DRaft Report

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Nov 24, 2024

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1 PJ2: Project Report Draft Paper

2 Table of Contents SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 3 1.1 Project Setting .......................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Project Aims and Objectives .................................................................................... 3 1.3 How Project Will Assist Organization ....................................................................... 3 1.4 Consultation Process ............................................................................................... 4 SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................ 5 2.1 Features of Office Layout ......................................................................................... 5 2.2 Organizational Culture: ............................................................................................ 6 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 8

3 SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Setting The proposed research study would be conducted in ABC Cloud Communications Limited. For the purpose of keeping anonymity the researcher has used a pseudo name for the organization. The organization is located in UK-Buckinghamshire-Aylesbury. The organization is engaged in the provision of the various cloud communications and customer engagement solutions which also comprise of cloud based voice services, contact centres, video services, and mobile and unified communication solutions for the small and medium enterprise. The researcher has selected the particular organization, as he is currently working in the organization as Tier 1 Technical Support Engineer. 1.2 Project Aims and Objectives The main aim of the research study is to determine whether the open office layout or the closed office layout is suitable for achieving the desired organizational culture at ABC Cloud Communications Limited. The different objectives of this research study are illustrated as follows:  Analysing the attributes of open office layout and close office layout.  Determining the type of organizational culture desired by ABC Cloud Communications Limited.  Analysing the impact that the different office layout would have on the organizational culture. 1.3 How Project Will Assist Organization Even though there is lack of research studies sufficient literature on the issue but certain studies have focused on the link that exist between the physical space of the workplace and the organisational culture. McElroy and Morrow (2010), in their research study indicated that those employees who have shifted from “cubicles to and open plan layout

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4 have found that the organisational culture is less bureaucratic, less and more innovative and autonomous as compared to those employees who have remained within the cubicle environment” (McElroy and Morrow, 2010). Another study conducted by Hong, Easterby-Smith and Snell (2006), have shown that those organisation in which irrespective of their place in the organization, the employees are situated in open plan layout without any physical barriers with separations in their workstations have improved collaboration between various departments and have developed a “collective learning culture” (Hong, Easterby-Smith and Snell, 2006). All these studies indicates the way invest office layout could have an influence on the perception of the employees regarding organisational culture and the manner in which office layout can influence their behaviour. The culture of an organisation could be influenced by the office layout as it can guide the behaviour of the employees and direct them to do what is valued in the organisation. Hence ABC Cloud Communications Limited would be greatly benefited from the findings of this research study in determining the ways in which it can improve its office layout to become more productive and improving its organisational culture by developing the desired values and behaviour among its employees. 1.4 Consultation Process In determination of the Research Design and piloting the research instrument focus on analysing the relationship between the office layout and the organisational culture in ABC Cloud Communications Limited one of the main aspect of the research study was a structured consultation process between the researcher and the supervisor. The researcher has consulted with the supervisor for capturing their views and enhancing the quality of the proposed research instrument. The consultation with the supervisor has been very much crucial in identification of different aspects of office layout and organisational culture that has to be covered within the research study. Consultations were also made for or refining the research methodology to determine the ways in which survey would be conducted and data would be collected and analysed for the proposed research study. The feedback received from the supervisor regarding improving the question that is asked to the respondents and improving the analysis of the research findings help in ensuring to address the objectives of the research study.

5 Further consultations were made to position the findings within the context of the research study and the current debate on the issue of impact that office layout have on the organisational culture. SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Earlier research studies have shown that it behaviour of the employees is significantly influenced by the office layout (Baldry and Barnes, 2012). There have been consequent improvements in the office design and layout buy designing and redesigning them for improving the effectiveness, aesthetic appeal and work efficiency in the organisation (Becker and Sims, 2001). But there is limited research studies that have explored the impact that the office layout or in specific the impact that open and closed office layout have on the organisational culture or employee attitude and behaviour. This research study will try to address this research gap. 2.1 Features of Office Layout The office layout mainly indicates to the physical space in the office and the manner in which various objects are arranged within it (Lee, 2010). The various office layout elements comprises of the workstation positioning and the different boundaries that are developed due to walls and other objects that functions as physical barriers. Research on the office layout space has focused mainly on the “differences between the closed plan and the various other alternative forms of open plan office layout” (Lee, 2010). Since the workspaces could be e configured in various base within each type of office layout the features of office layout like that of levels of privacy can also very e and it is important to identify their influence on the culture of the workplace (Maher and von Hippel, 2005).

6 The office layout could act as an important aspect of the physical environment which can act as a symbolic representation that have an impact on the attitude and behaviour of the employees' (Shiu and Yu, 2009). The organisational culture has been found to have an impact on the job satisfaction and the organisational performance. It has also been identified that the influence that the culture of an organisation have on the “performance of the organisation makes the organisational culture” and important element for competitive advantage (Shiu and Yu, 2009). Research studies conducted in the past have shown that the physical design of the workplace can influence the interaction between the humans and the symbolic functions (Zhang and Spicer, 2013). Those offices which have fever physical barriers, with less internal walls are generally described as open office layout which have “lower level of architectural privacy and higher level of visual access and physical proximity with other employees and workers in the organisation” (Zhang and Spicer, 2013). Employees working in similar organisation can have different work environment on the basis of the privacy and the space that is being offered Idea workstation and it also symbolically represent the differences within the status of the employees in the organisation (Shiu and Yu, 2009). The differences in the status could also influence the manner in which the employees communicate organisation with each other (Kraut et al., 2002). Also the “architectural privacy, visual access, physical proximity, the workstation equality and its influence on the behaviour” within the workplace is also very important (Zerella, von Treuer and Albrecht, 2017) and has been discussed in this research study . 2.2 Organizational Culture: The features of office layout has been analysed in the past for establishing their impact on the behaviour of the employees and what it can represent symbolically. Features have not been analysed for determining their impact on the organisational culture. The organisational culture can be explained as " a pattern of shared basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal integration and have worked well enough to

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7 be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems" (Schein, 1990). The culture of an organisation help the workers to understand the basic assumptions, Valley appears which the organisation expect from them and which are acceptable within the organisation. It is also crucial to determine the wide range of factors that can have an influence on the perception of the employees regarding the organisational culture. The Competing Values Framework (CVF) has been identified as a validated framework in order to assess the culture of an organisation. Framework has been applied across wide range of cultural context. The Competing Values Framework (CVF) comprises of four different types of organisational culture which are; “Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy and Market organizational culture" (Schein, 1990).

8 REFERENCES Baldry, C. and Barnes, A. (2012). The open-plan academy: space, control and the undermining of professional identity. Work, Employment and Society , 26(2), pp.228-245. Becker, F. and Sims, W. (2001). Offices That Work Balancing Communication, Flexibility and Cost . 1st ed. New York: Cornell University International Workplace Studies Program (IWSP). Haynes, B. (2007). The impact of the behavioural environment on office productivity. Journal of Facilities Management , 5(3), pp.158-171. Hong, J., Easterby-Smith, M. and Snell, R. (2006). Transferring Organizational Learning Systems to Japanese Subsidiaries in China*. Journal of Management Studies , 43(5), pp.1027-1058. Kim, J. and de Dear, R. (2013). Workspace satisfaction: The privacy-communication trade-off in open-plan offices. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 36, pp.18-26. Kraut, R., Fussell, S., Brennan, S. and Siegel, J. (2002). Understanding effects of proximity on collaboration: Implications for technologies to support remote collaborative work. In: P. Hinds and S. Kiesler, ed., Distributed work , 1st ed. Cambridge, MA, US: MIT Press, pp.132-167. Lee, Y. (2010). Office layout affecting privacy, interaction, and acoustic quality in LEED- certified buildings. Building and Environment , 45(7), pp.1594-1600. Maher, A. and von Hippel, C. (2005). Individual differences in employee reactions to open-plan offices. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 25(2), pp.219-229. McElroy, J. and Morrow, P. (2010). Employee reactions to office redesign: A naturally occurring quasi-field experiment in a multi-generational setting. Human Relations , 63(5), pp.609-636. Schein, E. (1990). Organizational culture. American Psychologist , 45(2), pp.109-119. Shiu, Y. and Yu, T. (2009). Internal marketing, organisational culture, job satisfaction, and organisational performance in non-life insurance. The Service Industries Journal , 30(6), pp.793-809.

9 Zhang, Z. and Spicer, A. (2013). ‘Leader, you first’: The everyday production of hierarchical space in a Chinese bureaucracy. Human Relations , 67(6), pp.739-762.

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