The Image of Facilities Depicts A Company’s Culture

[symple_box] Juheon KANG holds a Bachelor’s degree of Business Administration from Konkuk University, South Korea. [/symple_box]

How do you feel when you enter the workplace and watch its surroundings in the morning? What mood would you sense from it? These two questions are significant factors to consider what kind of company culture you would like to experience in real life. There are two pictures below from two different offices, imagine that you are faced with each of the two-scenarios-places, then try to guess from that each company’s culture.

How do you feel about Picture (A)? The standardized cubicle matrix may bring to mind a company that is likely to have formalized rules and regulations on tasks and work-specialized departments. You can assume that Picture (A), belonging to Daewoo International, having a hierarchical culture and a bureaucratic structure. How about Picture (B)? Millward Brown’s open workspace may lead you to think that the company gives a great amount of discretion on how employees do tasks and attempt to stimulate their creativity. The organization seems to have very active and innovative culture as well as an organic structure.  If you had similar assumptions to these, then you guessed those companies’ culture and structure quite accurately.

The first picture shows Daewoo International after moving to a new office which looks very similar to its previous office. Meanwhile, the second picture features Millward Brown Singapore’s renovated office which is different from its prior physical work environment where senior executives used to have larger rooms than did their junior staff. What do both of their facilities movements imply? It shows whether or not they changed their organizational culture. Since the philosophy and beliefs of founders are very easily reflected onto the organizational culture, in Daewoo International, where people have very strong self-confidence in their company’s time-honored business legends, it seems that they have still succeeded to the culture entrenched by KIM Woo-Jung, the founder of Daewoo Group, famous for his saying “Do it as I said,” symbolizing his highly centralized decision-making power.

In contrast, for the purpose of embracing activity-based working culture, Millward Brown metamorphosed from its old office to a new five-sense-flattering office. Hot desking is now pervasive and meeting spaces and workstations are often shared. Because different work activities call for different work environments there, alternatives are offered. If, for example, you do not want to be disturbed by phone rings or group conversations, you can move to quiet zones and stay focused on delivering a client presentation.

Now, you can understand what an important role workplace arrangements play in shaping organizational culture. In other words, people, environment and practice are intricately linked to collaborate. This is why HR and facilities must work together to meet the needs of new working practices and to involve “employees’ inner voice.” Before moving on designing the workplace, here are three simple elements to make sure to match your desired culture and facilities.

1) Understand your business and industry.

If you run a business for smartphone application development in the IT industry, what value are you likely to pursuit? Innovation to provide customers with items other people never thought of. It would be advisable to have a creative culture in order to encourage employees to think differently as well as a similar physical work environment to Millward Brown.

2) Know about human behaviors and design.

What behaviors could you expect from people in application R&D department? They need high level of cooperation and communication to make a novel item. What you have to bring in for them is an open space to foster more face-to-face conversations and inspiring circumstances such as a small library or a music hall.

3) Involve your employees

Let’s talk about why Millward Brown has successfully transformed their office. It is because they have involved their employees in the entire process. Senior management paid attention to the employees’ voice: they presented the inner workings of the process and took feedback through regular meetings. By participating in creating such a wonderful workspace, everyone feels fulfillment and happiness as a result of the collaboration between the company and their employees. This collaboration helps increase employee commitment and satisfaction as well as critical thinking and improved ideas on the new workspace design.