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Organization Development  Facilitating Participation in Physical Space Changes -- Employees - Members - Contractors & Architects

 

COLLABORATION IN MAKING SPACE CHANGES IN AN ORGANIZATION

Changing the physical space in the workplace, in the worship space of a religious community, or in a setting used by the public may generate struggles over values, the goals of the project, and the degree of influence various constituencies will have in the decision making process. Organizational leaders may find themselves holding onto so much control in the process that they end up feeding the emerging tensions. ODCT will work with you to:

  • Explore issues related to space use, such as, understanding the relationship of space to the organization’s purpose, core values, culture, and its impact on productivity in the organization’s primary task; the tension between serving the individual’s needs and the longer term needs of people and the organization; assumptions about space and rewards or status; etc.
  • Establishing a process for broad participation of employees or members that also takes into account the need for leaders to make critical decisions
  • Creating a shared vision for the project
  • Developing a pattern of open and timely communications

 

CREATING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE SPACE BETWEEN --  GENERAL CONTRACTORS, ARCHITECTS AND THEIR  CLIENTS  

The relationship among clients, contractors and architects is all too often characterized by suspicion, anxiety and confused communications. Our goal is to work with all the parties in shaping a partnership focused on the completion of the work at hand and characterized by reliability, responsiveness and shared expectations. ODCT can help that happen by assisting all the parties in establishing:

  • Clarity regarding the project – the vision, the goals; keeping the project mission and values driven
  • An understanding of each parties’ role in the project; seeing the project from the viewpoint of the other parties
  • An open flow of information; useful and timely communications
  • A decision making process that explores options and includes clear agreements
  • A spirit of collaboration and trust 

ODCT’s role is to:

  • facilitate the parties in developing structures, processes and a climate that help develop a constructive working relationship
  • assist the parties in monitoring their working relationship and assist that relationship to improve
  • working with the parties if disagreements arise in an attempt to facilitate a mutually satisfactory result

Resources  

"How organizational dynamics influence workplace  design and management" by Fritz Steele

What is the Organizational Learning Laboratory?

"Cool Offices"   by Ronald Lieber 

"Cubicles May Not Square with Workers' Needs" by Patricia Wen 3/9/00,  Boston Globe

"The Productive Workplace: How Design Increases Productivity", a whitepaper of ASID (American Society of Interior Designers)

Strategic Workplace Planning at Cornell

The New Workplace: Walls are falling as the ``office of the future'' finally takes shape

Book Review: Workplace by Design by Frank Becker and Fritz Steele

Review #1         Review #2         

"The problem is not that people cannot overcome their surroundings. We all do, in ways conscious and unconscious, with efforts large and small... We cope, but the cost can be high. Overcoming places that reduce our effectiveness and threaten our dignity always takes time and energy.

"Good facilities will not guarantee success, nor will poorly designed ones guarantee failure. The same can be said for management, employees, and equipment. By themselves, none of these elements of a business is enough to ensure success. They are all part of an integrated system, and to function effectively all the parts have to be in harmony. "

Excellence by Design : Transforming Workplace and Work Practice by Turid Horgen, et al

Creating Workplaces Where People Can Think by Phyl Smith, Lynn Kearny

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