scholarly journals Workplace change process and satisfaction with activity-based office

Facilities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Sirola ◽  
Annu Haapakangas ◽  
Marjaana Lahtinen ◽  
Virpi Ruohomäki

Purpose The purpose of this case study is to investigate how the personnel in an organization experienced the process of change when moving from private offices to an activity-based office (ABO) and how their perceptions of change were associated with changes in their satisfaction with the work environment a year after relocation. Design/methodology/approach A comparative pre-post study design and mixed methods were used. Survey data was obtained from 154 employees before the relocation and 146 after the relocation. The data on the 105 employees who responded to both surveys were statistically analyzed. Representatives of different units were interviewed (n = 17) and documentary material was analyzed as complementary material. Findings The personnel’s criticisms concerned the reasons for the change, their opportunities to influence the office design and the extent to which their views were taken into account. Environmental satisfaction decreased after moving to the ABO. The personnel’s ratings of the workplace change process before the relocation were associated with the later change in environmental satisfaction. Based on logistic regression, the degree of agreement with management’s reasons for the change was the strongest predictor of the change in environmental satisfaction. Practical implications Organizations that move from private offices to an ABO should invest in high-quality change management and simultaneously develop both work and facilities. Special attention should be paid to clarifying the rationale for the change to the employees and to providing them with opportunities to influence during the change. Organizations should continue to monitor user experiences and evaluate the effects of the change after the office redesign and should take corrective action as needed. Originality/value This empirical case study is unique as it combined qualitative and quantitative methods and investigated the process of relocation and its outcomes in a one-year follow-up. This approach captured the importance of managing change and assessing the long-term effects of office redesign when moving from private offices to an ABO.

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Trkman ◽  
Willem Mertens ◽  
Stijn Viaene ◽  
Paul Gemmel

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue that in order to achieve customer centricity through business process management (BPM), companies have to obtain the profound understanding of customers’ processes and when necessary change not only the interactions with but also the processes of their customers. A method is presented that allows doing this in a systematic manner. Design/methodology/approach – A case study of a large multinational company was conducted. Several different sources and methods were used, including document analysis, interviews and a qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions. Data were gathered at three points in time: before, during and after the implementation of the presented approach. Findings – The method that was successfully employed by the case organisation consisted of combining BPM with service blueprinting, and of extending these efforts by integrating the customers’ internal processes into the scope of improvement. Research limitations/implications – The paper does not thoroughly evaluate the long-term effects of the proposed approach. Some results of the case study analysis had to be excluded from this paper due to reasons of confidentiality. Practical implications – The paper presents an approach for organisations to not only understand the needs of their customers but also the way in which their product is used in customers’ processes. In this way BPM can be implemented in a truly customer-oriented way. Originality/value – This paper extends previous work by presenting one way in which BPM can follow up on its promise of increasing an organisations customer orientation. While servitisation has received a lot of attention in various disciplines, its application within BPM research and practice has been scarce.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Long Chen

PurposeResearchers in supply chain (SC) payment management have long sought to understand how project contractors, project owners, specialist contractors, and suppliers behave in the context of negotiating payment terms that improve contractors' SC cash flow.Design/methodology/approachUsing a single case study approach, semi‐structured interviews with contract and project managers identify behavioral patterns. An analysis of categorical experiments and Spearman's correlation tests on 118 surveys from Taiwanese project contracting corporations generalizes the case findings.FindingsThe findings suggest that payment terms of project owners, specialists, and suppliers have an important impact on contractors' working capital. The findings also reveal that contractors pass project owners' payment terms down to specialists and suppliers, suggesting that contractors' behavior depends on that of the project owners.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper generalizes the case findings via surveys, but does not assume that the reported behavior patterns apply to all business enterprises. Future research could triangulate the findings.Originality/valueThis study combines qualitative and quantitative methods to understand how the project owner‐contractor‐supplier (or owner‐contractor‐specialist) triad behaves. Particularly, it focuses on an economic sector – real estate and construction – that receives less research interest than processing or manufacturing.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azi Lev-On ◽  
Nili Steinfeld ◽  
Hama Abu-Kishk ◽  
Sigal Pearl Naim

Purpose This study aims to examine the long-term effects of an Israeli digital literacy government program for disadvantaged populations, as they are perceived by participants of the program one year after completing the course. Design/methodology/approach Participants in the program were interviewed about the effects of participating in the program, their experiences and satisfaction, in retrospect, a year after they completed the program. Findings The main reasons for joining the program included cognitive motivations, mainly interest to become familiar with internet applications, followed by employment aspiration. Positive benefits from participation included accumulated knowledge, confidence in using technology, empowerment and enhanced sense of self-efficacy. Interviewees also reported that as they could not practice or communicate with instructors once they completed the program, a significant portion of the accumulated gains faded. Social implications Social and practical implications: Digital technologies constitute key infrastructure to facilitate public participation, as well as for gaining social, political and economic capital. Therefore, there is a significant social value in reducing digital inequality by increasing digital literacy of disadvantaged populations, i.e. citizens with low socioeconomic status and low digital literacy. This study sheds light on the benefits gained from such programs, as perceived by past participants. Originality/value While previous studies evaluating digital literacy programs focus on specific technical improvements and short-term gains, this study investigates the long-term effects and shortcomings of the program as perceived by participants.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 685-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schneider ◽  
Michele Andreaus

Purpose In 1950, the Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) was given a perpetual water license for a large section of Northern British Columbia, Canada. The benefit to the original owner of the water rights, the Province of British Columbia, was economic and population growth. The purpose of this paper is to follow the contestation over these rights from 1948 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach An institutional logics perspective was taken to analyze the main actors and how their relative power (dominant versus fringe) changed in the institutional field. Archival data and selected interviews were mapped to institutional logics across three time periods. Findings In the inter-temporal setting, many of the actors that were fringe in 1950 became more dominant by 2016. For example, the local indigenous peoples, the Cheslatta Carrier First Nation, were flooded off their land to make way for Alcan’s dam. They ended up as very powerful players in the institutional field. The perpetual rights given to Alcan made it a dominant actor across all time periods, despite changes in the logics of the institutional field. Research limitations/implications A single case was studied; other comparative settings should be explored to contrast and compare. The data were primarily archival, supplemented by only three interviews of those related to the case study. This case study is also one where water rights were privatized in perpetuity, which may not be the case in other settings. Practical implications Current governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should use this case to understand the long-term effects of resource policy decisions. Social implications The building of large dams has been, and continues to be, used worldwide to provide power to create economic growth. Our setting provides insight into the long-term societal outcomes of using water rights in this way. Originality/value This is an original use of institutional logics around a natural resource-based institutional field. Using institutional logics in a multi-period setting, focusing on the power relations of the key actors, and how they can be constrained by historical forces, provides a contribution to the literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Nikoo ◽  
Neda Torabi Farsani ◽  
Mohamadreza Emadi

Purpose Trompe l’oeil as a novel art technique can not only promote art tourism but can also transform the landscape of a city into a platform for negotiation. Furthermore, trompe l’oeil aims to create a joyful, entertaining, new experience and an interactive environment for tourists in the cities. This paper highlights the introduction of trompe l’oeil as a new tourist attraction in Shiraz (Iran). Moreover, the goals of this study are to explore the role of trompe l’oeil (three-dimensional [3D] street painting) in promoting art tourism, to investigate the tendency of tourists toward experiencing art tours and trompe l’oeil and to determine the priority of trompe l’oeil themes from the domestic tourists’ perspective. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this research study. Findings On the basis of the results of this study, it can be concluded that domestic tourists are eager to experience art tours and trompe l’oeil attractions and activities, except for buying and wearing 3D-printed clothes. In addition, trompe l’oeil on street floors and walls with funny, joyful and cultural-artistic and national-historical themes is more attractive for them. Originality/value No significant academic work has been undertaken in the field of art tourism to evaluate the attitude of tourists toward the trompe l’oeil attractions and activities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-303
Author(s):  
Marta Mori ◽  
Ronan McDermott ◽  
Saut Sagala ◽  
Yasmina Wulandari

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how culture, including traditions and social structures, can influence resilience and how culturally sensitive relief operations can put affected people and their context at the core of any interventions. Design/methodology/approach A case study of the Mt Sinabung volcano area in Indonesia was undertaken. As part of the case study, an analysis of interventions was conducted, which was complemented by semi-structured interviews with Karo cultural experts and humanitarian organisations. Findings Culture influences the manner in which the Karo people react to volcano eruptions with varying implications for recovery. In addition, relief organisations which understand people’s actions through a cultural lens have better managed to tailor programs with long-term impact, thereby avoiding aid dependency. Practical implications Practical examples of disaster management activities that adequately account for the beneficiaries’ way of living prior to the eruptions are provided. Aid actors are provided with guidance concerning how to better tailor their activities in line with a cultural lens. Originality/value The study provides empirical grounding for claims concerning the role of culture in planning interventions in Indonesia and other similar contexts.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoling Li ◽  
Xingyao Ren ◽  
Xu Zheng

Purpose – This paper aimed to analyze the short- and long-term effects of the breadth and depth of seller competition on the performance of platform companies, and investigated the underlying mechanisms of customers’ two-sided marketing tactics on the structure of the competition between sellers. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal research design was adopted by gathering daily market objective data on e-commerce platforms for 250 days, and the dynamic evolution effects was analyzed by using a vector autoregression model which compared the differences between the short- and long-term effectiveness of different customer relationship management (CRM) strategies. Findings – The breadth of competition amongst sellers improves the performance of platforms, whilst the depth of competition among sellers has a positive effect on the short-term performance. However, it has a negative effect on the long-term performance of their platforms. In both the short and long terms, advertising tactics that attract new buyers contribute more to increases in the breadth of seller competition than those that attract existing buyers do. Subsidies for new sellers decrease the depth of seller competition more than those for old sellers. Research limitations/implications – Further research could be undertaken to investigate the validity of marketing tactics other than advertising tactics, and thus expand the time windows of the available data. Practical implications – It is imperative for platform companies to implement effective control over seller competition to balance the interests of the sellers and of themselves. Originality/value – The dyadic paradigm of CRM research has been extended by considering the perspective of the electronic platform company, how the tactics of exploitation and exploration of two-sided customers impact upon seller competitive structures have been delved into and why new customers have a unique value to platform companies has been identified.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sviatlana Engerstam

PurposeThis study examines the long term effects of macroeconomic fundamentals on apartment price dynamics in major metropolitan areas in Sweden and Germany.Design/methodology/approachThe main approach is panel cointegration analysis that allows to overcome certain data restrictions such as spatial heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence, and non-stationary, but cointegrated data. The Swedish dataset includes three cities over a period of 23 years, while the German dataset includes seven cities for 29 years. Analysis of apartment price dynamics include population, disposable income, mortgage interest rate, and apartment stock as underlying macroeconomic variables in the model.FindingsThe empirical results indicate that apartment prices react more strongly on changes in fundamental factors in major Swedish cities than in German ones despite quite similar development of these macroeconomic variables in the long run in both countries. On one hand, overreactions in apartment price dynamics might be considered as the evidence of the price bubble building in Sweden. On the other hand, these two countries differ in institutional arrangements of the housing markets, and these differences might contribute to the size of apartment price elasticities from changes in fundamentals. These arrangements include various banking sector policies, such as mortgage financing and valuation approaches, as well as different government regulations of the housing market as, for example, rent control.Originality/valueIn distinction to the previous studies carried out on Swedish and German data for single-family houses, this study focuses on the apartment segment of the market and examines apartment price elasticities from a long term perspective. In addition, the results from this study highlight the differences between the two countries at the city level in an integrated long run equilibrium framework.


Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Belkin ◽  
Alexander S Fairman ◽  
Benjamin M Jackson ◽  
Paul J Foley ◽  
Scott M Damrauer ◽  
...  

Introduction: Current evidence suggests that dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) reduces perioperative stroke, but increases bleeding after carotid endarterectomy (CEA). The long term effects of antiplatelet therapy after CEA have yet to be studied. Methods: A retrospective review of patients undergoing CEA in the national Vascular Quality Initiative database (2003-2018) was performed. Based on antiplatelet regimen at discharge, patients were propensity score matched on aspirin monotherapy vs. DAPT. Multivariable logistic regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to investigate the long term effects of antiplatelet regimen on mortality and stroke/TIA. Results: Of the 72,122 patients undergoing CEA, 64.6% were discharged on aspirin, and 35.4% on DAPT. The DAPT group had higher frequencies of comorbidities (COPD, HTN, CHF, smoking, diabetes) as well as atherosclerotic diseases (PAD, CAD, prior PCI, prior CABG). After propensity score matching, two groups of 8,722 patients with comparable comorbidities were formed. While unmatched Kaplan-Meier analysis showed the DAPT cohort to have higher mortality (p=0.001), this difference dissipated after matching. The resultant matched DAPT cohort did not differ from the aspirin group in one year stroke/TIA (1.7% vs. 1.6%, p=0.70), or mortality (3.1% vs. 3.3%, p=0.55). At 5 years, however, patients treated with DAPT did exhibit a mortality benefit (6.4% vs. 7.3%, p=0.02) with multivariable logistic regression identifying DAPT as an independent predictor of reduced mortality (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.88-0.99, p=0.04). Conclusions: Patients discharged on DAPT after CEA represent a significantly different cohort than those discharged on aspirin monotherapy. After propensity score matching, there was no difference at one year stroke/TIA or mortality outcomes, but DAPT was found to be protective against long-term mortality. Further study is warranted to investigate this finding.


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