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3. Literature analysis
This chapter elaborates on what is found in the literature on ICT developments leading to
time and place independence of work (also known as NWW), and how this affects the organization
and its workplaces.
3.1 General overview of new ways of working (NWW)
In the previous century, several studies have been performed on the relationship between
the
organization
and its
workplace
. Davis (1984) has investigated the influence of the physical
environment in offices on behavior. Allen and Gerstberger (1973) were one of the first to write about
open, non-territorial offices. Later on, other research also focused on the pros and cons of open
offices in organizations (e.g. Oldham and Brass, 1979; Wineman, 1986; Brill and Weidemann, 2001;
Brennan et al., 2002; Maher and Von Hippel, 2005; Veitch et al., 2007). Wallace (1941) concluded
that people desire their own territory, which will disappear with an open and flexible workplace.
Employees can face all kind of inconveniences, such as aural distractions and perceived privacy
(Ferguson and Weisman, 1986). Ease of communication and opportunities for interaction will
increase (Wineman, 1986), but at the same time there need to be possibilities for private and
confidential conversations (Sundstrom et al., 1982). On the other hand, the ongoing sounds on the
background create arousal and reveal unexpected sounds (Holahan, 1982). Furthermore, eye contact
with a supervisor or colleague can be a motivating factor, increasing performance (Parsons, 1976).
However, the influence of the
ICT
component on the organization and the workplace has not
been measured in all abovementioned studies. Since approximately 2005, the importance of ICT for
the organization and its workplace is stressed in white (scientific) and grey (non-scientific) literature
(e.g. Gates, 2005; Veldhoen, 2005). The relation between the organization and its workplace is
thereby supplemented with ICT.
In the past decennia, technological developments contributed to a shift from working at one
particular place from 9 am till 5 pm towards a 24 hours economy, where continuous attainability
becomes a standard rather than exception (Katz and Aarhus, 2002; Hassan, 2003; West and Heath,
2011; Robertson and Vink, 2012; Schunck, 2012; Wiegman, 2012). This is made possible by ICT
solutions, which allow people to communicate with others and have access to information and
knowledge on every desired place and at any time with their portable device (Lee and Brand, 2005).
Apart from the effects on private life, these technological developments also reach the work
environment (Veldhoen, 2005). According to a survey focused on New Ways of Working (NWW),
performed by facility service provider ISS (2013) among FM professionals, technological
developments are even seen as the most important megatrend influencing the way people will work
towards 2020. This creates a transformation from physical to virtual, paper to digital, and static to
dynamic, which causes the need for work to be reorganized fundamentally. The changing nature of
work causes the workplace to change as well (Mobach, 2009). Therefore, the current developments
in ICT makes its influence to the organization and its workplace too important to be ignored.
Recent developments in organizations and ICT are a driving force for better design and
governance of knowledge work, contributing to an increase of employee preferences towards more
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flexible working conditions (Arvinitis, 2007). A result of this is the rise of popularity of New Ways of
Working (NWW) (Bijl, 2007). The concept of NWW is focusing on introducing flexible work
arrangements in order to offer employees more self-control and freedom. For instance, employees
are able to work according to their own time schedule on any desired location with any desired
device (Ten Brummelhuis et al., 2012; Robertson and Vink, 2012; Vink et al., 2012). Therefore, fixed
workspaces will disappear (Kelliher and Anderson, 2008). Furthermore, Rennecker and Godwin
(2005) state that NWW will lead to more efficient work processes and reduce organizational costs.
Around 71% of all employees think it is important to plan their own working time (Vink et al., 2012).
Market research of Facility Management Nederland (FMN), based on opinions of FMN members,
showed that the second biggest FM-trend (after cost reduction) is introducing NWW (Van der Spil et
al., 2012). A survey conducted in 2004 by TNO among 500 industries in five different industry sectors
showed that 68% of organizations already had mobile workers, with a peak of 86% in business
services (Kraan et al., 2004). This indicates that NWW is more than just a ‘one day fly’.
It must be noted that the concept of NWW is not entirely ‘new’. In the 1960s, the so-called
‘office landscape’ was introduced. The office landscape was focused on promoting useful interaction
and communication among workers by reducing physical enclosure for each worker and between
groups of workers (Brill and Weidemann, 2001). Van Meel (2011) states: “
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