Create workspace that supports business strategies

Space is an organization's second most valuable asset. Yet littleattention is paid to how it supports the new ways in which today'sorganizations operate---teamwork, flattened hierarchies,telecommuting, collaborating across functions. Workplace by Designshows CEOs and managers alike how to put aside and rethinkconventional, awkward notions of space utilization based onhierarchy and status--notions that pit people against each other inturf wars, tear apart teams, and tie up company cash. Usingillustrative examples from Digital Equipment Corporation,Steelcase, and others, the authors show how team environments,non-territorial offices and other strategies can support businessobjectives, energize employees, and produce a more competitiveorganization.

FRANKLIN BECKER is director of the International Workplace Studies Program at Cornell University and president of Becker-Sims Associates, Inc.

FRITZ STEELE was formerly on the faculty of Yale and Harvard Universities, and is a principal and founder of the Portsmouth Consulting Group.