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MANAGING WORKSPACE CHANGE

MANAGING WORKSPACE CHANGE. Jacqueline C. Vischer PhD Professeure émérite Faculté de l’aménagement Université de Montréal. Academy of Management – Montreal, August 2010. Why change workspace?. Size and/or cost issues New tools and technology Organisational restructuring

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MANAGING WORKSPACE CHANGE

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  1. MANAGING WORKSPACE CHANGE Jacqueline C. Vischer PhD Professeure émérite Faculté de l’aménagement Université de Montréal Academy of Management – Montreal, August 2010

  2. Why change workspace? • Size and/or cost issues • New tools and technology • Organisational restructuring • Change organisational culture • Take advantage of the New Workspace Opportunity

  3. New Workspace Opportunity From: Vischer, J.C. 2007 Space Meets Status: Designing Workplace Performance Routledge

  4. Resistance to change Fear!!! • Fear of the unknown • Fear of innovation • Fear of losing the familiar • Fear of losing ground • Fear of conflict

  5. Workspace Comfort overcomes Fear Psychological comfort Functional Comfort Physical Comfort HABITABILITY THRESHOLD

  6. PHYSICAL 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 FUNCTIONAL COMFORT

  7. Psychological comfort = territory • Own (occupy) • Defend • Mark (identify) • Possess (control access) • Sense of belonging • Personalization

  8. Components of office territoriality • Space privacy • Work confidentiality • Job status • Sense of history / longevity • Personal control • physical controls • empowerment / ownership

  9. Workspace change creates territorial conflicts … • Fear of loss • Mistrust of superiors • Leaders or champions? • Change is too radical • No explicit process • Costs too much • Need for new learning

  10. Managing conflict in workspace transformation • Manage user involvement • Take advantage of the New Workspace Opportunity • Reduce fear, increase functional comfort • Increase workspace effectiveness through environmental empowerment

  11. 7 principles of transforming workspace: • Transformation as imperative • Play out the process • Embrace conflict • Avoid the default • Not a zero sum game • Empowerment is key • Change is positive

  12. 1. Transformation as imperative • 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.

  13. 2. Play out the process • 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

  14. 3. Embrace conflict • 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.

  15. 4. Avoid the default • 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.

  16. 5. Not a zero sum game • 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.

  17. 6. Empowerment is key • 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.

  18. 7. Change is positive • 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.

  19. WELL-MANAGED WORKSPACE CHANGE energy out COMFORT STRESS energy in From: Vischer, J.C. 2007 Space Meets Status: Designing Workplace Performance Routledge

  20. Thank-you! Please contact us: Jacqueline C. Vischer Jacqueline.vischer@umontreal.ca Our website: www.gret.umontreal.ca

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