Workplace concepts and their application. Offices in Finland

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Master's thesis

Authors

Date

2014-11-24

Department

Major/Subject

Real Estate Investment and Finance

Mcode

M3009

Degree programme

Kiinteistötalouden koulutusohjelma

Language

en

Pages

64+10

Series

Abstract

The move from industry-based economy to knowledge-oriented economy has made an impact on how business is executed nowadays. Therefore, the understanding of the workplace in companies has been changing, too. From ”physical space for performing tasks” towards consideration of a workplace as an integral tool for business success. In order to effectively incorporate real estate to organization’s strategy and improve its performance, the workplace needs to be considered by different sources like RE, HR, IT, and finance department combined. The aim of this thesis is to understand why some organisations choose workplace concepts, what benefits they bring, and what are the workplace concepts used in different organisations in Finland. The main research question is ”What are the motives, preferences and benefits behind an adoption of a workplace concept in organisations in Finland?” which is divided in four sub-questions: What is workplace concept? What are spatial solutions applied in workplaces? Why organisations apply workplace concepts? What was the initial stimulus to employ the concept? This thesis is a qualitative research conducted by using case study method. Thesis includes 6 case studies of companies which are using workplace concepts as a part of their core business strategy with the interviews of persons in charge. Findings of the literature review together with the analysis of case organisations indicated that: - workplace concept is a process with particular steps which are listed in this thesis; - common spatial solutions in workplaces in Finland are activity-based offices; - there are external and internal drivers stimulating the creation of a workplace concept; and - workplace concepts benefit organisations in various business areas: finance, processes, people, place, and customers. The list of benefits is created and presented in this thesis. Support research could be conducted in other regions of Finland or even Nordic countries for estimating the generalisability in a broader context. More studies are needed on the methods of evaluating workplace concepts. Also, the findings from case studies revealed that greater attention is required to the change management after implementing a concept.

Description

Supervisor

Junnila, Seppo

Thesis advisor

Jylhä, Tuuli

Keywords

workplace, concept, process, benefits, drivers

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Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201412033101

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[dipl] Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu / ENG