Ok, I'm trying to be short, not rude...
But this research effort reminds me of
some age old stuff of the 60s or so, when
they decided, that the colour of the
walls would help the productivity
of the workers... Cutting the boringness
and team work would also for carworkers...
Open vs closed spaces...
No revolution here: when the shareprice drops
the unit closes down and the employee that
perhaps was lucky enough to have a few
experimental years of pampering, gets sacked.
I've just received a post about your
"knowledge workers" (if you mean computer specialists)
being the slaves of the future...
If you mean others by this, we just had a thread
about the downgrading of academic work,
whether in the "hard" or "soft" disciplines.
I'd prefer to concentrate on a bit
more revolutionary aspects
of the workplace...
we could play with the thought
how we picture a truly democratic workplace,
but I don't think that your project superwisors
and founders are really interested in that...
Eva
> First thanks to everyone for the comments that are worthy of more thought
> and research.
> _______________________________________________________________________
> An Introduction: My name is Deborah Middleton currently I am a graduate
> sudent at York Univeristy in the Faculty of Environmental Studies.
>
> In my previous life I have been an Interior Architect constructing
> alternative work environments for corporations such as The Bank of
> Montreal, Nortel (I was responsible for the alternative work environments
> at the new HQ in Brampton). Over the past five years I have been mapping
> the emergence of collaborative work and the role of the physical work
> environment in enabling knowledge sharing, creativity and learning.
> I am currently a member of a research groun working to understand the
> emergence of these informal work practices that we are defining as
> softwork.
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Perhaps sustainability is not the right word and perhaps another would be
> better suited to the exercise of constructing a definition of the
> individuals context in knowledge based industries. But sustainability
> is where some of my ideas are at in this point of my work (word
> smithing). Other suggestions are most welcome.
>
> The application is to answer the following question in my research
> proposal.
>
>
> "What is the capacity for the individual within the knowledge based
> corporation, to redirect and influence organizational change towards
> sustainable business practices (social and environmental)?"
>
>
> The demand for knowledge workers far out runs the supply, this I believe
> has resulted in a shift in business focus on recruitment and retention of
> employees. And thus a possible shift in power between the corporation and
> the individual (freeagent), where the individual for the first time is in
> a more powerful position to choose who to work for and under what
> conditions and to what ends.
>
> This is one of the driving reasons that workplaces are transforming to
> become more comfortable and creative places (recruitment appeal). They
> are also seen as providing comfort for the obsesive work that goes on in
> places such as Microsoft. There is an interesting demographic and
> cultural component at play also that is reconstructing acceptable norms of
> social behavior.
>
> The role of the values of the individual is also shaping their view on
> work. I am finding that a backlash against the traditional corporation,
> heirarchy, status and the conditions of white collar work is happening.
> And not only within startup young entrepreneurial companies but in places
> such as the Royal Bank of Canada (ie. The Royal Bank Growth Co.) Is this a
> possible opportunity for the emergence of a movement to change how we
> work. I believe that it is just this.
>
> One just has to browse through FastCompany to find examples of the shifts
> taking place.
>
> Deborah
>
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