In today's changing workplace environment, static office towers with rigid hierarchies are increasingly being replaced b
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Conceptualizing Distributed Workplace Environments Through the Lens of Complex Adaptive Systems Theory Sharon Ackerman and Jennifer Jenkins Spatial Planning TU Delft and Steelcase Applied Research and Consulting.
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In today's changing workplace environment, static office towers with rigid hierarchies are increasingly being replaced by loose networks of employees operating within distributed workplaces (Nilles 1973, Duffy 1993, and Harrison et al, 2003 ). This emerging workplace trend offers new opportunities for expanded creativity and autonomy, both of which are important fitness criteria in an economy that is shifting from material production to creative production (Drucker, 1969). However, while the structure and operations of traditional work environments are generally understood, the challenges and opportunities of distributed work have, thus far, been subject to little critical analysis. We suggest that Complex Adaptive Systems theory can provide a useful conceptual tool with which to analyze these new workplace network structures. The signature elements of complex systems, including adaptive agents, information flows, nodes, feedback, and mutations, offer the analytical framework with which one can interpret the structure of distributive workplaces, and pinpoint those elements that may be operating with greater or lesser success. The study of social networks within workplace environments will be used as a theoretical bridge between complexity theory and workplace theory (Davenport & Prusak 1998, Drucker 1999, Stephenson 1999, Prusak and Cohen 2001, Barros, 2003). Applied studies on "social networking analysis" have yielded tools with which to map different workplace networks,
679 classify their anatomy, analyze how trust flows within them and interpret their effectiveness. That work, together with an understanding of the structure of complex networks (Holland 1995, Kaufmann 1995, Heylighen 1996), will be used to graft an understanding of complex adaptive systems onto the network anatomy of distributed workplace environments. The work will be informed by raw network data compiled by Steelcase Inc., which documents the nature of work networks operating in traditional versus distributed structures. We will seek to identify and interpret the nature of agents within these networks, how information and trust flows through the system, how nodes are formed, and how mutations and feedback can propagate. The aim of this work is to generate a better grasp of system characteristics in order to target and manage resources more effectively. With greater awareness of network dynamics, the system’s properties can be strategically manipulated so as to steer the workplace network in its entirety towards higher levels of both adaptability and robustness.
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