Office code

InhaltsverzeichnisIn an increasingly international market economy, companies find themselves with clients, suppliers and employees from around the globe. Although enriching, these partnerships are not always easy or economically fruitful. Depending on the level of misunderstanding, cross-cultural contacts can go from puzzling to infuriating, and are certainly time-consuming. Today, companies are inundated with consultants, theories and literature addressing intercultural relations. These sources aim to adjust management practices to local customs. Yet they rarely tackle the crucial matter of office space. Our surroundings undoubtedly affect our productive hours, and local trends in workspace layout can vary considerably from one country to another. Nevertheless, multinational companies have traditionally transplanted their offices to diverse locations without giving much thought to the needs and preferences of their local workers. Even if an organisation is interested in providing employees with a culturally appropriate workplace, little information about the relationship between culture and workspace is available today. Companies are confronted with a progressively more complex set of choices: adhere to the larger company standard, adapt to suit local culture, or a combination of both. Office Code explores the connections between national culture and office space. In doing so, this pioneering study provides clues to designing a productive and communicative international work environment. The culmination of research by WorkSpace Futures, the corporate research and forecast centre of Steelcase, Office Code sheds light on an often ignored interplay of space and cultural differences in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Combining theory with practical case studies, these original insights decipher the elusive relationship between culture and workspace.