Contract - March 2010 - (Page 70)

essay: of the future perhaps the most difficult question of all: If we didnâ€™t have offices as we know them today, what (if anything) would we invent? Perhaps needless to say, as the office goes, so goes office design. The birth of the virtual office For the first time in history, officingâ€”undertaking the intellectual work that is necessary to meet a commonly agreed upon set of organizational goals and objectivesâ€”can take place with total independence of time and space, something that was impossible before the development of modern telecommunication and transportation technology. This doesnâ€™t necessarily mean, of course, that future generations of middle managers will find themselves working out of â€œelectronic cottagesâ€ rather than traditional office buildingsâ€”although that possibility certainly exists. What it does mean, however, is that management can, if it chooses, begin to free itself from traditional concerns like constructing corporate headquarters buildings and focus, instead, on two much more critical issues: â€¢ Managing organizational knowledge. â€¢ Managing variables that impact the efficiency of organization-level information processing. This, in turn, will require management to pay much more attention than it does today to the question of how and where people work best. If our goal is to take fullest advantage of our intellectual resourcesâ€¦we can no longer afford to adopt a monolithic approach to the office. We can no longer afford to constrain our most valuable assetâ€”the human mindâ€”by force fitting it into what amounts to an anachronistic straightjacket called â€œthe office,â€ no matter how pleasant and well-planned that office may be, and no matter how many design awards it may have won. We have to find ways to exploit the fact that not only do we often do our best intellectual work at strange times and in strange places (and sometimes even in strange company), but that the mind â€œworksâ€ 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for as long as we live. And herein lies both the riskâ€”and the opportunityâ€”for the design profession: management has no one else to turn to help them meet this challenge. For years, the behavioral sciences have been viewed with skepticism (if not outright derision) by top management. Perhaps this skepticism is deserved, perhaps it is not. Nevertheless, the officeâ€”whatever form it eventually takesâ€”has been and will forever remain a behavioral rather than a technical phenomenon. Thus, management will need designers who understand how to create and manage the creation of knowledge systemsâ€”information processing megasystems that are, themselves, comprised of individual information processing systems we call people. This will require: â€¢ An in-depth understanding of the process of human information processing and, of equal importance, an in-depth understanding of the role that technology can and should play in this regard, whether we are talking about computers or buildingsâ€”an expertise that doesnâ€™t exist in most organizations today. â€¢ An amalgam of what are now viewed as distinct disciplinesâ€”architecture (and, in particular, interior architecture), the cognitive sciences, sociology, information systems, and probably a number of others. â€¢ The ability to design seamless infrastructures of technology (including, of course, facilities) that support officing whenever, wherever, and in whatever form it requires to be effectiveâ€”at home, in the car, on an airplane, in a hotel, or even in a â€œtraditionalâ€ office setting. Obviously, this is not something that todayâ€™s designers are well-prepared to do, even if they wanted to. However, it is an issue that will confront the design profession head-on in the not too distant future. Why? Because this is not only an American problem. The issue of increased office productivityâ€”of intellectual competitivenessâ€”is on the minds of management in virtually all industrialized countries (and even in some countries like China that although not full industrialized, are keeping a weather eye to the future). As for the future of office design, the scenario cast here holds both risk and opportunity. The opportunity is evident. The risk, on the other hand, is that a totally new profession will emerge that will subsume much of what has traditionally been viewed as the purview of design. This is not as far-fetched as it might sound. Throughout history, lots of professions have come and gone, more often than not as a direct result of technological shifts like the one the world is now experiencing. And consider this: Japan has recently taken a keen interest in what they call â€œFMâ€â€”facility management. Only some Japanese companies have a rather interesting perspective on what this term encompassesâ€”everything from the design of a corporate logo to the management of a corporate culture. How does that old saying go? â€œForewarned is forearmed.â€ Duncan Sutherland is chairman of the Sutherland Group, Inc., Socio + Technical Systems Consultants, Reston, Va. He consults with corporations and governments in the United States and abroad on issues related to technology strategy and the development of innovative, technologically enabled approaches to improved office productivity. Prior to that, he was a vice president and director of officing for Houston-based CRS Sirrine Inc., where he continues as officing consultant. He is the author of a Japanese book on the future of the office, Officing: Bringing Amenities and Intelligence to Knowledge Work. 70 contract march 2010 www.contractdesign.com http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - March 2010

Contract 3/10
Contents
Editor’s Note
Introduction
Resources
Perspectives
Essays from the Past:
The Contract Design Dilemma (May 1962)
Space Planning Symposium (July 1963)
Changes in Workplaces Reflect Changes in Task Structure (June 1970)
Women Need Feminine Desks (June 1970)
Name “Interior Designer” Is a Misnomer Because of Broader Duties (August 1970)
Research Reveals Proper Height, Width, Depth of Furniture, from Office Chairs to Library Tables (September 1970)
Astounding Technology Portends Drastic Office Changes in the ’80s (January 1980)
Is the Office Really Necessary? (January 1989)
If You Cut Your Fee, Do You Bleed? (June 1990)
Design: Retrospective
Essays on the Future:
More Happiness, Less Stuff: By Ray C. Anderson
The Social Aspect of Social Responsibility: By John Cary
Leading in the Global Market: By Ross Donaldson
Technology Trends: By Cathryn Barrett
Inadmissible Evidence: By Michael Berens
Practice
Designers Rate: Eight Designers Pick Their Favorite Three Commercial Interiors Products of the Last 50 Years
Ad Index

Contract - March 2010