Generation Y and the Workplace Annual Report 2010 - Haworth

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Photographer: Oriane Pesquier
Global WorkPlace Innovation
Behind Creativity & Productivity
Results:
One of the least understood implications of
the shift from an industrial to a service-based
design and knowledge economy is that the
physical workplace is becoming a key resource
in leveraging conversations, social learning,
collaboration and contemplation. Architects,
facilities managers, and furniture suppliers are
leading the charge in recognising that workplace
design influences performance. Strategic HR is
beginning to understand the role of the workplace
and workplace design in new ways of working 39 .
We all know from personal experience that
the quality of air and lighting in a workplace
can influence productivity. As the need for
effectiveness in complex social interactions
replaces the efficiency demands of routine
work, the psycho-social aspects of the working
environment become significant in influencing
productivity. Layout of primary spaces,
provision of common areas, and meeting and
learning spaces mediate our ability to interact
with colleagues in a visually and emotionally
stimulating environment 40&41 .
Measuring productivity is notoriously challenging.
Isolating the contribution of workplace design
characteristics from other elements of productivity
is not easy. There are suggestions that ‘knowledge
and understanding of productivity and workplace
design is its infancy’. Even so, there is accumulating
evidence that workplace design impacts positively
on workforce performance 42 .
Copyright © 2010, Johnson Controls. Confidential. All Rights Reserved.
Intellectual Property Johnson Controls, Haworth and iDEA.
What is productivity and how does it differ from
performance? There is twenty years of research on
high-performance work systems centred around
organisational structures, systems and processes,
which all function together to create environments
that energise workforce competence 33&34 . This is
consistent with CEO responses in recent global
surveys. They said that business model innovation,
creating organisational capabilities to engage
in strategic partnerships and collaboration, and
availability of talented people are top priorities for
them in these difficult business conditions 45 .
The physical workplace is now a crucial additional
component to the high-performance work mix.
Environments for generating human capital are
created by job design, support for continuous
learning, challenging and meaningful work, and fair
reward. We have already noted that workplace design
can shape and influence work flows through layout
and spaces for different work modes. Organisational
sub-cultures can be so deeply engrained that colocation
does not prevent silo behaviour. Job design,
specifying joint responsibilities across cultural
boundaries, can be used to augment workplace
design to encourage collaboration.
According to the respondents, creativity in the
workplace is triggered mostly by the individuals
around you and your surrounding area, the
workplace and its ambiance and atmosphere. The
technology support is also nowadays essential and
becomes the third most important ingredient in
the recipe of creativity at work.
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