Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The physical structure and appearance of the workplace determine how we function, how we communicate and collaborate, our motivation levels and company performance, but we often fail to recognize the vital connection between organizational culture and the work environment. Based on the authors' first-hand experience of major change programmes, on studies of offices around the world, and on design management research at De Montfort University, Leicester, this book explains the underlying principles of office design and its effects on cultural change and performance. Part 1 analyses the context and environment of working life, the drivers of change and the barriers - organizational, psychological and structural - to better working practices. Part 2 explores how traditional structures can be rethought and adapted through the reorganization of the workplace and the removal of physical barriers to change. It identifies four typical and disturbingly familiar work environments - Monolith, Makeshift, Modernizer and Mould-Breaker - to help companies understand their current problems and how to solve them. Part 3 introduces six proven workplace layouts: Town Square, Village Neighbourhood, City in Miniature, Space-time Machine, The Campaign Room and the Club; and explains their relative benefits for companies' different needs. These are brought to life with international case studies from the public and private sector which describe how leading organizations have benefited from improved working environments. New Workspace, New Culture is illustrated by the Financial Times cartoonist, Roger Beale. It also includes line drawings of office layouts, and photographs of some of the most productive working environments in the world. This book will help senior management and human resource specialists develop the way people work by changing the working environment. Also, designers, architects, and facility and property managers will find it a perceptive and logical guide to wha

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part 1 Reviewing the context (p. 4)
• 1 The change we face (p. 6)
• A new social order at work
• A generational catalyst
• Finding the right solutions
• 2 Adapting to survive (p. 10)
• Power and control
• The human element
• At home at the office
• Looking for the right models
• A problem of attitudes
• 3 Making the link (p. 15)
• Formal structure of office buildings
• Staff involvement and scale
• The paradigm shifters
• Social re-engineering
• Comfort zones
• 4 An unholy alliance (p. 20)
• Work ethic and aesthetic
• Giant pieces of engineering
• 5 Searching for panaceas (p. 24)
• Change and uncertainty
• Sociological fashion
• The classroom metaphor
• Organizational self-confidence
• 6 Real lives (p. 29)
• Behind the hype
• Business processes
• Diverse individuals
• The non-territorial workplace
• Ubiquitous technology
• Rates of shift
• 7 Who needs bureaucrats? (p. 36)
• The cost-cutting agenda
• Defensive management style
• Command, control and responsibility
• Security and secretiveness
• 8 Prising open government (p. 41)
• The real world
• Improving the environment
• 9 The nature of the challenge (p. 45)
• Part 2 Rethinking the culture (p. 46)
• 10 Monolith, Makeshift, Modernizer or Mould-Breaker? (p. 48)
• 1 The Monolith
• 2 The Makeshift
• 3 The Modernizer
• 4 The Mould-Breaker
• 11 Human barriers to progress (p. 55)
• Senior management attitudes
• Risking change
• A lighter touch
• Opening up
• Networking
• Ambiguity in decision-making
• Learning to trust
• 12 Structural barriers to progress (p. 61)
• Costly corporate structures
• Diseconomies of scale
• Complexity and inflexibility
• Electronic communication
• Formal meetings
• Cross-disciplinary collaboration
• Risk-taking
• Beware quality systems
• Bureaucracy and environment
• 13 New ways to work (p. 68)
• The participative environment
• Comfort and efficiency
• Understanding productive space
• Territoriality and mobility
• Autonomy and interaction
• Converted industrial spaces
• 14 Responding to the challenge (p. 76)
• Part 3 Redesigning the environment (p. 78)
• 15 Plotting your moves (p. 80)
• 16 Town square (p. 84)
• Procter and Gamble, Ogilvy and Mather HMSO, Union Bank of Norway, SOL
• 17 Village neighbourhoods (p. 90)
• MTV, PolyGram, Ministry of Defence Babcock and Brown
• 18 City in miniature (p. 97)
• Chiat/Day, Nickelodeon, Scottish Office, SAS, BA Waterside
• 19 The space-time machine (p. 104)
• Andersen Consulting, Coopers and Lybrand, BA Compass Centre
• 20 The campaign room (p. 110)
• Michaelides and Bednash, Sir Norman Foster and Partners, Pentagram, Dyson Appliances
• 21 Welcome to the club (p. 116)
• Steelcase, Cable and Wireless, Chiat/Day St Luke's
• 22 Managing change (p. 121)
• References and bibliography (p. 123)
• Index (p. 126)