Search Results for: management

September 28, 2018

The horrors and harmonies of workplace hierarchy

by Monica Parker • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

I am a child of the seventies, and one of my favourite shows when I was just a tyke was The Jeffersons. For those not familiar with The Jeffersons, it was about a black family in New York City who had, through ambition and entrepreneurship, ‘made it to the top’. George Jefferson, the patriarch, was a bolshie character. Hijinks usually ensued. But what stuck with me about that show was the catchy theme song, Movin’ On Up. The lyrics were ‘I’m movin’ on up, to the upper east side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky… I finally got a piece of the pie.’ Growing up in suburbia, this was probably the first time that I learned the idea of a penthouse, and the notion that the higher up the building, the more important you were. It wasn’t until I was about age eight that I realised the word wasn’t ‘high-archy’, but ‘hierarchy.’

September 28, 2018

Change of mindset can transform workplace performance says Smart Summit

by Sara Bean • Events, Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Changing mindsets and the workplace through co-creative leadership was the theme of the latest Quora Smartworking Summit which took place this week at ExCeL London. Hosted by Quora’s Managing Director John Blackwell, the event featured a distinguished group of senior leaders who discussed under Chatham House rules, how they have helped change their organisation’s mindsets using leadership styles aimed at achieving successful work performance transformations.

September 25, 2018

Around half of workers expect to have multiple careers throughout their working life

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Just under half of UK workers (46 percent) expect to have multiple careers throughout their working life, as opposed to one structured and lifelong career, according to a new report from employee benefits firm Unum and researcher The Future Laboratory. The Future Workforce (registration required) sets out to examine the motivations and priorities of UK workers, to understand how the nation’s workforce will change over the next decade. Insights were drawn from a survey of more than 3,000 UK workers, as well as from interviews with a range of industry experts and business leaders.

September 24, 2018

Busy people tend to make healthier choices and enjoy more self-esteem

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

Busyness is often thought of as a modern day affliction, but it can also help you delay gratification and make decisions that benefit you in the longer-term, according to new research from the global business school INSEAD. In a new paper, Chattopadhyay and his co-authors, Monica Wadhwa, Associate Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Fox School of Business at Temple University and Jeehye Christine Kim, Assistant Professor of Marketing at HKUST, show that the mere perception of being one of the busy people, or what they call a busy mindset, is a “badge of honour” that can be leveraged to promote better self-control. Their paper, titled “When Busy Is Less Indulging: Impact of a Busy Mindset on Self-Control Behaviours”, has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

September 24, 2018

It is not particularly easy to change human behaviour by design

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

Many of the techniques employed by modern illusionists rely on a thorough grounding in the research of psychologists. They’re not alone in standing on the shoulders of academics to bend people to their will. Many of our beliefs about the workings of our society and workplaces and their design are based on this sort of manipulation. It’s telling that the growth of consumerism in the 20th Century, especially after the War when we first began to move from a needs based economy to one fuelled by desire, was driven by the ideas of Sigmund Freud’s nephew. Edward Bernays became the ‘father of PR’ by popularising his uncle’s theories in the US then applying them to mould the subconscious desires of the American masses. He did this not just in the name of commerce but also in that of politics because he believed that society was becoming increasingly irrational, immoral and dangerous.

September 24, 2018

Quarter of employees say they have experienced a data security breach

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

New research by 247meeting claims to have uncovered worrying lapses in data security in the workplace, with senior management often being the biggest culprits. According to the report: a quarter of senior managers have experienced a stranger on a conference call; 26 percent of employees with access to customer data haven’t been trained on GDPR; over a third of employees don’t know where their security policy is saved; and almost half of employees admit to using technology tools to communicate at work without them being password protected

September 21, 2018

When workplace strategy builds bridges between people and place

by Chris Kane • Features, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

The world of work is changing rapidly and profoundly in a way that we haven’t seen since the time of the industrial revolution. Yet even as we stand at a momentous, game-changing inflexion point, the 21st century workplace strategy sector is still dithering about whether to join in the revolution. They are like the industrial mill owners of 19th century England who adopted a ‘make do and mend’ approach to business and failed to invest in new technology only to be forced out of business by foreign competitors who had invested in radical new, state of the art technology.Today the technological game changer is digital technology rather than weaving technology, but the effect is the same. Unless the workplace strategy sector embraces change and builds bridges between the ‘people’ side of the business and the ‘place’ side with other workplace specialists, their industry will become as dead as a dodo.

September 20, 2018

Digital Board could help Local Authorities deliver smart initiatives

by Sara Bean • AI, Cities, News, Public Sector, Technology

Local authorities, which are on the front line of implementation when it comes to smart, place-based digital initiatives could be helped to deliver positive, sustainable citizen outcomes for their locality with the formation of a Digital Board – a new report claims. Launched at techUK’s Local Gov Transformation: Creating smart places event, What makes a ‘good’ Digital Board? draws upon the expertise of techUK industry members and public sector stakeholders to guide local authorities through building a stronger understanding of digital, data and technological solutions into decision-making levels by establishing and maintaining a good Digital Board. More →

September 19, 2018

The main challenge of modern working life: finding the place just right to meet ⁰

by Jim Ware • Facilities management, Features, Flexible working, Work&Place, Workplace design

Every physical setting sends distinct signals to meeting participants – signals that set the tone and provide a context for the conversation, even when they are subtle or not in anyone’s conscious awareness. You understand instinctively that the place where a meeting occurs has an impact on the nature of the conversation. Just imagine the difference between a conversation around a large formal conference table with expensive executive chairs and one that takes place in an informal employee lounge, with the participants seated in a circle on soft bean-bag chairs. More →

September 19, 2018

New report aims to debunk myth that AI will be intrinsically bad for people at work

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology

The latest report that claims to debunk the myths surrounding AI in the workplace arrives from Tata Communications who worked with academics at UC Berkeley to interview 120 business leaders about their attitudes to AI. The report, AI and the Future of Work (registration required) claims to shift ‘the conversation from dystopian fears toward human collaboration and cognitive diversity, the study identifies how AI can diversify human thinking rather than replace it. The study identifies opportunities for businesses and employees based on insights from leaders such as Tony Blair, Executive Chair of the Institute of Global Change and former UK Prime Minister, who predicts that, AI will allow us to do what it is that we are uniquely meant to do: focus on high-level thinking, strategy, and paving the way for innovation.’

September 19, 2018

RICS announces standards to tackle unfair commercial property service charges

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Legal news, News, Property

New mandatory requirements that will ensure service charges to commercial tenants are transparent, upfront and fair, and that any costs incurred are in accordance with the terms of the occupational leases, have been announced by RICS. The Institute, which has long called for a fairer and more professional approach to property management to help outlaw “rogue” landlords and managing agents says ‘Service charges in commercial property’ will help regulate the activities of landlords and their agents, whilst protecting tenants from having to pay for unscrupulous repair or maintenance costs. It has worked with major property bodies representing owners, occupiers and managing agents – including BPF, BRC, BCO, PMA, CoreNet, REVO, PMA alongside ICAEW and Law Society, the professional bodies for accountants and lawyers – to produce the recommendations that reflect the needs and opinions of landlords and tenants and the specific considerations of different sectors.

September 18, 2018

Half of all workplace tasks will be performed by machines within seven years

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

The world is going through a workplace revolution that will bring a seismic shift in the way humans work alongside machines and algorithms, according to new research by the World Economic Forum. By 2025 more than half of all current workplace tasks will be performed by machines as opposed to 29 percent today. Such a transformation will have a profound effect on the global labour force, however in terms of overall numbers of new jobs the outlook is positive, with 133 million new jobs expected to be created by 2022 compared to 75 million that will be displaced. The research, published in The Future of Jobs 2018, is an attempt to understand the potential of new technologies to disrupt and create jobs. It is also seeks to provide guidance on how to improve the quality and productivity of the current work being done by humans and how to prepare people for emerging roles.