Academy of Management – Montreal, August 2010

Jacqueline C. Vischer PhDProfesseure émérite

Faculté de l’aménagementUniversité de Montréal

1. Size and/or cost issues2. New tools and technology3. Organisational restructuring4. Change organisational culture5. Take advantage of the New Workspace

Opportunity

From: Vischer, J.C. 2007 Space Meets Status: Designing Workplace Performance Routledge

Fear of the unknown

Fear of innovation Fear of losing the

familiar Fear of losing

ground Fear of conflict

Psychological comfort

Functional Comfort

Physical Comfort

HABITABILITY THRESHOLD

FUNCTIONAL COMFORT

Health and Safety Building codes and

standards Basic utility – Habitability threshold

Workspace supports work

Indoor air quality and thermal comfort

Lighting and daylighting

Spatial layouts and privacy

Human and building noise control

PHYSICAL COMFORT

Own (occupy)

Defend

Mark (identify)

Possess (control access)

Sense of belonging

Personalization

•Space privacy

•Work confidentiality

•Job status

•Sense of history / longevity

•Personal control

•physical controls

•empowerment / ownership

1. Fear of loss2. Mistrust of superiors3. Leaders or champions?4. Change is too radical5. No explicit process6. Costs too much7. Need for new learning

1. Manage user involvement2. Take advantage of the New

Workspace Opportunity3. Reduce fear, increase functional

comfort4. Increase workspace effectiveness

through environmental empowerment

1. Transformation as imperative2. Play out the process3. Embrace conflict4. Avoid the default5. Not a zero sum game6. Empowerment is key7. Change is positive

Stakeholders need to recognize and work with workspace design as a tool for change by being responsive to the opportunity offered by the new workspace imperative.

Not all stakeholders will want workspace change, or tolerate the same degree of innovation; the process must take its course

Note that stakeholders are senior managers, middle managers, employees, facilities staff, design consultants

Conflicts are inevitable, they arise out of fear. Steps need to be taken to manage constructively the energy released by conflict, to the advantage of the change process.

The default position in space-related decision-making is what already exists and what everybody already knows (the tried and true) – except that it is a reversion to ‘no-change’ and not a step forward.

For everything taken away from occupants when their workspace is changed, something must be given back; any loss of that which is familiar is immediate, whereas gains sometimes need time to be felt.

It is important to empower users so that they invest in workspace decisions. The strategic approach to users’ involvement is explicitly designed to fit the project and organisational context.

New workspace implies a new social order, new business processes, even new behaviour and cultural norms. These must be addressed explicitly during the change management process.

COMFORT

WELL-MANAGED WORKSPACE CHANGE

STRESS

From: Vischer, J.C. 2007 Space Meets Status: Designing Workplace Performance Routledge

Please contact us:Jacqueline C. VischerJacqueline.vischer@umontreal.ca

Our website:www.gret.umontreal.ca

Please contact us:Jacqueline C. VischerJacqueline.vischer@umontreal.ca

Our website:www.gret.umontreal.ca