Reasons behind the Opposing Open-Plan Office Change

Discuss About The Work Motivation And Organizational Behavior?

Based on the case study given with the assignment about One-plan of a law firm operated by Owen Cheetham and Jack Wynne which was started in 1976 situated in downtown Auckland. This case study is about shifting to a new office with an informal setting and how the staff is reacting to the new office and environment. Down below is the discussion regarding the questions given under the case study as per the conceptual understanding and the theoretical concepts.

The reasons behind opposing the open-plan office change by employees that they are not comfortable with the idea of open space offices. Open space offices are noisier than other private offices and employees feel distracted which directly affects their productivity. The conversations seems to be louder in such environment whether it is on phone or personal, one can overheard others even if they aren’t supposed to listen and end up in a dispute between employees  sometimes. This creates a negative environment in office. As mentioned in the case study where coworkers not comfortable talking in front of everybody and make calls to their beloved by going out of the office and that costs them too. Disturbances made by colleagues are the main cause behind not liking the open plan office idea. Even passing from the desks would create a disturbance for those who are working and could not concentrate properly. Security issues can also occur in such type of environment as there are no separate lockable cabins for everyone which can lead to some issues that nobody in the office or the office itself wants to face. Privacy is the factor which everybody requires the most and it is difficult to obtain in open office plan, employees face problems while having any confidential call or family call as there is always a risk to share calls in front of other coworkers. In the given case study some lawyers also said that they are not able to take calls from their clients some time when other workers are around as situation are there when they need privacy to handle cases. Meeting rooms are always not an option to make calls. Employees have given mixed response for one plan office setup. Some workers are okay with the setup as they find such environment motivating and aspires them to work hard while having a friendly repo with other workers in office. But the ratio of liking the concept of one plan and resisting the approach of the same is approximately to 1:2. Employees in such informal environment feel communication issues, one can share confidential information with his/her colleague but there is always an uncertainty that the information shared can be overheard by someone who is not supposed to listen and can lead to some issues in future. In an open plan office employee cannot keep their place according to their taste and preference as they do not have any fixity of their sitting also no private cabin to keep it the way they are comfortable in. Overall these disadvantages and reasons of employees can affect the productivity as well as working environment as a whole (Pinder, 2014).

Impact on Productivity and Working Environment

Partners could have taken timely measures to lessen the resistance in office and resolve the issues regarding informal setting of office and environment. They could have held a meeting as they knew at the earlier stage only that colleagues are having issues and are not comfortable with the setting in office. They would have organize the informal setting in a way that it gives a private space to each worker but on the other hand a common area where all workers can sit and have lunch  while talking, this way issues can be resolved regarding security, privacy, distractions and noises they all could have been avoided. Also partners can organize a meeting and explain the reasons behind shifting to such setting. Employees are unaware of the advantages the open plan office carries with it so they need to know all about this plan that how these advantages affect them, their productivity increases, the environment at workplace is positive if they maintain their dignity and behavior in a way. In this given case Owen and jack heard gossips but ignored the fact that it can cause huge loss in the coming time and can lead to various issues in the firm. The carelessness on the part in this matter creates confusion and unhealthy environment. It bring friction between workers and employers, they have lost satisfaction from their job and couldn’t focus on their work due to issues occurred as discussed in the case study. Partners could have resolve issues by listening to employee and their requests in the beginning only so that they won’t last for a longer time. Also they could have asked for a feedback about the shift from a formal office into one-plan office setup. Generally it is beneficial to ask for the feedback from employees time to time so that superiors would know all the happenings going around at the workplace and in the mind of workers. The steps can be taken accordingly and changes can be made in the company by the holders of the company as in the given case where jack and owen are the holders of their firm, might have listened to their workers and do the necessary changes required to balance out the problems faced by everyone at the workplace.

The obstacles in communication appears in Cheetham and Wynne firm are basically the partners as per the case study given. Here in this case, employees are having conversations about their jobs and how unhappy they are by the reviews they receive from the bosses’ for their performances. They are not rewarded properly even if they perform at their best, one needs a reward after a certain point of time and a reward can be in any form not necessarily in terms of money but it can be in kind also. It gives a boost of motivation to employees to work harder and better of their capabilities. The satisfaction from their job and performance they get also works for the best and lead to positive outcomes. So rewards are important for an employee. Under the given case study, it is shown that an employee shared some confidential information with brother her which was not valid act to do and the same was informed to one of the partner and he conveyed this act to other partner but he didn’t respond to it. Here no action was taken against such act by the partner which creates the issue of communication in the firm. If the same thing happens again and no one takes notice then it can create issues of privacy and carelessness in office. In this firm, employees do not know how their performances are being evaluated or on what basis it is evaluated. This affects their performance because they have no idea how much they are likely supposed to be working, what are the prospects of their job. When the performance is not measured or the basis is not clear, the productivity lessens which is not a positive impact on the firm. Employee do not know what their directors are expecting from them and sometimes they do not reply properly and remain unanswerable to workers which seems as a backlash for employees present in the firm. It has been observed in the given case study that no compliments or appraisals been given to workers for their performances. So overall the issues of communication are major ones and lead to various issues in the organization (De Been and Beijer, 2014).

Timely Measures to Lessen the Resistance and Resolve the Communication Issues

To overcome such issues, there are measures available for managers. By following those suggestions given, issues can be resolved at an earlier stage. A communication issue can only be settled by a proper flow of information channels and manager’s response to employee problems and issues at work place. In the given case study it is obvious that employees wanted to convey their messages to managers but ended up being disappointed as managers didn’t respond them well and ignored the fact. So here in this case, managers can resolve the same by giving proper attention to employees or their messages and follow up accordingly. This way issues can be solved and employee stays happy with the fact he/she is being attended and listened by the officials.  There should be a proper channel through which workers can communicate in a formal manner and convey information through those channels so that confidentiality will be maintained even in an informal setting which is of great advantage to the firm as well as employees. Partners should conduct a program or a meeting where they can inform or aware the workers in the firm about the advantages they get from such an informal setting of the firm. The advantages how it creates a happy and positive environment to work in, that how it saves huge costs relating to the furniture required for the formal setting of a business where each and every worker have their own cubicle and various other furniture require for such setting. This saving can be utilize to pay bonuses and perks to employee, making aware to employees about the perks they can receive. It can also work as a motivation for workers to perform better which increases their productivity and the firm’s productivity as well. Partners in this firm can solve the issue of communication by planning a set of standard to meet by workers so that their performance can be measured on the basis of set standards. When performances are being compared from the standards given, employees get an idea where they are positioned in terms of their performance and what it needed to be done to improve their work overall. Partners should make efforts by rewarding workers on a monthly basis or quarterly depending upon their finances which ultimately affects an employee behavior and he/she gets in a positive state of mind. It also motivates others to work best out of their capabilities and being recognized by managers of the firm and rewarded for the same (Luthans, Luthans, and Luthans, K.W, 2015).

Suggestions to Overcome the Issues

Partners and others have various sources of power in their hands, they can hire workers they want to, be it more males and less females. They can allocate workers wherever they want to, as they have decided for an informal office setting. Partners are the ultimate owners of the firm they can mutually decide who they want to hire and who they want to fire.  Sometimes situation arises when even partners do not agree on a particular decision and make decisions without the consent of each other. The impact of such situations or decisions on employees are not fair every time, it can be beneficial for them but on the other hand it may not. Partners has the power to decide on the office layout that what can be beneficial for their firm in profit terms, as under the given case informal office setting proves to be economical to firm. It is not necessary for partners to include employees in deciding whether they want employee opinion in the decision making. The implications of the same would be, employee feel neglected in such case and shows dissatisfaction at workplace (Miner, 2015).

The influential tactics could have been used by partners and employees to improve the working environment. All partners while deciding on open plan office could have taken feedbacks regarding the decision from employees. Proper planning regarding channels of information flow can be made so that no communication issues arise and workers can convey their messages to partners or coworkers and in this way privacy can be maintained which is of great importance in this firm. Rewards and recognition can be organized to motivate employees in order to improve overall productivity and efficiency. Measures can be taken to plan out the standards that on what basis the performance of employees are to be matched and incentives can be decided. These measures are not only beneficial to increase the productivity of employee and firm but also the employee satisfaction. If employee are happy at the workplace and satisfied with their jobs and being attended by partners they work better than usual and spread positivity at the workplace. The tactics can be adopted by partners to make aware the employees about the positive intact of an informal office setting that it is the best plan for all workers in the firm and superiors as well. An informal office setting tends to give an opportunity to socialize with other colleagues and partners and share good thoughts to maintain a healthy relation with each other. It all directly affects the efficiency which is known to be a key element for an organization (Robbins and Judge, 2013).

References

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De Been, I. and Beijer, M., 2014. The influence of office type on satisfaction and perceived productivity support. Journal of Facilities Management, 12(2), pp.142-157.