Progress 10/01/06 to 09/30/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The results of the pilot research have been presented to hospital architects, planners, and administrators at national conferences focused on the relationship between the planning and design of health facilities and their effects on patients and staff. We are introducing a new data collection technique that draws on work done initially at the Centre for Health Informatics, University of Sydney, Australia. Using a specially programmed PDA, researchers shadow nurses over the course of the work shift to record in real time their interaction and communication patterns: who they interact with, where, and for how long. This provides data that can be compared across nursing units with different physical designs to see whether this factor influences communication.
PARTICIPANTS: Research was done in collaboration with the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and the Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca, New York.
TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audience are hospital architects and planners, hospital administrators, the nursing profession, and social scientists with an interest in knowledge management.
Impacts
The results have contributed to the growing body of what has been called "evidence-based design" in health care settings. The results provide guidance and justification for investments in hospital facilities that are likely to contribute to improvements in patient-centered care.
Publications
- Becker, F. 2007. Nursing unit design and communication patterns: What is "real" work," Health Evironments Research & Design Journal, 1(1), 58-62.
- Becker, F. 2007. The ecology of knowledge networks, California Management Review, 49(2), 1-20.
- Becker, F., and Parsons, K.S. 2007. Hospital facilities and the role of evidence-based design, J. of Facilities Management, 5(4), 263-274.
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
The research is now focused on health care settings; specifically, it is exploring how the design of medical units influence the communication and interaction patterns of multi-disciplinary patient care teams. The frequency and nature of communication and interaction patterns is hypothesized to affect opportunities for both informal learning and professional development of nurses; and the social relations with other care givers that influence team cohesion and the informal flow of information and knowledge sharing that ultimately affects health care quality.
Impacts
The research findings can help those planning, designing, and managing health care settings do so in a way that increases the speed and effectiveness with which information flows in an organization. In particular, it should provide insight into how information can be accurately transmitted at the point where 'hand-offs' occur from individual to individual or team to team.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04
Outputs
This research examines how the design, management, and use of physical settings in both corporate and health care settings influences the development and nature of the flow of information across individuals and teams.
Impacts
The research findings can help those planning, designing, and managing both corporate design and health care settings do so in a way that increases the speed and effectiveness with which information flows in an organization. In particular, it should provide insight into how information can be accurately transmitted at the point where "hand-offs" occur from individual to individual or team to team.
Publications
- Becker, F. 2004. Offices At Work: Uncommon Workspace Strategies that Add Value and Improve Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02
Outputs
The current IWSP research on The Value of the Corporate Campus has tested the assumtion that collocating departmetns and business units on a corporate campus results in significant levels of face-to-face interaction across these business units. The results show that this assumption is unwarranted: the frequency of face-to-face interaction declines dramatically beyond one's own team and department.
Impacts
These findings provide a strong basis for organizations to rethink the busness value of investing in a corporate campus. The results provide impetus to the opportunity to improve communication and collaboration by developing more smaller scale nodes. These increase the likelihood of interaction across units, and also create more potential for reducing employee commuting times and distance.
Publications
- Becker, F., Sims, W., Schoss, J. 2003. The Value of a Corporate Campus. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University International Workplace Studies Program.
- Becker, F., and Pearce, A. 2003. A Balanced Real Estate and Human Resource Model for Assessing the Financial Implications of Large Scale Real Estate Decisions. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University International Workplace Studies Programs.
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Progress 01/01/01 to 12/31/01
Outputs
Organizations face unprecedented pressures to do more, and better, with less. To prosper, organizations must reduce capital and operating costs and increase flexibility and adaptability, while creating a workplace that helps attract and retain the highest quality of staff and enables them to work to their fullest potential. This phase of the research examined how different types of office solutions, from closed offices and cubicles to team-oriented bullpens, influence communication patterns and how these, in turn, affect work effectiveness factors such as decision speed, organizational learning, and the building of trust. The findings suggest that, contrary to conventional wisdom, more open team-oriented environments better support work effectiveness of individuals and teams than do more closed environments such as cubicles. They do this while reducing cost and increasing flexibility. Implications for office planning and design are discussed. Keywords Office design,
communication, work effectiveness, workplace, strategy. This phase of the research explored the workplace strategies of small independent and interal innovative web-based initiatives. Specifically, we examined how
Impacts
The research monograph is available at no cost as a pdf file from our program web site. As such, it is accessible to literally thousands of people in industry and academia. Publication in international journals (see below) further expands the readership for the results. In addition, the principal investigators are presenting papers on the research at several national and international conferences. The combination of these distribution channels creates a signficant impact for this research on the professional practice of real estate and facilities and workplace strategies.
Publications
- Becker, F., and Sims, W. 2001. Offices That Work: Balancing Cost, Flexibility and Communication. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University International Workplace Studies Program.
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Progress 01/01/00 to 12/31/00
Outputs
Current research focuses on what large corporations can learn from the workplace strategies of startup and New Economy initiatives within large corporations. Preliminary findings suggest that informal communication and collaboration is a central focus of such initiatives. Workplace strategies such as work "pods", bullpens, and shared enclosed offices appear to support trust, commitment, communication and collaboration to a greater extent than either "cubes" or fully enclosed offices. They do so at lower cost because of the higher density possible, but while still being acceptable to employees. The extent to which these general finds are a function of age, gender, job function, and previous work experience are being examined.
Impacts
This research is relevant to every private and public sector organization in NY and the USA. It provides a basis for making critical workplace decisions that affect the performance of millions of workers and the cost structure and performance of thousands of organizations.
Publications
- Becker, F. (2000) Organizational agility and the knowledge infrastructure. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 3(1), 1-10.
- Becker, F. (2000) Integrated portfolio strategies for dynamic organizations. Facilities, 18(10-12), 411-420.
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Progress 01/01/97 to 12/31/97
Outputs
The International Workplace Studies Program (formerly the International Facility Management Program) has just completed a series of case studies of the transition and change management process among Fortune 500 companies that have adopted some form of alternative office workplace strategies. The research examined the workplace change management processes used, the cost of the activities and events that comprise such processes, and the extent to which employees felt these processes helped them make a fast and more successful shift to the new way of working. Key findings were that informal change agents are as or more influential than formal change agents; that there was a relation between the level of workplace change expenditure and the effectiveness of the change program; that the nature of the information considered valuable by employees shifted over the life of the project; and that having the right information at the right time contributed significantly to
satisfaction with the commitment to the new way of working.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- Becker, F., Tennessen, C., and Dahl, L. (1998) Managing WorkPLACE Change. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University International Workplace
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Progress 01/01/95 to 12/30/95
Outputs
The IWSP has just completed three studies using a case study methodology. One examined field sales representatives reactions to living and working from hotel suites that were leased for several months and reconfigured as home offices. A second study examined how field sales staff working remotely maintained social connectivity and work communications. A third study examined the effects on how advertising teams functioned working in non-territorial offices. The findings from the three studies suggest that 1) electronic communication is not often used to replace face-to-face communication; 2) employees perceive a loss of social connectivity when working in a variety of work settings; 3) the sense of social isolation is balanced by appreciation for greater flexibility in working flexibility; 4) non-territorial offices by themselves have a limited effect on how teams function. Implications for the development of alternative workplace strategies are discussed in all three
studies.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- NO PUBLICATIONS REPORTED THIS PERIOD.
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Progress 01/01/94 to 12/30/94
Outputs
Organizations face enormous business challenges, which include reducing costs, improving products, services and the time needed to bring new ones to market. They do this by using available resources to the fullest potential, (i.e., employees, information technology, and the physical setting of the workplace itself). This project examines the kinds of new workplace strategies (telecommuting, non-territorial offices, and team and collaborative environments) that leading organizations are implementing in response to these challenges. We are exploring the "ecology of remote collaborative work." Through case studies of organizations in the computer industry in the U.S. and England, we examine how employees who work from home, telework center, from distributed sites, and from non-traditional work settings like cars, hotels, and airports maintain the kinds of social and work-related communication and collaboration needed to effectively carry out their work. We are examining
how factors such as age, family composition, and nature of home work environment affect work effectiveness and employee satisfaction with working in a virtual office environment. Preliminary findings suggest that household composition, age, and home working environment do not significantly affect work effectiveness or employee satisfaction. The loss of social contact for virtual office workers is a problem. We are developing studies to look at ways of overcoming the feelings of social isolation many mobile workers report.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- Becker, F., Quinn, K., Rappaport, A. and B.Sims. (1994). Implementing Innovative Workplace Strategies. Ithaca, NY: International Workplace Studies Program, NYS College of Human Ecology, Cornell University.
- Becker, F., et al. (1994). New Working Practices: Benchmarking Flexible Scheduling, Staffing, and Work Location in an International Context. Ithaca, NY: International Facility Management Program, NYS Col of Hum Eco, Cornell.
- Becker, F., Rappaport, A., Quinn, K., and W. Sims. (1994). Telework Centers: An Evaluation of the North American and Japanese Experience. Ithaca, NY: International Facility Management Program, NYS Col of Hum Eco, Cornell.
- Becker, F., Quinn, K., and A. Rappaport. (1994). New Ways of Working: A Summary of Key Research Findings. Ithaca, NY: International Facility Management Program, NYS College of Human Ecology, Cornell University.
- Becker, F., Quinn, K., and Kizorek, M. (1994). Team Environments: An Evaluation of Harbors and Commons. Ithaca, NY: International Facility Management Program, NYS College of Human Ecology, Cornell University.
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