The Office B.E. = Before Electronics
The pre-electronic work environment was like hand me down clothes, broken in but comfortable. Moving into an office with a new title the odds were good that everything worked the way they needed to for the job, like buying used textbooks, the important parts were already highlighted. The previous occupants had worked out the bugs and after some small personal adjustments your work space would function like a well-tuned production line.
What were those personal adjustments? Positioning your name plate facing out, moving the phone to your non-dominant hand side and placing a picture of your family on a bookcase behind you, that quick you were up and running! Before computers work spaces differed; at a glance you could tell between the accounting department, the art department and the office of the CEO, from the drawing tables, the stacks of ledgers and the wall filled with photos and awards.
Today’s work spaces are often androgynous and benefit from images that reinforce the mission of each work space, otherwise team structure dissolves into an amorphous blob because workers lose track of their roles within the whole.
Before electronics took over the workspace people were groomed for positions, not selected from Monster.com. They came up through the ranks like good soldiers and managers chose and trained their own replacements, looking for someone with skills and talents similar to their own.
Having your assistant work at your desk while you’re away was a way to see whether they could handle the job when you move upstairs. Management styles and personality types coincide and express themselves in office arrangement preferences. When a person works well at your desk they are probably a good fit for your job because you share personality traits.
When a troubleshooter takes over from a failing manager the chaos of the work space shows them where their predecessor lacked focus and control. The best solution is dramatically changing the work space arrangement to fit their management style and send the message there is a new Sheriff in town.
|
