The changing context of knowledge-based work: consequences for comfort, satisfaction and productivity

Abstract

Developments in information and communication technologies permit a variety of forms of remote working. The ‘workplace’ now embraces a wide range of possibilities that extend beyond the domain of the ‘office’, reaching out to the home and to a host of public venue ‘hot-spots’ available within the city. This article examines the changing nature of the office workplace to understand the new and emerging spatial and temporal engagement of building inhabitants with their workplaces. It attempts to clarify the distinction between ‘individual’ and ‘shared’ experience of and engagement with manual and automated controls, and how these distinctions are manifest in a variety of different knowledge-based work contexts. It further illustrates how the emerging shift towards more mobile and transient workplaces requires rethinking the notions of a palpable inhabitant ownership, engagement and agency that are considered necessary to support higher degrees of satisfaction. The article concludes by presenting a framework that outlines the relationship between workplace technologies (environmental controls and information and communication technologies) and knowledge-based workers (both individual and groups) across various workplaces (home, office and city).

Keywords:

• environmental controls
• inhabitants
• knowledge-based workplace
• technology

Notes

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