Initially, buildings were
considered to be an enclosure
for accommodating various functions. But, as space
contains various dimensions, such as: functional,
psychological, behavioral, physiological and syntactic, now, they are
considered, not only as accommodative, but also influencer of various behaviors
and functions. Office design is no longer considered as creation of a shell,
that accommodates various functions, but as a facilitator that enhances
and influences functions. Physical space elevated from being just an entity,
an enclosure, to a storyteller. And more and more increase in the
knowledge work and development of high-involvement organizations
increase the requirement of this storytelling. Thus, proper spatial
arrangement and design is of great importance for augmenting organizational
creativity and facilitating organizational development.
Human behavior in office building is of very complex nature. They
vary from planned to unplanned behavior, solo to group
behavior, social, psychological and job-related behavior. Co-presence,
co-awareness, interaction and functional requirements of the
job are affected by the spatial arrangement in an office
building. The growing relevance of space, as an essential artifact
of organizational culture and facilitator of functions, initiated
the need for Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) as
a management function. The main function of CREM is to align
the real estate portfolio with the requirements of the core
business process and thereby facilitate the core activity of the organization.
In 2000, the Groupe de Recherche sur les Environments
de Travail (New York Environment Research Group) came out with
a model (Figure 1), which shows that the positive effect on
employee morale and satisfaction is the sum total of physical, psychological
and functional comfort (ITP is Individual Task Performance
and CTW is Collaborative Team Work). |
