Chapter 16, Problem 14CR

Summary Introduction

Case Summary:

With changes in the organizational culture, organizations becoming more flatter, creativity and flexibility are given more importance. To foster these, the office allocations are also changing from traditional to open, activity-based allocations. Though these encourage conversations, discussions, more creativity, they also create problems of privacy, lack of consistency.

Characters in the case:

Psychology writer Maria Konnikova and Design expert Louis Lhoest are cited here.

Gerson Lehman Group, is mentioned in the passage

Adequate Information:

The open office plan has become a mainstay of the business.In the activity-based system, employees have access to cubicle spaces for privacy, conference rooms for meetings and full open office environments. Open office decrease sense of privacy, reduce the feeling of owning the space and creates a distracting level of background stimulation.

To Determine:

Whether the effects of new office design could be assessed objectively. To determine how could we measure if the new office designs are improving the organizational culture.