9.4 Critical decisions
For occupiers, the research also points to a sense of critical
decisions that each business must make within the context of its
own objectives and priorities. These include:-
(1) Staff productivity and satisfaction v economic efficiency:
achieving appropriate levels of density, daylight, view etc, and
balancing this with occupancy cost.
(2) New ways of working: choosing the working pattern that is
suited to the business, and recognising the affinities between
working patterns, building types and environmental models.
(3) Organisational change: workplace as a catalyst for change,
with the capacity to demonstrate and foster values through
internal and external messaging.
(4) Concentration v communication: raising issues of acoustic
and visual privacy, work group size, vertical and horizontal
travel distance, building depth.
(5) Individual v central control: raising issues of responsiveness
of FM, the ability to control individual environment,
simplicity/manageability and the efficient operation of the
building and its systems.
(6) Infrastructural flexibility: providing flexible infrastructures that
ensure connectivity and environmental quality through multiple
iterations of organizational change.
(7) Feedback: Using feedback as both a design tool, and as a means
of monitoring that the workplace is delivering its full potential in
terms of efficiency, effectiveness and intended expression.