The article presents how the economy influences the priorities of company owners and investors in providing workplace environment. It specifically described the invention of the “Action Office” by Bob Propst in 1968 that was originally aimed at increasing workplace productivity. Propst theorized that if people will have their work spread out with plenty of workspace that they can see, they can work better and be more productive.
The new office system design was supposed to replace the traditional open space offices with individual tables. The article further discussed how Bob Propst failed in his vision but his invention became the most popular office design of the century.
Participants / Subjects:
Propst’s research was conducted for a home-furnishings company. The target subjects were company owners and investors who Propst believed to be concerned with improving the working environment in their companies and to buy the idea of having a new workplace system for their employees.
The product under study is the “Action Office”. The design provided considerable work area and shelves with partitions to allow privacy. It also had adjustable desk levels to allow varying working positions that promoted better blood circulation and reduced exhaustion. The design was eventually altered and a new version was introduced. The proponents Steelcase, Knoll and Haworth capitalized on the marketability of “economy” thus the “Action Office” transformed to a smaller, tighter and less flexible version that became popularly known as the cubicle.
The Essay on Identify potential weaknesses from either the Aircraft Solutions or Quality Web Design Company
In this phase you will choose either Aircraft Solutions or Quality Web Design as the company you will work with. The scenarios are in Doc Sharing in the Course Project select area. You will then identify potential security weaknesses. Security weaknesses – You must choose two from the following three areas (hardware, software, and policy – excluding password policies) and identify an item that ...
Variables Measured or Tests Administered:
The consequential variables were the changes of trends through the years. In the late 60’s onwards, the US Treasury created new rules on depreciation that gave significant advantage to purchase furniture than constructing fixtures. There was also continuous rise in real estate prices that pressured companies to economize. Another variable considered was the development of mobile technology that allowed workforce mobility.
Important Features and Methods:
Important feature of this article was the use of a product invention which is the cubicle to establish the effects of economy in the priorities of companies. The cubicle had gone through series of transformation to respond to the need to cut costs in investments. The dilemma for management was to choose between human resource development and financial viability.
Findings:
Propst’s idealistic invention of the “Action Center” focused on human resource development which he theorized will result to productivity. The article did not mention specific results of Propst’s theories. What is evident was Propst’s failure to consider the practical responses of his subjects, the company owners and investors, who had financial viability as priority concern. The transformed version, the cubicle, became very popular because it answered the needs of the subjects to economize. Employers are more after cutting costs than employees’ productivity. The study proved that “economy” has a stronger influence than employees’ welfare in providing workplace environment.
