Benzecry, Toby John (2020) How should organisations use change of workplace to improve performance? DBA thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This paper focuses on how businesses that employ knowledge workers can use change of physical workplace as a tool to catalyse or support wider business improvement programmes. Previous studies of the workplace have tended to use a Tayloristic, individual productivity-centric view, focusing on how attributes of physical space affect the satisfaction of workers with their environment. This approach does not necessarily measure factors that lead to beneficial results at firm level, nor does it acknowledge the role of workplace renewal as a potential change agent. Given that real estate is the second largest expense for companies after payroll it is essential that periodic investment in the workplace is well judged, so businesses need guidance on how to use workplace change to best effect.

In order to develop a firm-level approach, a very wide literature review is undertaken to assess which attributes of office space appear to be most impactful on worker performance. Original research is then carried out by studying the cases of thirty-one companies that have renewed their workplaces in the last ten years. In-depth interviews have been conducted and performance metrics analysed to ascertain how the renewals were implemented and whether they had a recognised causal effect on a business outcome. I find that there are examples of significant changes in performance that can be traced to change of workplace and that the processes that accompany these had a critical moderating role; as important as the attributes of the new space. I also find that these positive effects diminish over time and that businesses should consider a major new investment in offices every five years. Finally, a method of categorising workplace change projects is suggested and used to provide a further layer of analysis demonstrating the principal strategies of the case studies that were judged to be successful.

Item Type:	Thesis (DBA)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Work environment, Facility management, Office layout, Quality of working life
Official Date:	May 2020
Dates:	Date Event May 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Business School
Thesis Type:	DBA
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Nicolini, Davide
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	330 leaves : illustrations (some colour)
Language:	eng

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