What is a revolution? According to the Oxford Dictionary it means either “a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system”  or “a dramatic and far-reaching change”.

Let us return to Gibson’s Steelcase book, there are 5 principles that should be taken into consideration in designing a 21st Century workplace (the 6 C’s):

Cost Efficiency: economic use of space, less emphasis on status and hierarchy,

Collaboration: the office should promote teamwork, exchange ideas, 

Communication and Concentration: the workplace should have a right balance between interaction and privacy, 

Complexity: as the complexity of work increases, the office should step away from standardization and offer multifunctional workstations to suit different tasks and activities,

Change: by having a flexible work environment the office can adapt quickly to changes in the organization and challenges,

Connectivity: provide the latest communications and information technology.

It is clear that these are the keys to creating a 21st century workplace. But will it create a revolution at work? A forceable overthrow of an order in favour of a new system? Some of the companies in Gibson’s examples such as Zero Knowledge Systems have either gone bust or in the case of Netscape has been broken up. Does this mean that all these ideas did not work? Or does it mean that some of the more traditional companies, succeeded despite or regardless of  their workplace design?

 

 

A few years ago Steelcase, the American furniture company published a coffee table book with the catchy title: “revolution at work.” The book was written by Rowan Gibson and focussed on social, technological and economical forces that, according to the book, are the driving forces of change in the workplace. The book looked at how companies around the world were addressing these forces to create a workplace culture that is basically employee orientated. Examples of how companies create these new workplaces include concierges at Texas Instruments who will fix cars while employees are at work, Netscape’s on-site dentist, Sun Micro’s dry cleaning service or Analytical Graphics who offer haircuts, massage and shoe shines. Is “revolution at work” a synonym of “perks at work”? 

So when recently the Financial Times reported that when Microsoft stopped providing towels in their toilets the staff noticed that something was about to change. Recent layoffs confirmed the paper for towel oracle. With ten of thousands of employees in any industry, even in some of the so-called recession proof industries losing their jobs, what about all those perks that Gibson noted in the book? Are the perks that provide the joy in the job? And: what is a revolution at work? Did it really happen? 

Yesterday I watched the classic Sergei Eisenstein‘s film The Battleship Potemkin and especially the scene were the sailors rebel against receiving maggot infested meat for their meals had me thinking whether a revolution at work, and today that means in the office, would at all be possible (or needed)? The idea of a revolution in an office is itself funny and brings to mind another great film, The Meaning of Life, by Monty Python. Specifically the scene where the old and weary office workers start a revolution by throwing their young and dashing managers out of the window. This to me is hilarious. The scene is funny because of the analogy used, slaves on a ship fighting their cruel masters. The idea of a mutiny in the office is funny, just like golf hooligans would be funny, as offices are not seen as places of violence or revolution, (nor is a golf course). The work might be boring, or tedious, but unlike some factory or construction work, it is not physically draining nor life threatening. In the same way I think like most films about soft drugs, think Cheech and Chong are funny, while those about hard drugs, such as Christiane F are rather depressing. 

So is a revolution at work a contradiction in terms?