Some controversy has been stirred up by the conclusion, reached in the BOSTI report on office design and productivity, that design has a calculable dollar premium. In response to…
Abstract
Some controversy has been stirred up by the conclusion, reached in the BOSTI report on office design and productivity, that design has a calculable dollar premium. In response to Peter Ellis's detailed, point by point analysis of the report (Vol 3/No 1/January) the joint authors have made an equally detailed rebuttal.
Who is a winner in the office quality stakes, and what is the path to success? Peter Ellis and Sheena Wilson of Building Use Studies take a closer look at this elusive concept.
Is user resistance to new technology inevitable, or can human and technical energies be harmonised? Peter Ellis discusses ETHICS — a new approach to the problem.
Darryl J. Ellis and Peter P. Pekar
Out of the minds of chief executives comes the direction the corporation will take—be it expansion into new markets, expansion of current operations, acquisition of new lines of…
Abstract
Out of the minds of chief executives comes the direction the corporation will take—be it expansion into new markets, expansion of current operations, acquisition of new lines of business, divestiture of selected business units, or contraction of certain operations. Two questions come to mind: How well prepared to make those decisions (in terms of breadth of background) are the men who fill these jobs? And, considering the environmental changes, can chief executives operate in the future as they have in the past? We believe that planning must and will, by the force of events, play a more vital role in the development and generation of CEOs.
Between 1983 and 1985 an international study into the nature of office quality was conducted by a team of researchers from Britain, the United States and Germany. The four‐volume…
Abstract
Between 1983 and 1985 an international study into the nature of office quality was conducted by a team of researchers from Britain, the United States and Germany. The four‐volume report of the study, which was supported by the Anglo‐German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society, has recently been published, and this article describes its main conclusions.
Darryl J. Ellis and Peter P. Pekar
Zero‐base budgeting (ZBB) provides top management with detailed information concerning the money needed to accomplish desired ends. Each expenditure is analyzed in terms of…
Abstract
Zero‐base budgeting (ZBB) provides top management with detailed information concerning the money needed to accomplish desired ends. Each expenditure is analyzed in terms of purpose and function to build a budget. ZBB spotlights redundancies and duplication of efforts among departments, focuses on dollars needed for programs rather than on the percentage increase (or decrease) from the previous year, specifies priorities within and among departments and divisions, and allows a performance audit to determine whether each activity or operation performs as desired.
Anthony J. Stone and Carol Rambo
Using a semi-autoethnographic layered account format, we present the voices of 16 Native American adults as they talk about their lives and Native American Caricature Iconography…
Abstract
Using a semi-autoethnographic layered account format, we present the voices of 16 Native American adults as they talk about their lives and Native American Caricature Iconography (NACI). First, we explore their impressions and lived experiences with “racial formation projects” such as tribal identification cards, blood quantum calculations, genocide, child removal, boarding schools, and reservations, to contextualize why some Native Americans interpret NACI as much more than “an honor,” “tradition,” or “just good fun.” Next, we explore the Native Americans' perceptions of sports mascots, cartoons, and sculpture, after exposing them to a series of eight images of NACI. We conclude that NACIs are racial formation projects as well. By unmindfully producing and consuming NACI, we fail to interrupt and reform the racial formation projects that continue to define us all.
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Darryl J. Ellis and Peter P. Pekar
Over the past 90 years, 50% of all mergers have been judged failures by the executives responsible for them.
Over the last 30 years many office planners and managers havedisregarded the people who work in offices, by being transfixed by thehardware. A research project conducted into the…
Abstract
Over the last 30 years many office planners and managers have disregarded the people who work in offices, by being transfixed by the hardware. A research project conducted into the way change is managed, in six large offices over a two‐year period, identified two types of change: extrinsic and intrinsic. Each was found to have a different status with facilities managers – extrinsic was seen as essential to organisational life and intrinsic as trivial and unrelated to organisational effectiveness. Examples of how these attitudes are formed and their negative impact on productivity are given and it is concluded that the trend towards greater individuality amongst individuals and their demands for greater autonomy at the workplace in the 1990s make it necessary for managers to provide some degree of intrinsic flexibility.