Progressive Partitions: The Promises and Problems of the American Open Plan Office

Kaufmann-Buhler, Jennifer

doi:10.1080/17547075.2016.1189308

Cited by 12 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Open plan is a generic term that came into common parlance in the USA in the late 1960s and early 1970s, prefiguring the interest in flexibility and circulation associated with contemporary offices. It refers to a rough amalgamation of two office design concepts, one European and one North American (Kaufmann-Buhler, 2016). Bürolandschaft (‘office landscape’) was developed by the German Schnelle brothers in the 1950s for Quickborner in Hamburg, and arranged office furniture according to patterns of communication amongst workers, as opposed to rank (Abercrombie, 2001).…”

Section: Office Space: Understanding Technologies Through Their Workpmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significantly pre-existing the emphasis on flexibility in the present-day space as service model, these design concepts combined in open plan were challenges to the office orthodoxy in two ways. First, open plan was founded on the rejection of the organizational chart as a means to order office space and instead used ‘real patterns of communication’ as the basis for arrangement, moving away from a ‘top-down bureaucracy’ towards ‘a flat or “organic” system of interdependent elements’ (Kaufmann-Buhler, 2016: 212). The promotion of such ‘spatial flexibility’ by architects of offices in the 1960s and 1970s (Martin, 2003: 93), it should be noted, also worked to the advantage of office real estate developers who were able to cheaply construct buildings as empty shells to allow their flexible furnishing by the companies leasing them (Duffy, 1997).…”

Section: Office Space: Understanding Technologies Through Their Workpmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This new way of working also emphasized the value of giving certain workers (namely those not engaged in clerical tasks) greater responsibility and autonomy in work time and space. Despite these revolutionary possibilities, for many workers open plan paradoxically resulted in the standardization of office space through ‘the cubicle’ (Hunter, 2003; Saval, 2014); the cell-like partitions that became iconic in the USA for isolating workers despite initially being intended to positively support communication and reduce ambient office noise (Kaufmann-Buhler, 2016). Nonetheless, open plan did establish the decoupling of worker function from worker position in the office, and helped to integrate more mobile working practices into understandings of knowledge work that have been significant for the subsequent design of digital ICTs.…”

Section: Office Space: Understanding Technologies Through Their Workpmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coordinating office space: Digital technologies and the platformization of work

Richardson

2020

Environ Plan D

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Digital technologies enable the dispersal of office work from physical office buildings. The same technologies involve a counter tendency of concentration where offices are shared by different businesses, often for short periods, via the ‘space as service’ model. These opposing tendencies of workspace dispersal and concentration indicate the contingencies of technologies of work, in which their operations are mutually shaped by workplaces. Understanding what a technology of work is requires examining its situated actions and spaces of activity, like the office. Yet, the spatial characteristics of the present-day office demonstrate that ‘situatedness’ is by no means a straightforward vehicle for understanding contemporary technologies of work. Digital technologies tend less to divide space according to a specific function (i.e. work–life division), and more to create spaces of coordination that can adjust the definition of purposeful activity. Such spaces of coordination constitute the platformization of work with digital technologies in which spatial and temporal processes for instituting work extend beyond a single organization. Including but exceeding the ‘gig economy’ and ‘platform labour’, platformization indicates a wider reorganization of work through technologies that produces flexible arrangements of space and time, creating forms of independence, interdependence and dependency that challenge orders of work–life division.

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Section: Office Space: Understanding Technologies Through Their Workpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Office Space: Understanding Technologies Through Their Workpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Office Space: Understanding Technologies Through Their Workpmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coordinating office space: Digital technologies and the platformization of work

Richardson

2020

Environ Plan D

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“…The term “office” contains the meanings of furniture and the environment that came to be known as workspace after the Second World War. In 1959, brothers Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle (Kaufmann-Buhler, 2016) invented in Germany the landscape office ( Burolandscap ) around a workspace without any barriers and walls that might hinder communication so as to make the environment more desirable and, therefore, improve work efficiency. By 1960, many countries were relying on this kind of offices.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open-plan office post-occupancy evaluation: inquiring Algerian gender specificity

Benammar

Anouche

Lesgaa

et al. 2018

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Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of an open-plan office (OPO) space organisation on a user’s attitude in the Algerian context; more specifically, it investigates gender differences in the occupants’ perception of such working environment. It, principally, aims to explore the employees’ reaction towards OPO and sees how much such local office type complies with indoor environment quality (IEQ) and psychological comfort. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework of the study is mainly related to environmental psychology referring to the interaction between users and their environment. Post-occupancy evaluation was carried out using exploratory study and questionnaires, followed by statistical analyses. It was performed on a large-scale sample of employees (296 employees) working in recently built OPO situated in Oran (Algeria). Findings Fundamentally, women appear to show more concern regarding comfort. They do not show much reluctance to be mixed with men in a large office space as opposed to more conservative reaction towards mixing up in outdoor public space environment. As for environmental factors (IEQ), indicators have shown the inadequacy of most buildings in terms of thermal, light or noise comfort. The study has also revealed that a majority of users recognise the professional advantages of the OPO, although it is suggested that their preferred type would be the individual office. Originality/value The paper provides a concise starting point for future research interested in developing Algerian context OPO design in terms of both indoor environmental and psychological comfort.

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“…Bir başka deyişle çalışanlar açısından çalıştığı yerin her an değişebilme olasılığı, fiziksel ortama bağlanmayı engelleyebilmektedir. 1950'lerde sosyal, teknik ve örgütsel sorunları aşabilme, örgütlerde statü ve hiyerarşiyi azaltabilme amacıyla ortaya çıkan açık ofislerin, zamanla olumlu yanlarını yitirmeye başladığı öne sürülmektedir (Kaufmann-Buhler, 2016). Örgütlerin esneklik ve düşük maliyet nedeniyle tercih ettiği açık ofislerin, günlük çalışma yaşamında çalışanlar açısından olumsuzluklarının ağır basmaya başladığı düşünülmektedir.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Çalişanlarin Gözünden Açik Ofi̇s Deneyi̇mi̇: Ni̇tel Bi̇r Araştirma

Gerçek

2022

Doğuş Üniversitesi Dergisi

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Öz: Modern işyeri türleri arasında sayılan ve birden fazla çalışanın açık bir alanda çalıştığı ortamlar olarak tanımlanan açık ofis/işyeri düzeni, 1970'lerden başlayarak işletmelerde giderek yaygınlaşmıştır. Açık ofisler, işletmeler için çalışanları denetleme, verimlilik ve esneklik açısından olumlu katkılara sahip olmakla birlikte, çalışanlar için gürültü, odaklanamama, örgütsel kimlik duygusunun kaybı ve mental iş yükündeki artış gibi olumsuz özelliklerinin bulunduğuna ilişkin çeşitli bulgular vardır. Bu çalışmada, açık ofiste çalışma deneyiminin derinlemesine incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Yapılan içerik analizi sonucunda "fiziksel özellikler", "insan ilişkileri" ve "çözüm önerileri" adında üç tema ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu bulgulara ek olarak, çalışanların genellikle açık ofis ortamını daha kişisel hale getirmek istedikleri belirlenmiştir.

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Progressive Partitions: The Promises and Problems of the American Open Plan Office

Cited by 12 publications

References 3 publications

Coordinating office space: Digital technologies and the platformization of work

Coordinating office space: Digital technologies and the platformization of work

Open-plan office post-occupancy evaluation: inquiring Algerian gender specificity

Çalişanlarin Gözünden Açik Ofi̇s Deneyi̇mi̇: Ni̇tel Bi̇r Araştirma

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