Office21 Project - Innovation Campaign

Fraunhofer IAO 1

Project Description Office 21®

Innovation Campaign

Office 21®

Project Description

Projektbeschreibung Office 21®

Fraunhofer IAO 2

Fraunhofer IAO 1


Table of Contents

1. Working in the Knowledge Society ............................................................................. 2 1.1 Information and knowledge as resources in our economy....................................... 2 1.2 Making Work Flexible............................................................................................. 3 1.3 Interface For Company Processes – The Office ........................................................ 3

2. Innovation Campaign and Conjoint Research Project Office 21®............................... 4 2.1 Objectives .............................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Target Group ......................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Research in a Conjoint Project ................................................................................ 5 2.4 Elements ................................................................................................................ 6

3. Current Research Topics for the Period 2004-2006 ................................................... 10 3.1 International Office Survey ................................................................................... 10 3.2 Real Estate User Check ......................................................................................... 11 3.3 Office Branding .................................................................................................... 12 3.4 Communication & Future Meeting Room ............................................................. 13

4. Selected Research Findings ......................................................................................... 14 4.1 Office Performance Study..................................................................................... 14 4.2 „Office Performance Check“ Methodology .......................................................... 16 4.3 „E-Work“ User Study ........................................................................................... 17 4.4 „Soft Success Factors“ Study and the „Office Environment Check“ Methodology 19 4.5 Knowledge Work in the Office in 2012 – Genius II Scenario ................................. 20

5. Duration, Costs and Contact ....................................................................................... 22


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1. Working in the Knowledge Society

1.1 Information and knowledge as resources in our economy

The change to a knowledge society is complete. Today, both a modern economy’s ability to survive and the survival of enterprises depends on whether they quickly recognise trends in consumer demands, know about new market potentials or improved production processes and develop revolutionary innovations.

Information and knowledge have become crucial factors in almost all hu-man activities. At the same time, the amount of knowledge available in-creases exponentially in both horizontal – through new fields of research and activities – and vertical directions – through the deepening of knowl-edge in ever smaller special areas. The result is that an individual is no longer able to acquire the entire knowledge of one special area or under-stand the complex connections by himself.

10 %

20 %

30 %

40 %

50 %

60 %

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

In fo rm atio n related jo b s

Pro d u ctionAg ricultu re

Service in d u stries

Prognosis

Q uelle: IAB, 2003

Share of em ployees

• Increase of information-related professions in the percentage of all employees in Germany

Today, knowledge is the central object of economic processes. For exam-ple, practically every high-quality product and service includes a huge por-tion of the factor of knowledge today. This is true for trivial consumer goods as well as for high tech products. For example, even our basic nutri-tion contains knowledge about production, processing, packing, transport, marketing and distribution. The factor of knowledge is even more obvious in products from the information and communication industries. Thus, the portion of the costs for material resources of a semi-conductor chip is only about 1 to 3%. This means that the portion of the population who mainly do knowledge work also increases enormously.

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1.2 Making Work Flexible

Whereas office work was previously determined by mainly fixed working hours, fixed locations and central company structures, successful work in an increasingly globalised knowledge society demands a high level of flexi-bility. Shorter life cycles for products, accelerated development processes and an increasing individualisation of clients and products demand a high level of mobility and communication. Technological advances in the field of information and communication technology as well as modified manage-ment and leadership tools allow us fascinating opportunities of working in a three-dimensional field of action.

While so far the maxim was “Work in a fixed structure at a fixed place and at a fixed time”, innovative information and communication technologies now allow for “work with anyone, where and whenever you want”.

unstressed hierarchies

flexible interdisciplinary teams

process and project work

Ad hoc work

agreement on objectives MBO

individual responsibility forcomplex tasks

digitalisation and work withlittle paper involved

work and spare time come together

»Work in predetermined place

for a set time!«


for a set time!«

hierarchic enterprises

inflexible departmentalstructures

specialised individual work

predetermined working times

attendance checks

individual instructions forwork

masses of paper

separation of work and spare time

plac

eti

me

structure

flexible

mobile

»Work where and whenever you want!«


decentralised

unstressed hierarchies

flexible interdisciplinary teams

process and project work

Ad hoc work

agreement on objectives MBO

individual responsibility forcomplex tasks

digitalisation and work withlittle paper involved

work and spare time come together


for a set time!«


for a set time!«

hierarchic enterprises

inflexible departmentalstructures

specialised individual work

predetermined working times

attendance checks

individual instructions forwork

masses of paper

separation of work and spare time

plac

eti

me

structure

flexible

mobile



decentralised

• Three-dimensional field of action for work

1.3 Interface For Company Processes – The Office

Production has undergone an extremely vehement and lasting increase of productivity during the last century in the companies located in highly-developed industrialised countries. Little of that was noticeable in the of-fices. Although processes changed here, too, with the introduction of the computer and later of PCs, but in how far this actually made office work more productive is still controversial. If at all, then productivity has devel-oped in a more evolutionary way and is still waiting for the big jump.

True innovation is needed to come to a quantum leap in the development of office work. We need ideas and initiatives that are suitable to redesign the placid offices with long, grey corridors and turn them into centres of creativity and innovation. It is obvious that we can only be successful in Germany if we use the intellectual potential of our knowledge workers in a highly efficient and effective way. In a knowledge society, the office has become the crucial point of interaction for company processes, we need a


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comprehensive culture of innovation and the accompanying outside condi-tions to realise the necessary performance.

• Creative space for the knowledge society, Fraunhofer Office Innovation Center, Stuttgart

2. Innovation Campaign and Conjoint Research Project Office 21®

2.1 Objectives

The dramatic changes in the working world and the troubled economic prospects show that waiting for improvements from outside cannot lead to entrepreneurial success. Waiting means not using time and chances.

However, such critical times should be reason enough to think about an in-crease in efficiency and productivity now, to anticipate and put into prac-tice innovative concepts and products for successful office work. Long-term innovative strategies should not be neglected in favour of short-term, op-erative preferences.

Office 21® is concerned with the working worlds of the future. System so-lutions for future office systems are designed which do justice to the users and the increasing demands made on creativity, innovation, information technological support and economy. Fascinating worlds of work an office scenarios are anticipated which boost communication and networking be-tween the individual functional areas (R&D, Marketing, Development, Sale etc.), integrate modern knowledge workers and reflect the paradigm of flexibility with respect to structure of work (centralised/decentralised), place of work (fixed/mobile) and working hours (fixed/flexible).

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What will the office of the future actually look like, what is work like there, which organisational and technical conditions are predominant, and which technologies are going to change the world of work, office and real es-tate?

The results from the conjoint research project Office 21® actively support our partner companies in coping with the entrepreneurial challenges in a changing working world.

2.2 Target Group

The conjoint research project Office 21® is directed at planners, developers and producers of communication and office solutions and also at compa-nies and organisations that would like to exploit the substantial potential for optimisation offered by the future-oriented, spatial-structural, organisa-tional and technological solutions for performance in knowledge work through their numerous offices.

2.3 Research in a Conjoint Project

Office 21® was launched in 1996 as a conjoint research project by the Fraunhofer IAO in order to research questions about the future of the world of work and offices in an integrated approach together with com-petitors and complementing partner enterprises. The underlying under-standing of the co-operative approach within such a union contributes to advancing the innovation processes in a major way and serves to set con-scious and target-oriented marking points in the common practical realisa-tion of insights gained from this research. The different experiences and perspectives from the different enterprises in connection with top-level re-search makes for an enormous power in the expansively designed realisa-tion of new concepts and solutions.


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Next Generation Internet

Entwicklung

Entwicklung

Founded as a conjoint project across several industrial sectors

Opening of theOffice Innovation Center in Stuttgart

Development of the global scenariosMETROPOLIS, EDEN and ORION

Furtherdevelopementof the GENIUS scenario

ImmoCheckOffice Commander COMETSpace Move

Summary publication in the OFFICE 21® book

Opening of the Interactive CreativityLandscape 2001

»Office Performance«

New book OFFICE 21®

Technology roadmap 2012

Further scenario developementGENIUS II

1996 – 1998 1998 – 2000 2000 – 2002 2002 – 2004 . . . . 1996 – 1998 1998 – 2000 2000 – 2002 2002 – 2004 . . . .

• Overview over results and solutions from previous completed research periods

2.4 Elements

The following elements serve to make this conjoint project a powerful and dynamic initiative that makes important contributions to the innovative de-velopment within the partner enterprises.

Office 21® Research

Well-founded academic methodology helps to outline and anticipate the future of knowledge work. This advantage in knowledge offers our part-ners the chance to make decisions regarding specific and strategic meas-ures long before the competition does, and thus to contribute to innova-tion and company success.

Project leadership and management in Office 21® are exercised by the Fraunhofer IAO. The interdisciplinary project team concentrates the know-how found in different areas of Fraunhofer IAO with a view to the target. The interaction of longstanding project experience and innovative ideas is an essential feature of the competence for problem solving in the Of-fice 21® project team. Other experts support the project team with their specialised knowledge and their core competencies in specific questions and tasks.

Applied research as the scientists at the Fraunhofer IAO perceive it always means concrete concepts and methods, too, such as e.g. the development of the „Office Performance Check“ or the „Office Environment Check“. These may directly be used by our research partners in their operative busi-nesses and develop their effects.

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Office 21® Meeting, Executive Forums and Best Practice Tours

The project co-ordination by the partners is ensured in the framework of national and international project co-ordination meetings. The researchers of IAO present progress and results from the different topic areas, these are discussed and matched with the partners’ expectations, and strategic decisions about the direction the project is to pursue are made.

The continual world-wide analysis of best practice examples and the pro-ject co-ordination meetings that take place three times per year make it possible to personally view and experience unique and outstanding object examples in organised sight-seeing tours. The 2-day-events are comple-mented by an Office 21® executive forum featuring lectures by interna-tional experts. We thus were already able to allow our project partners ex-clusive insights into the office and real estate trends in European locations such as e.g. Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, London and Stockholm. In addition to a lot of very valuable information on the specific conditions in the different countries, the representatives from our partner enterprises were also able to take home a wealth of new ideas and suggestions.

• Smart Office at the Deutsche Bank, London

• e-office, London


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Office 21® Networking

Office 21® has become a platform for the leading players in the world of office and real estate, and offers and exclusive framework for making and maintaining strategic contacts. Our research partners often use the execu-tive forums and best practice tours to invite their own business partners and to kindle enthusiasm for the ideas from this future topic in top-flight groups.

The conscious networking in Office 21® acts as a strong catalyst for the business relations in our partner enterprises and continues to produce very successful bilateral developments.

Office 21®-Public Relations

In the public view, the Office 21® label stands for visions and solutions for the office and real estate management industries that can safely face the future and therefore has become a powerful marketing tool for the project partners. Since Office 21®, participates in the most important fairs and events and also regularly publishes in renowned trade journals as well as the daily press, the reputation of the project partners as innovative enter-prises is clearly underlined.

The response to our PR activities shows that Office 21® gained a high level of popularity both among specialists and in the public. In addition to our internet performance, many publications, congresses, fairs etc. pointed out Office 21®.

• Office 21® homepage

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Approximately 350 articles and publications in the daily press, more than 300 articles and publications in trade journals, 30 TV appearances, 25 radio programmes, numerous publications in books and the publication of two books on Office 21® are an impressive end result for a research project. Furthermore, contents of Office 21® were presented by our scientists in approx. 750 lectures, on 30 stands at renowned fairs and in almost 30 Of-fice 21® events.

• The new book was published as a bi-lingual edition in German and English in March 2004 (ISBN 3-8025-1625-7, vgs-verlag, Cologne).

• „New Work, Büroarbeit in globalen Netzwerken“ [New work. Office work in global networks] in: Hascher, R., u. a. (eds.): Entwurfsatlas Bürobau , Basel 2002, pg. 29-31

• „Das Büro – Gelöst von Ort und Zeit“ [The office – free of time and place] in: Warnecke H.-J., Bullinger, H.-J. (eds.): Kunststück Innovation, Berlin, 2002, pg. 227-234

Set elements in our diaries for the research period from 2004 to 2006 are

• Fraunhofer Days of Real Estate and the • Office 21® Future Forum.

These two forum events offer a wide specialist audience the opportunity to access selected information about the Office 21® research in connection with other lectures by outstanding experts from the same thematic field. Decision makers and opinion makers from innovative enterprises and or-ganisations regularly meet on these occasions.


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3. Current Research Topics for the Period 2004-2006

Four new and highly relevant topic areas were identified in co-operation with our partners and form the basis for our work during the project pe-riod from 2004 to 2006.

3.1 International Office Survey

Our partner enterprises and their customers increasingly realise their busi-ness success on an international level. Not only products, but also a rising number of complex services such as planning, consulting and development are completed in distributed work process in different locations in the world. In the meantime, office jobs are transferred across country bounda-ries with enormous speed, or are newly created in the new member states of the EU or in the so-called threshold countries and tiger states, tempted by the huge growth ratios and differing job market conditions. What changes in office work are caused by this development in the established countries and regions like the USA and Central, South and North Europe?

Our case study „International Office Survey“ intends to determine specifics and common factors in the types of work and office design in these mar-kets. The case study will show trends of a possible „World Office Culture“ as well as reasons and backgrounds for differences, but is will also develop recommendations for action. A comparative analysis of economical basic data, work cultures, standards for work and work places, and structures and use of modern information and communication technologies, a unique instrument is provided for enterprises active on international markets as well as for the suppliers of office and real estate solutions.

economic/ industry-specific data


cultureof work, human factors


office designand organisation


standardsof work

standardsof work

information-work, iactechnologies


Office Design and Office Work in Global Comparison

trendstrends best practiceexamples

best practiceexamples

analysis of difference


suggestionsfor action








standardsof work

standardsof work



Office Design and Office Work in Global Comparison













• Fields of research in the „International Office Survey“

For our research, we will employ on the already existing network with European and international institutes and consulting firms and integrate the Office 21® partner enterprises, too, to ensure immediate use of results for them as much as possible.

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It is our aim to publish a world-wide recognised study which will be con-ducted regularly and have a leitmotif character among international experts for the design of performing worlds of work, office and real estate.

3.2 Real Estate User Check

The typical user of office real estate does not exist anymore. User demands on office space and real estate have become extremely individualised and varied according to the industrial sector, the size of the company, the or-ganisational structure, the working methods and many other criteria. Po-tential users face the difficulty of defining the ideal piece of real estate that ideally supports their special work demands. Developers and suppliers of office space are uncertain as to the qualities, potentials and suitability of their objects, or do not have the opportunity to evaluate and display them in a neutral and scientifically sound way. The „Immobilien-Nutzer-Check“ (Real Estate User Check, INC) is based on elements from the previously de-veloped „Office 21®-ImmoCheck“ and the insights gained from the real es-tate user analysis. The evaluation criteria are complemented and updated with results from the studies on „Soft Success Factors“, the „Office Per-formance“ and the focus topic „Office Branding“. In addition to this, crite-ria for a monetary evaluation are being introduced.

dem

ands

and

user

prof

ile

real estateand

officequality

Software Tool

INC

General data, facts, indexes


cost and conditionscost and conditions

locationlocation

buildingcharacteristics


building technologybuilding technology

central and generalservices


demands on thearea

demands on thearea


locationlocation






dem

ands

and

user

prof

ile

real estateand

officequality

Software Tool

INC




locationlocation






demands on thearea

demands on thearea


locationlocation






• General layout of the „Real Estate User Check“ (INC)

As a software-based tool, the „Real Estate User Check“ can both be used for the identification of a suitable user group for an existing piece of office real estate and for a user-oriented concept and design of new office build-ings.

The „Real Estate User Check“ is a unique tool to evaluate and comprehen-sively assess the area of tension between the quality of the building, the user demands and the cost systematically and in a scientifically sound way.


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Our partners from the fields of real estate and property can use the „Real Estate User Check“ for a facilitated evaluation and quality documentation of their products. Partners with a high amount of office space will find a tool that supports them assessing the suitability of space and property in the operative premise management and carrying out re-structuring proc-esses.

3.3 Office Branding

Many office buildings lack any kind of difference to other kinds of prop-erty, and there is no discernible independent profile. This flaw is found both in the external effect and the interior. Corporate design in the sense of a characteristic corporate identity, on the other hand, is very consciously used by many enterprises as an important aspect of the external and inter-nal self-representation. Thus, taking these aspects into account increasingly develops into a key criteria for the sale or the successful renting of office buildings. The possibilities range from architecture to design and layout of office space to innovative organisational and technical elements. A major role is assigned to the integration of the latest solutions in information and communication technologies which do not only revolutionise the processes in the office, but may also a crucial influence on corporate culture.

Such criteria clearly gain importance in the assessment of real estate and take us to a new value-oriented evaluation. At this point, there is only very little understanding of the connections and mutual effects and mechanisms of this theme that has such a high relevancy for the future. There are only some isolated examples that show how this important aspect was exten-sively taken into account and successfully carried out.

• City Quartier DomAquarée“, new construction project of „DIFA“ in the centre of Berlin including elements of „Office Branding“

Office 21® shall develop a catalogue of criteria by means of world-wide best practice analyses, surveys among experts and the scenario technique. This catalogue will act as a guideline for action, allowing recommendations for the design and development of office real estate.

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3.4 Communication & Future Meeting Room

Communication supplies information and knowledge, and continually cre-ates new information and extended knowledge through the process of ex-change. Communication is regarded as the key factor for innovation. The success and the preparation for the future of a company depends to a cru-cial extent on the quality and speed with which knowledge and informa-tion is exchanged, as well as on the integration of mobile information car-riers.

Although knowledge workers spend up to a third of their working time (the percentage of working time is much higher in management positions) with communication and in meetings, this aspect was considered to a sur-prisingly little extent, and it has also almost completely escaped scientific attention.

Because of a continually falling number of standard processes, experts ex-pect a further increase of the communicative percentage in working and in reaching goals. A first indication on the effects such a development brings is offered, for example, in a survey by Dresdner Bank Research that comes to the conclusion that the share of traditional office space in Germany has decreased by more than 8% in the last five years in favour of seminar rooms and community or traffic areas.

In research on the focus topic „Communication & Future Meeting Room“, we will systematically and extensively explore the technological organisa-tional components of interpersonal communication in the office in order to find deductions for the concepts of communication areas and rooms. It is our aim to anticipate working landscapes for a clearly more efficient and effective synchronous communication between staff, teams, external peo-ple and knowledge carriers working as mobile members of staff. A main focus will be the consolidation of formal and informal communication through a structural design of meeting rooms with different characteristics, traffic areas and crossroads, as well as the integration of state-of-the-art media and technologies used to integrate those members of staff who are not at the office, but at home, at a client’s or on the road.


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communicationprocesses

performance

projection ans displays

corporateculture

employees and team

innovationand creativity

intelligent rooms

instruments and tools

multimedial interaction

distributedteams

architecture and equipment

futuremeeting room

organisation technology communication

processesperformance

projection ans displays

corporateculture

employees and team

innovationand creativity

intelligent rooms

instruments and tools

multimedial interaction

distributedteams

architecture and equipment

futuremeeting room

organisation technology organisationorganisation technology technology

• Overview of the research criteria for the „Communication & Future Meeting Room“

A crucial element of success that allows people to speed up decision mak-ing and processes in an increasingly more networked working environment are an intelligent concept and an optimised equipment for the meeting rooms. At this point, there is a large number of individual solutions such as multi-functional walls or virtual reality environments, but so far, there is no integral concept for a meeting room or a meeting landscape of the future that brings all these ideas and variations together.

The „Future Meeting Room“, designed according to the latest insights and state-of-the-art technologies will become real in a new release of the Of-fice Innovation Center on the campus of the Fraunhofer Society in 2007. The results from the current research period and the innovations from the project partners will play the main roles in this venture.

4. Selected Research Findings

A look back to the completed research periods so far document a very positive balance. The studies conducted so far and the methods that were developed are still unwaveringly and increasingly valid and relevant today, and thus confirm the relevancy in the future the Office 21® activities lay claim to. A small selection of main points of emphasis and some topic ar-eas from previous years is presented in the following, topics that still influ-ence the basis and the knowledge pool of the Office 21® association.

4.1 Office Performance Study

Topics such as an increase in efficiency and the optimisation of costs are a central focus of many operational process. So far, the efforts towards more productivity has often stopped short before the offices. It seemed to be too

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difficult, almost impossible, to develop conclusive strategies for an increase in production for this field, where immaterial goods are produced in a complex environment. Questions about the actual reasons, the driving in-fluences and the obstacles for a high productivity could not be answered as yet.

First answers are now found in the results from our empirical study called „Office Performance“. The study’s aim was to take up these complex ques-tions, examine the connection of effects and to determine a scale of as-sessment for different influencing factors in order to identify central fields of action for a strategic productivity management that supports perform-ance in the office.

The following illustration shows the eight fields of action identified so far which have the most positive or negative effect on the performance in the office.

positive connectionnegative connection

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Regression analysis for Office Performance Index [iperf][R2 = 67,1 %]

very stronginfluence ß

no influenceß

p < 0.001 ***

unnecessa

rydiffi

culties

workmotiva

tion

work -life -bala

nce

access

to inform

ation

recognitio

n of

workach

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ents

knowled

ge

0.300.27

0.19 0.18

0.06

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0.05

team

atmosphere

total number

of disru

ptions

positive connectionnegative connection

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Regression analysis for Office Performance Index [iperf][R2 = 67,1 %]

very stronginfluence ß

no influenceß

p < 0.001 ***

unnecessa

rydiffi

culties

workmotiva

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work -life -bala

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ents

knowled

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0.300.27

0.19 0.18

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0.120.15

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atmosphere

total number

of disru

ptions

• The eight most important core factors of productivity in the office

The study shows that there is an enormous potential for productivity in of-fice work, a potential that can be reached once specific measures are taken after a systematic analysis. There are 5 recommendations for action that can be phrased like this:

1. Keep lean!

2. Promote emotional factors!

3. Push knowledge management!

4. Re-think room structures!

5. Keep the desire to innovate!


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4.2 „Office Performance Check“ Methodology

Based on the findings from the „Office Performance“ study and other re-search, the „Office Performance Check“ was developed at Fraunhofer IAO. The aim was to analyse the performance of individual units in the company by means of a software-based tool and to show fields of design to increase performance.

Today, the „Office Performance Check“ is available as a software-based tool to show the crucial influencing factors in the so-called Office Perform-ance for both the current situation and the intended one, and to show po-tential for action.

On the basis of the current and intended values for the respective company units, the methodology is now used to determine the global index for Of-fice Performance as well as the individual part indexes. A separate evalua-tion tool allows users to display the results in a general tableau or to re-quest more graphically adapted detail analyses.

• Screen display of the „Office Performance Check“, details for cluster

The representation in portfolio form explain the situation that was found and show the starting points for improvements.

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• Screen display „Office Performance Check“, work portfolio

The use of this unique tool so far have shown that such an approach for the analysis and design of work processes in the office, substantial poten-tial for an increase of productivity can be released.

4.3 „E-Work“ User Study

What influence does modern information technology have on the per-formance in the office? Can a well-directed design of IT support further improve productivity and satisfaction of staff? Do current and future tech-nologies really offer productivity advantages to their users?

In an empirical study during which about 1,500 users were questioned, the Fraunhofer IAO examined the question of how new information and com-munication technology (ICT) should be designed in order to arrive at the best possible benefit.

Among other things, the study showed that the use of information and communication technology influences the performance in the office. There is a highly significant, very positive connection. Users who positively assess the technological support they are given claim to reach a higher perform-ance because of their IT equipment than they would be able to reach with-out it. Users can complete their work more efficiently, the co-operation in the team becomes more productive and the quality of the work rises. From a user perspective, it is clear that the quality of IT is important and finds expression in economic terms in the form of higher performance.


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• Future trend: flexible e-ink transparency by Philips

Another result from the study is that there are not only technical and eco-nomical aspects to be observed in the introduction of new technologies, but emotional factors, too. There is a strong connection between the qual-ity of information and communication technology and positive emotions at the workplace. The staff feels better with suitable IT at their workplace, there is a better atmosphere, the staff is more content and more motivated in their work. Other Office 21® studies showed that the emotional aspect especially has a crucial influence on the productivity of work in the office as a hygienic factor. The e-work user study also shows that target- and user-oriented information technological equipment significantly contributes to the improvement of emotional factors and thus to the improvement of mo-tivation.

• Concept sketch for a user-friendly, wireless docking station by MobileWise

The users questioned for the study apparently found additional require-ments for important technological characteristics. Asked about the three most important starting points for an improvement of the available infor-mation and communication technologies, the vast majority of users listed stability, user-friendliness and error absence, followed by the performance of the technology. Manufacturers and those responsible for information and communication technology obviously still have to do some basic work, not least because of the fact that these potentials for improvements are almost identical with the users’ acceptance factors. What is needed is a

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quality campaign in close co-operation of manufacturers, users, science and those in the companies responsible for the technology.

0 25 50 75

performance

stability

integration of end output devices

absence of errors

hours of use, power supply

user friendliness

help and support

functionality

state-of-the-art equipment

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7,46%

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9,21%

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75,20%

55,17%

62,97%

14,52%

23,45%

18,28%

0 25 50 75

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integration of end output devices

absence of errors

hours of use, power supply

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55,17%

62,97%

14,52%

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18,28%

• Potential for improvement from a user perspective

4.4 „Soft Success Factors“ Study and the „Office Environment Check“ Methodology

The enormous influence of so-called soft factors is undisputed in all areas of work, in the communication between business partners, in the make-up of the work atmosphere, but also in the design of the work environment and the work organisation. However, as soon as the demands made on an office exceed the purely functional and cost-minimised fulfilment of a cer-tain purpose, and these soft factors are to be discussed and assessed in the course of the construction, furnishing and the operation of offices, there is huge uncertainty discernible among all the parties involved. Often, such measures are rather left out because of this, leaving considerable opportu-nity unexploited.

One goal for the development of the software-based tool „Office Environ-ment Check“ was therefore to create a tool that can be used for the „quality analysis and assessment of office environments“, taking special account of the „soft design factors“. As a reference for the development of a generally valid model of calculation, the results from the empirical Of-fice 21® study on „Soft Success Factors“ were to be used.

This tool now allows both an analysis and assessment of individual offices as well as a summary and summary evaluation of larger conglomerations of space and real estate.

In addition to object-specific data, the actual part of the analysis consists of a total of 34 questions distributed across the following topics:

• Room dimension, • Materials, • Integration of technology ,


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• Functinality & ergonomics , • Presence, • Noise, • Comfortable viewing, • Atmosphere & smell, • Individualisation, • Outlook, • Supplementary factors (optional).

• Exemplary representation of a results‘ profile in an „Office Environment Check“ analysis

The final result is calculated and displayed in the form of a global index („Global index for office quality“). This is done by taking specific evaluation factors into account which in turn are determined through the results of the Office 21® „Soft Success Factors“ study. Those individual criteria with the best or the worst values are explicitly displayed to show starting points for improvement. It will be possible to display the entire analysis profile for the evaluation.

4.5 Knowledge Work in the Office in 2012 – Genius II Scenario

Many developments in the future depiction of knowledge work-to-be, pre-sented by means of a scenario (Genius I) have now, six years later, already come true or are in fairly close proximity. One indication of how precisely the Office 21® team developed the image and how much stress was placed in applied research.

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• Image from the Genius II scenario

In the next years, technology will continue to develop rapidly. The com-puter will probably be generally valid, but at the same time will not be visi-ble anymore because of the further miniaturisation. High-resolution dis-plays, voice input and gesture recognition are the interfaces between hu-mans and machines. But many habits will remain constant: the newspaper in the morning, the way to the office so one can find some distance from the family, the traffic jam, the personal conversation with colleagues, the cup of coffee, time pressure in project work and human errors. Even the latest software and the most progressive network are ineffective if the knowledge workers are not motivated. And therefore, the human beings themselves shall return to the centre of the company. Their creativity is the basis for success. New concepts to increase creativity and inspiration to raise the emotional and physical performance shall have a lasting impres-sion on the architecture and thus on the office.

Between those poles of revolutionary change and the basic human desires and characteristics, the Genius II scenario is situated. The scenario resumes the first Office 21® future scenario, and was methodically developed fur-ther from that point to allow our partners, their staff and their customers a continued image of the future of knowledge work in the office.


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5. Duration, Costs and Contact

Duration: Each research year lasts from April 1st of one year to March 31st of the following year.

Contractual obligation lasts for two years with an option to ex-tend.

Costs: EUR 33,500 per year, 50% of which is due on May 1st, the other 50% on November 30th of that calendar year

Contact: Prof. Dr. Peter Kern

Phone +49 (0) 711 / 9 70-22 00

[email protected]

Dr. Wilhelm Bauer

Phone +49 (0) 7 11 / 9 70-20 90

[email protected]

Stefan Rief

Phone +49 (0) 7 11 / 9 70-54 79

Fax +49 (0) 7 11 / 9 70-54 61

[email protected]

http://www.office21.de

Imprint © 2004 Fraunhofer Institute for

Industrial Engineering and Organisation IAO

Nobelstrasse 12

D-70569 Stuttgart


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Office 21®-Project Partners:

FinanzIT GmbHFinanzIT GmbH

Office21 Project - Innovation Campaign

Documents

project description

office branding

office performance study

innovation campaign

knowledge work

knowledge society

international office

knowledge available