What is obvious, is that these changes aren't happening because companies got bored with the status quo or truly wanted to invest time and money merely to redesign their work space, buy new furniture or own the latest technology. Competition, and lots of it, has been the real driver.

CORPORATE BEHAVIOR
Companies exist to earn profits for their owners by doing or providing something for someone else. Business leaders, as stewards of shareholder value, have the obligation to preserve and add to past growth and profitability. Competition, however, creates downward pressure on the ability to earn profits. It drives down prices, offers choices, provides better or faster services or uses new  technology to make current products obsolete. Consequently, we look at changes in workplace strategies, both physical and organization, as primarily the result of management's reaction to competition in order to stay alive.

LASTING CHANGES?
The questions we've been asking ourselves have to do with whether these changes will last. Are they part of a fundamental change in the core principles supporting corporate structures and behavior, or are they part of a cycle that will one day revert back to past forms of organization? The obvious risk for companies is that they sway too far in one direction, which doesn't fit or won't meet their needs in the future.

On the other hand, if "change is the only constant" is the new reality, then we may be seeing only the beginning of many new physical and organizational forms. In this scenario, we feel that companies will become more proactive in anticipating future changes. Technology will be their ally in becoming faster and more flexible, and employees will be comfortable adapting to whatever organizational form is required to get the job done.

Please send comments or questions to the authors at:

Sagle Jones, bsj3@cornell.edu
John Thompson, jct20@cornell.edu

Both authors are Masters students in Cornell's Real Estate Program