which are permanently assigned. The technical infrastructure is so flexibly designed that all workers can use all the workplaces in their team zones. This fosters teamwork and offers a variety of work modes, ranging from intensive teamwork in a project room to different modes of work in the lounge.
The main circulation axis crosses the inner courtyards of the dvg-building. It provides the opportunity for informal communication. The business centre contains meeting areas, espresso bar and secretaries’ offices
The dvg has assigned to each team a particular zone – the business club. The individual zones, of which there are 35 in the building, are of different sizes and provide space for circa 30 to 60 workers. In a business club, the following equipment is jointly used:
• the business centre, the communicative central exchange for the area with meeting rooms, an espresso bar and secretaries’ offices;
• the team centre with various forms of workplaces: open and closed, individual and group workplaces;
• the lounge for more different forms of work.
The dvg’s initial experience shows that in many places, internal communication and flexibility have much improved. According to Klaus-Peter Kubiak, CEO of the dvg Datenverarbeitungsgesellschaft, staff work more efficiently and the dvg is in a better position to serve its customers when it works as a team. In addition, 43 million Euro savings on investment costs, plus a further 10 million Euro in annual costs were achieved. The new concept requires that every worker be prepared to give up some habits and adapt him/herself to new modes of working. More openness and informal exchange are called for; staff have to learn to work with little paper. The new concept offers the optimum prerequisites for mobile working and telework.
Exemplary floor plan of a team centre at dvg
This example shows that re-thinking is worthwhile. If office work no longer automatically involves office buildings, desks and filing cabinets as it used to, it is the work modes, the corporate culture and information technology that are crucial for entrepreneurial success. The dvg’s board of directors, which is responsible for the new office concept, is very satisfied with the results to date. The business clubs offer an optimum infrastructure for open and flexible collaboration to the benefit of the customer. The concept is being continually optimised and is part of a long-term transformation process.
However, new concepts are only successful when they focus on collaboration between people. For this reason, in order to ensure success, it is important to involve the workers early in the development and introduction of new office concepts. The management also have to be active proponents, firmly supporting the new measures. For this reason, the management of dvg do not have specifically assigned desks, but only a business club in which the appropriate workplaces are sought out on a daily basis.
Sun Microsystems already has a lot of experience with new office concepts. Their staff work in flexible offices at more than twenty sites world-wide. The goal of the newest development – called “Network of Places” – is to create a network of flexible offices on many levels. The Central Office, the corporate communicative exchange, forms the topmost level. On the second level, there are regional satellite offices. Close to the customers and to the workforce’s places of residence, these offices offer the opportunity to meet with colleagues or to carry out project and teamwork. Finally, the home offices form the third level where every worker can carry out individual tasks according to need.
Sun has implemented the “Network of Places” in the Netherlands in an exemplary fashion. The organisation has Satellite Offices in Amsterdam and Den Haag, while the Central Office is in Amersfoort. The work mode is oriented towards creativity, productivity and a high degree of self-discipline and individual responsibility. We will present the principle of the Network of Places with the aid of a Sun employee’s typical working week.
Network of Places:
RHQ = Regional Headquarters or Central Office, S = Satellite Office, T = Home Office
On Monday, the “Sunner” works at home and thereby avoids the morning traffic jam, thus saving time. Information is exchanged with colleagues by e-mail, intranet and telephone. Afterwards, the day is very productive and the employee can concentrate on work because there are none of the interruptions typical of the office. The lunch break is spent with the family. On Tuesday, there is a meeting with two colleagues in the Satellite Office in Amsterdam. In the lounge, preparations are made to meet clients later in the day. Afterwards there will still be time to do some individual work at one of the cockpit workplaces designed specifically for this. On Wednesday, there is a team jour fixe at the central office. After all the team and departmental meetings, the Sunner meets the international members of his or her virtual team in a video conference. At the end, there is a brainstorming meeting and at the close of the day, a social get-together at the Grand Café in the Central Office. On Thursday, our Sunner takes a day off and on Friday, participates in a meeting with a client at the Central Office and in another meeting with his or her own team. The Sunner uses the remaining time between the meetings for individual work. On Saturday morning, he or she logs into the network remotely from home and in a relaxed atmosphere, works on a few mails that could not be attended to during the week.
Central Office (RHQ) Amersfoort, Sun Microsystems
The Central Office in Amersfoort therefore plays an important role without the necessity of workers having to be there all the time. In addition to formal and informal meeting rooms, customer areas, Business Partner Lounges and the Grand Café, there are also some offices. Each one has space for about 50 workers and a very quiet team zone for departmental work, a more dynamic project zone and an informal and communicative “Plaza” with a bar so that the workday can be organised in a varied fashion. Even the restaurant is equipped to be multifunctional, and thanks to network connections, it offers the opportunity to work in a comfortable atmosphere.
Satellite Office (S) Rijswijk, Sun Microsystems
Sun has a presence in more than 170 countries world-wide and therefore became experienced early on in creating virtual teams whose members work together without regard to geographical separation and who exchange their knowledge over the Internet. Because of the increasing reliance on modern technology, more and more lounges, Grand Cafés and informal meeting points are replacing conventional offices in today’s work environments. The office is no longer solely the place where one works, instead it is also the social heart of the organisation.
One can learn a lot from the experience of these pioneers about the introduction of new office concepts. In conclusion, we would like to stress two aspects that have a crucial influence on success: conviction and commitment. It has been shown that an enterprise has to focus intensively on the advantages and disadvantages of such a re-orientation, particularly in the early phases. For this it is necessary to visit reference projects and to get an impression of the possible developments and changes. Furthermore, it is important that the management is clear about positioning and its vision for the future of the enterprise, so that a conscious decision can be made on the specific goals of the concept that is going to be introduced and the point in time at which the project is going to be started. Setbacks are to be expected during a development project, and some doubt will manifest itself in the workers’ ranks. It is extremely important that the management show steadfastness and conviction, for a new office culture can only be successfully introduced with their support.
A second very important aspect is the involvement of workers throughout the course of the project. Success stands and falls with the motivation and enthusiasm of all those involved. If the workers are involved early on, each of them has the opportunity to prepare for the changes. Workshops are a good means of exchanging information, discussing problems and motivating skeptics. In focus groups, the commitment of the workers can be further exploited by getting them to develop solutions, whether it is in the development of office design, IT or even the management style. Worker commitment is the prerequisite for a lasting result.
In his article, “Being Virtual, Character and the New Economy,” (Harvard Business Review, 5/6 1999) Nicholas G. Carr deals with the individual’s position in the changing environment. The introduction of the article shows very clearly how many people are experiencing this change in their work environment:
“Every day we are told that companies need to be flexible, adaptable, agile. Faced with impatient investors, capricious customers, and unpredictable competitors, they have to be in a constant state of regeneration, shucking off old strategies and structures, shedding old products, developing new skills. In the new economy, any business that stands still is finished. We are also told that all of us who work in business – whether as executives on the top floor or as clerks on the sales floor – have to embrace the turbulence. We have to go with the flow, slipping from assignment to assignment, from team to team, from company to company, without ever hesitating or looking back. And we have to take charge of our careers, reinventing ourselves as free agents, or ‘e-lancers’.
These changes can all sound exhilarating. But, if truth be told, they can all seem distant as well. For most of us, the freewheeling new economy remains more theory than fact. We read about companies that have turned themselves inside out, but when we arrive at our own places of work every morning, our jobs look pretty much the way they did when we left them the evening before. We sit at the same desk or stand at the same machines. We use the same skills to do the same tasks for the same bosses. Our companies sell the same sorts of things to the same sorts of customers in the same sorts of ways. We may hear slogans about empowerment and change, but the old hierarchies still look fairly solid, and commands and rewards still flow down well-worn channels.”
This description still corresponds to reality in many places around us. The trick is to break out of this mold. At the beginning of the nineties, Lisa Joronen, CEO of the Finnish company Sol Services, was able to transform her traditionally managed enterprise very rapidly into one of the most progressive enterprises of our time with the motto “kill the routine, before it kills you.” Even today, visitors still travel great distances to see for themselves that at Sol, every worker is responsible for the results of his or her work, and the work atmosphere is the only thing that counts.
Internal Links
Originally published in: Rainer Hascher, Simone Jeska, Birgit Klauck, Office Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2002.