Teamwork, Communication, and Collaboration

......................"People, not buildings, change the direction of a company. But a facility and the process for planning and designing it can encourage and support such change. "

---Franklin Becker & Fritz Steele, "Workplace by Design", p.64

 

 

Redefining "real work"

Organizational leaders today face a major challenge in creating work settings that promote creativity and innovation. One key ingredient is to change the entrenched ideas about teamwork. This means significantly expanding the concept of what kinds of communication are useful, and ultimately, what gets thought of as "real work".

Definition of work in the past

Led by efficiency experts over the past seventy-five years, many companies began to see informal communication as synonymous with socializing, and that meant wasting time. Talking was all right as long as it occurred as part of a scheduled meeting. As a result, efficiency became defined as focusing directly on the task, whatever it was: typing, telephoning, writing a report, reading a memo, or participating in a scheduled meeting.

 

 

Changes the essence of work--------from individual to group

However, this stance reflected the view that the individual is the key ingredient to productivity, rather than the team or group, and that competition among individuals and groups is preferable to cooperation because it "motivates" people. This perception no long holds in today's world because problems in today's world are becoming much more complicated and the expertise needed to resolve them is more diverse. Thus, solving today's problems requires expertise and experience that cross disciplinary and departmental boundaries. In this context, teamwork, communication, and collaboration not only are not wasted time, they are fundamental building blocks to organizational effectiveness.

---Franklin Becker & Fritz Steele, "Workplace by Design", p.64

 

 

Relay-Race Model Versus Rugby Model

This change of working patter can be illustrated by the Relay-Race Model and Rugby Model. In a relay-race model each function or discipline does its work and then tosses it over to the next group who is supposed to run with their part of the development process until it is finished, at which point they toss their output to the next group until the finished product comes out the door. Unfortunately, what goes over the fence has a tendency to be thrown back, as work in later stages reveals problems with choices made in earlier stages. But this process is not a friendly process because it is like a neighbor whose yard serves as the outfield for the kids next door, it tends to create hard feelings and harsh words between neighbors. It creates the same problem among different sectors in a company.

 

 

On the other hand, the rugby model brings all the plays in the process together as a team at the project’s inception. Different players may take a stronger lead at different points in the process, and the ball will move all over the field, sometimes going backward or laterally to move forward, as the team moves it toward the goal. In this process, the whole team is in the game all the time so that decisions in different phases are known and tested for consistency and compatibility as they occur. And the glue that holds the team together constant communication. Communication in the rugby model is on the fly, in the halls, on the stairs, at lunch, in the locker room. In other words, communication occurs anywhere in rugby model. But in the relay-race model, communication only happens in the conference room which is planned, scheduled, predetermined.

.........Franklin Becker & Fritz Steele, Workplace by Design, p. 79

 

 

Essences of "total workplace concept"

Integrating decisions often considered in isolation by individual departments, such as human resources, information technology, design and construction, and buildings operations and management.

The workplace is more than one's own personal office or work station. It is the entire workplace(site, amenities, commons areas, project rooms, support area), a series of loosely coupled settings.

The processes used for planning, designing, and managing the workplace are as much a part of the building's quality as are its physical characteristics.

 

 

Physical Settings and Communication in the Workplace

Changes in business process and new corporate values and philosophies should be reinforced and supported by the physical ecology of the workplace. This means that the value or thought changes in a company can be naturally reinforced by the arrangement of physical settings. Physical design, by itself, will not change behavior patterns and guarantee teamwork. It can make some activities more likely than others, and when it is in tune with the social system, it can create the kind of lively, interactive setting that supports teamwork and collaboration.

........Franklin Becker & Fritz Steele, Workplace by Design, p. 77

Functional diversity is intended to support the fact that even within disciplines there can be great differences in personal work style; that is, in how, where, and when people work best. Environmental equity, from this perspective, lies in giving employees access to those physical resources (work spaces and surfaces, privacy, views, storage, display space, and so forth) they need to work effectively, not in giving every exactly the same thing. Since we do not cook, eat, sleep, and entertain in the same room in our homes, why should we always discuss a project, type a report, or read a technical article in the same workplace.

.....Franklin Becker & Fritz Steele, Workplace by Design, p.73

 

 

How to increase the communication between people?

.........*breaking down the barriers among different sectors. It is important to make people realize that while another group may think and behave differently from them, there is value to the differences and that diversity is needed to generate good ideas and innovative products. So, the goal was not “homogenizing” the organization, but helping different groups accept and respect these different ways of thinking and working.

...........*realizing the functional diversity. Functional diversity means that even within disciplines there can be great differences in personal work style; that is, in how, where, and when people work best. And when planning the physical setting of the workplace, environmental equity concept should be considered. Environmental equity means giving employees access to those physical resources ( such as work space and surfaces, privacy, storage, display, and so forth) they need to work effectively, not in giving everyone exactly the same thing.

.........Franklin Becker & Fritz Steele, Workplace by Design, p. 73

 

How should a building/workplace support the teamwork?

1. Shared services

2. Create functional inconvenience

3. Cafe, commons or corners

4. Centralize support services to provoke unplanned meeting

5. Internal visibility of different activities

6. Flexible settings

7. Displayed thinking

8. Rich resources and lots of stimulation

 

 

Rules of creating high-performance workplaces

1. Create magnet spots with good stuff in them for drawing people together.

2. Put magnet spots in the right locations.

3. Design the contact places well.

4. Don't make too many communal spots.

5. Encourage people to use the common facilities.

..............Becker, F., and Steele, F. Workplace by Design, p.83