Vitalija Petrulaitiene

The perceived value of workplace concepts for organisations

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on the value of workplace concepts. The aim is twofold. First, the development of expected value into actual perceived value of workplace concept is studied together with the methods adopted to realise such value. After this, the perceived value of concepts is analysed in more detail to supplement the literature. Design/methodology/approach – The identified relationship is analysed qualitatively through six Finnish case organisations. The data were collected both through interviews and observations and analysed through coding. Findings – The actual perceived value of the workplace concepts was richer than the expected value before the workplace implementation. The direction from cost- to business- workplace strategies was noticed. Active employee involvement and orientation towards their needs, as well as also the activity-based offices with unassigned workspaces and more meeting areas, were the main tools and methods used to perceive the value. Practical implications – ...

Towards responsive workplaces – identifying service paths for time- and place-independent work

Purpose The need to understand work processes and end-users has become an issue in corporate real estate and workplace management. Flexible work practices and technological advancement allow end-users to move outside the building boundaries. This influences workplace management to become more service-oriented and demand-driven, and better serve the needs of end-users. For that, this paper aims to investigate the ways in which new workplace services support the knowledge creation processes of mobile workers. Design/methodology/approach This study is exploratory and follows a multiple-case study strategy. Literature is reviewed on workplace and knowledge theories, and the market analysis consists of data from 57 firms that offer services to support the mobile knowledge worker. Findings Workplace services were categorized into three new groups that support knowledge creation processes for the mobile knowledge worker in various work environments. The analysis indicated that new services are driven by technological development and community formation around the physical or virtual place. Practical implications The proposed service groups can be examined as new business opportunities by workplace service providers, and the results suggest that the CRE managers should re-think their service portfolios, boost their collaboration with the service providers and invest in building a community. Originality/value This paper categorizes workplace services from a mobile knowledge worker perspective and follows a service-oriented approach to workplace management.

From walls to experience - servitization of workplaces

New ways of working challenge workplace management: increasing mobility and crossing of organizational boundaries require re-evaluation of both workplace design and service delivery. However, the processes and structures of workplace management are still traditional and managers, together with outsourced service providers, often fail to serve the needs of mobile employees.The above-mentioned changes stimulate discussions about the development of workplaces. While the topic has been approached from many angles, like spatial transformation (e.g. Rytkonen 2016), organizational relationship (e.g. Ross and Myerson 2006), privacy (e.g. DEGW 2001) or sharing levels (Brinko et al, 2014), literature with business perspective seems to be scarce. Termaat et al. (2014) and Cole et al. (2014) attempted to categorize workplaces from a business viewpoint within single organisation boundaries. Here, we continue with the business angle by exploring how workplace is commercialized through servitization and various business models. To answer this, we try to identify the elements that are added to the business offerings in workplace services.This paper follows multiple case study methodology. The data is gathered as a part of a larger project and it includes: observations of various workplace settings, interviews with mobile workers and service providers. We take business model design approach in order to study business offerings. We validate our findings by exploring other industries to discover any analogies in business models.The results of this study indicate that workplace has been transitioning from physical space being the central proposal for workplace towards an offering where physical space becomes only a component. Other elements such as services and experience are increasing in significance in total workplace offering.This study might contribute to service providers who want not only be agile but also flexible in their service provision. Academically, the research increases the business perspective to workplace management studies, which tend to be either technical or psychological.