When you walk into an office, you enter the mind of an organization. A majority of corporate office spaces across the country show a similar core configuration: a spread of open or semi-enclosed cubicles in the centre of a large space, with enclosed cabins for senior staff along the peripheries. Very often, this floor plan is repeated on a number of floors, each almost exactly like the other.
Does this mean that all organizations (and teams) that share this arrangement share the same work culture and work process? Unlikely. Common sense suggests that start-ups work differently from entrenched global majors, whose work styles are likely to be very different from firms experiencing intense growing pains.
The “fit” between the arrangement of an office space and the work culture of the organization is, therefore, critical to the work process. It is well known that workplace environments have a significant impact on productivity and could also be linked to employee turnover. It is, hence, logical to expect that human resources (HR) concerns—apart from those to do with operations—would always be at the centre of the office design process. One would, therefore, also expect HR managers to be part of a tight core group that drives a design along with the architect or interior designer. The rationale, however, does not always translate into reality.
Suresh Menon, director, Advanced Infovision Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, feels that the majority of office-design projects tend to be run by administration heads after top management sets out the basic goals. He is convinced that the specific choices and details of office design have significant HR implications. “Today’s incoming employee is not quick to put down roots in any organization, being always open to a better deal outside. If the office environment does not inspire a sense of belonging, it only makes it easier for him or her to leave,” he says.
Of course, HR may not always be able to give a rich enough brief to the architect. In most cases, this would translate into an office space that is not tailored to the organization’s specific needs.
However, sometimes, as at the 150,000-sq. ft software campus for ValueLabs at Hyderabad, the architect or designer may himself propose a concept that also makes great HR sense.
“At the centre of the design process for this project was a concern for a sense of community that a workplace must build,” says Prem Chandavarkar of Chandavarkar and Thacker Architects Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore, popularly known as CnT, who designed the ValueLabs campus. “The sense of community is crucial to building an organizational culture.”
http://www.livemint.com/2007/06/14000039/Community-space-Work-experien.html
Does this mean that all organizations (and teams) that share this arrangement share the same work culture and work process? Unlikely. Common sense suggests that start-ups work differently from entrenched global majors, whose work styles are likely to be very different from firms experiencing intense growing pains.
The “fit” between the arrangement of an office space and the work culture of the organization is, therefore, critical to the work process. It is well known that workplace environments have a significant impact on productivity and could also be linked to employee turnover. It is, hence, logical to expect that human resources (HR) concerns—apart from those to do with operations—would always be at the centre of the office design process. One would, therefore, also expect HR managers to be part of a tight core group that drives a design along with the architect or interior designer. The rationale, however, does not always translate into reality.
Suresh Menon, director, Advanced Infovision Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, feels that the majority of office-design projects tend to be run by administration heads after top management sets out the basic goals. He is convinced that the specific choices and details of office design have significant HR implications. “Today’s incoming employee is not quick to put down roots in any organization, being always open to a better deal outside. If the office environment does not inspire a sense of belonging, it only makes it easier for him or her to leave,” he says.
Of course, HR may not always be able to give a rich enough brief to the architect. In most cases, this would translate into an office space that is not tailored to the organization’s specific needs.
However, sometimes, as at the 150,000-sq. ft software campus for ValueLabs at Hyderabad, the architect or designer may himself propose a concept that also makes great HR sense.
“At the centre of the design process for this project was a concern for a sense of community that a workplace must build,” says Prem Chandavarkar of Chandavarkar and Thacker Architects Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore, popularly known as CnT, who designed the ValueLabs campus. “The sense of community is crucial to building an organizational culture.”
http://www.livemint.com/2007/06/14000039/Community-space-Work-experien.html