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?