Thanks for the post re. open plan offices.
I know I'm late to join this discussion, but the topic has only just come up for me, on arriving at a new work place, the leadership of which is considering moving to open plan "offices."
Two of my colleagues have done research in this "space" (as they say!):
https://www.business.uq.edu.au/momentum/how-make-most-an-open-plan-office
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1464-0597.00141
Best,
Kate
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From: Teaching Linguistics <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of TEACHLING automatic digest system
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Subject: TEACHLING Digest - 11 Oct 2018 to 19 Oct 2018 (#2018-95)
There are 2 messages totaling 983 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Hotdesking and open plan offices (2)
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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2018 13:35:40 +0300
From: Dave Sayers <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Hotdesking and open plan offices
Hi everyone,
I thought I'd reopen this thread (read from the bottom up for past contributions), partly for selfish reasons as I'm about to move from an office of five to an office of over 30! And partly to invite new list members to share their views, as well as existing list members who might since have gained hotdesking experience.
This is also motivated by a couple of news items I saw recently about hotdesking, which I thought were worth sharing (one interesting, one laughable but also kinda sad):
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/373/1753/20170239
https://www.curbed.com/2018/10/18/17992128/
For my part, in my department we almost never see students in our offices anyway so that shouldn't be an issue. I don't really have any worries about being around my colleagues a lot more, but still perhaps there are potential pitfalls I'm not aware of, or (put more positively!) potential strategies for productive and harmonious academic work in an open plan setting I haven't come across. So, for those who have made the leap (or been shoved!), would you share any advice, cautions, happy notes or horror stories??
Dave
--
Dr. Dave Sayers, ORCID no. 0000-0003-1124-7132 Senior Lecturer, Dept Language & Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland | www.jyu.fi Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk Communications Secretary, BAAL Language Policy group | www.langpol.ac.uk [log in to unmask] | http://jyu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
On 27/06/2017 21:39, David Bowie wrote:
> In the US, academia seems to be one of the very few places left where private offices
> are still a normal thing.
>
> I end up having students come by to talk about grades (discussions about which, by
> federal law, aren't to be overheard by anyone else) and often very personal issues
> about struggles they're going through in their own lives. I really don't know how
> that would work with an "open" office plan.
>
> Might be worth noting that my wife is an engineer, and at her firm anyone who has
> managerial responsibilities has an office (since they end up having negotiations with
> clients and discussions about hiring and firing and such in them), but everyone else
> has desks in an open plan. They moved a couple years ago from a place that was
> completely open (except for one conference room that served as a common office for
> confidential conversations), but as they grew it became unwieldy. Datapoint of one
> and all, but there you are.
>
> David B
>
> On 27/Jun/17 6:04 AM, Lynn Burley wrote:
>> I've just had to move into a new office temporarily for a year. I've gotten a new
>> desk when a nicer one came up for transfer, I've painted the bookcases and the file
>> cabinets, and the office will be painted in a few weeks because the color in here
>> now is cave-like. Once that is complete, I'll hang up some art and decorate with
>> some homey kinds of accents. I also have a diffuser in here, wafting the scents of
>> lavender or citrus or cinnamon, depending on my mood. And music playing through
>> enhanced speakers I bought for myself. Why? Because I work better in a
>> comfortable, clean space. If I had to work in an open space, I'd start working at
>> home. Plus, I'm an easy target for chat, which can take hours out of my day if I
>> let it. Students like my office and often comment on it. I'm here all day, so
>> it's got to be a space to call my own. The open office was a fine idea while I was
>> in graduate school--a great way to form a support network and learn from each
>> other, but that's not what I need now.
>>
>> Comfortably yours--
>> Lynn
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 27, 2017 at 2:02 AM, Robert Sharples <[log in to unmask]
>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Dave,
>>
>>
>> Interesting thread! We're just about to move from small offices (I'm currently
>> in a 4) to open-plan ... and my wife is an architect who's been working with a
>> couple of universities to understand how their academics use office space.
>>
>>
>> I'd be really interested to know if anyone here does actually work in
>> open-plan/hotdesking or sees a move on the horizon at their institution.
>>
>>
>> Rob
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* Teaching Linguistics <[log in to unmask]
>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of Dave Sayers
>> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
>> *Sent:* 26 June 2017 15:43:08
>> *To:* [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> *Subject:* Hotdesking and open plan offices
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> As the list is a little quiet during the summer period, I thought I'd start a
>> little
>> discussion about the physical geography of our working environments.
>>
>> Hotdesking, if you haven't come across the term, is where nobody has a fixed desk,
>> and you have to clear your stuff when you leave so someone else can use it. It's a
>> lot like any campus computer lab, and it's slowly on the rise in replacing
>> academic
>> offices (e.g. http://bit.ly/2tEqL0h).
>>
>> The somewhat less extreme alternative is open plan offices, where large numbers of
>> people (typically 10+) work on adjoining desks. They can claim a particular
>> desk and
>> leave a limited amount of stuff there, though usually don't have any shelving of
>> their own.
>>
>> Potential benefits of these two trends include greater levels of dialogue among
>> colleagues, less exclusivity between layers of academic management, less
>> territorial
>> tension, and an encouragement away from piling up hard copies of documents and
>> towards more sustainable laptop-based working.
>>
>> Potential shortcomings include increased risks of theft or loss, reduced
>> productivity
>> if books or non-electronic documents can't be stored to hand, a lack of privacy
>> for
>> potentially sensitive meetings, and a wide range of accessibility issues.
>>
>> So, what's your experience? Do you currently hotdesk or work open plan? Would
>> you say
>> it's generally better or worse than traditional smaller offices, relating to the
>> factors above and any others?
>>
>> If you are currently in a smaller office, what are your thoughts about any
>> potential
>> future move to open plan or hotdesking? Would you happily move any time? Gradually
>> get used to it after a period of complaining? Or would this be the final straw
>> before
>> you quit and set up a donkey sanctuary?
>>
>> Personally, I've worked in offices of 1, 2, 3 and 5 people. Funnily enough, the
>> most
>> awkward one was the office of 2. We were both perfectly friendly, but there was an
>> inevitably heightened awareness of any noises we made, and a greater attention to
>> letting each other know if we were (or weren't) going to be in the office at a
>> given
>> time. As I say we got on just fine, but it seemed slightly trickier in these
>> respects
>> than working even in an office of three, where there's a significantly greater
>> expectation of someone bustling in unannounced. For my part, I think I'd adapt
>> well
>> to hotdesking or working open plan, but then I know I'm extremely unusual in
>> pretty
>> much hotdesking already anyway. Almost everything I do is in my laptop; I am quite
>> the digital hermit crab. I don't use hard copies of anything (ebooks all the
>> way), I
>> don't print stuff out, I don't make notes by hand, and at the end of the day my
>> desk
>> looks I'm the one who's decided to set up that donkey sanctuary. But as I say,
>> I know
>> I'm very odd in that respect (possibly others too!), so I try to diplomatically
>> keep
>> my mouth shut on the matter at work.
>>
>> What do other TeachLingers think?
>>
>> Peripatetically yours,
>> Dave
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Dave Sayers, ORCID no. 0000-0003-1124-7132
>> Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University | www.shu.ac.uk
>> <http://www.shu.ac.uk>
>> Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk
>> <http://www.wiserd.ac.uk>
>> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> |
>> http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers <http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Lynn Burley
>> Interim Chair of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, & Cultures
>> President, AR State Conference, AAUP
>> Irby Hall 207J
>> 501.450-5648
>> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2018 09:00:42 -0400
From: Jessi Grieser <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Hotdesking and open plan offices
Not a bunch of experience, as I am lucky to have not one, but two
closed-door offices on campus for getting private work done--my main
office, and a carrel in the library for being in a place where people don't
even know where I am and won't even knock on my closed door. However, I
just finished the book *It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work *by Fried and
Heinemeier, the founders of the company Basecamp. They discuss a number of
strategies they've used successfully at their company to mitigate the
effects of open-office plans, which they consider to be detrimental to
focus (but, it sounded like, can't quite afford to entirely do away with).
It's a brand-new release, and has a lot of interesting food for thought for
those of us trying to get focused work done in whatever environment we
have. Good luck, Dave!
Best,
Jessi
*Jessi Grieser*Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Department of English
301 McClung Tower (mailing)
216 McClung Tower (office)
Knoxville, TN 37996-0430
[log in to unmask]
(main) 865-974-5401 <(865)%20974-5401>
http://www.jessgrieser.com <http://www.jessgrieser.com/>
Big Orange. Big Ideas.
On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 6:35 AM Dave Sayers <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I thought I'd reopen this thread (read from the bottom up for past
> contributions),
> partly for selfish reasons as I'm about to move from an office of five to
> an office
> of over 30! And partly to invite new list members to share their views, as
> well as
> existing list members who might since have gained hotdesking experience.
>
> This is also motivated by a couple of news items I saw recently about
> hotdesking,
> which I thought were worth sharing (one interesting, one laughable but
> also kinda sad):
> http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/373/1753/20170239
> https://www.curbed.com/2018/10/18/17992128/
>
> For my part, in my department we almost never see students in our offices
> anyway so
> that shouldn't be an issue. I don't really have any worries about being
> around my
> colleagues a lot more, but still perhaps there are potential pitfalls I'm
> not aware
> of, or (put more positively!) potential strategies for productive and
> harmonious
> academic work in an open plan setting I haven't come across. So, for those
> who have
> made the leap (or been shoved!), would you share any advice, cautions,
> happy notes or
> horror stories??
>
> Dave
>
> --
> Dr. Dave Sayers, ORCID no. 0000-0003-1124-7132
> Senior Lecturer, Dept Language & Communication Studies, University of
> Jyväskylä,
> Finland | www.jyu.fi
> Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk
> Communications Secretary, BAAL Language Policy group | www.langpol.ac.uk
> [log in to unmask] | http://jyu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
>
>
> On 27/06/2017 21:39, David Bowie wrote:
> > In the US, academia seems to be one of the very few places left where
> private offices
> > are still a normal thing.
> >
> > I end up having students come by to talk about grades (discussions about
> which, by
> > federal law, aren't to be overheard by anyone else) and often very
> personal issues
> > about struggles they're going through in their own lives. I really don't
> know how
> > that would work with an "open" office plan.
> >
> > Might be worth noting that my wife is an engineer, and at her firm
> anyone who has
> > managerial responsibilities has an office (since they end up having
> negotiations with
> > clients and discussions about hiring and firing and such in them), but
> everyone else
> > has desks in an open plan. They moved a couple years ago from a place
> that was
> > completely open (except for one conference room that served as a common
> office for
> > confidential conversations), but as they grew it became unwieldy.
> Datapoint of one
> > and all, but there you are.
> >
> > David B
> >
> > On 27/Jun/17 6:04 AM, Lynn Burley wrote:
> >> I've just had to move into a new office temporarily for a year. I've
> gotten a new
> >> desk when a nicer one came up for transfer, I've painted the bookcases
> and the file
> >> cabinets, and the office will be painted in a few weeks because the
> color in here
> >> now is cave-like. Once that is complete, I'll hang up some art and
> decorate with
> >> some homey kinds of accents. I also have a diffuser in here, wafting
> the scents of
> >> lavender or citrus or cinnamon, depending on my mood. And music
> playing through
> >> enhanced speakers I bought for myself. Why? Because I work better in a
> >> comfortable, clean space. If I had to work in an open space, I'd start
> working at
> >> home. Plus, I'm an easy target for chat, which can take hours out of
> my day if I
> >> let it. Students like my office and often comment on it. I'm here all
> day, so
> >> it's got to be a space to call my own. The open office was a fine idea
> while I was
> >> in graduate school--a great way to form a support network and learn
> from each
> >> other, but that's not what I need now.
> >>
> >> Comfortably yours--
> >> Lynn
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Tue, Jun 27, 2017 at 2:02 AM, Robert Sharples <[log in to unmask]
> >> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Dave,
> >>
> >>
> >> Interesting thread! We're just about to move from small offices
> (I'm currently
> >> in a 4) to open-plan ... and my wife is an architect who's been
> working with a
> >> couple of universities to understand how their academics use office
> space.
> >>
> >>
> >> I'd be really interested to know if anyone here does actually work
> in
> >> open-plan/hotdesking or sees a move on the horizon at their
> institution.
> >>
> >>
> >> Rob
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> *From:* Teaching Linguistics <[log in to unmask]
> >> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of Dave Sayers
> >> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> >> *Sent:* 26 June 2017 15:43:08
> >> *To:* [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> >> *Subject:* Hotdesking and open plan offices
> >> Hi everyone,
> >>
> >> As the list is a little quiet during the summer period, I thought
> I'd start a
> >> little
> >> discussion about the physical geography of our working environments.
> >>
> >> Hotdesking, if you haven't come across the term, is where nobody
> has a fixed desk,
> >> and you have to clear your stuff when you leave so someone else can
> use it. It's a
> >> lot like any campus computer lab, and it's slowly on the rise in
> replacing
> >> academic
> >> offices (e.g. http://bit.ly/2tEqL0h).
> >>
> >> The somewhat less extreme alternative is open plan offices, where
> large numbers of
> >> people (typically 10+) work on adjoining desks. They can claim a
> particular
> >> desk and
> >> leave a limited amount of stuff there, though usually don't have
> any shelving of
> >> their own.
> >>
> >> Potential benefits of these two trends include greater levels of
> dialogue among
> >> colleagues, less exclusivity between layers of academic management,
> less
> >> territorial
> >> tension, and an encouragement away from piling up hard copies of
> documents and
> >> towards more sustainable laptop-based working.
> >>
> >> Potential shortcomings include increased risks of theft or loss,
> reduced
> >> productivity
> >> if books or non-electronic documents can't be stored to hand, a
> lack of privacy
> >> for
> >> potentially sensitive meetings, and a wide range of accessibility
> issues.
> >>
> >> So, what's your experience? Do you currently hotdesk or work open
> plan? Would
> >> you say
> >> it's generally better or worse than traditional smaller offices,
> relating to the
> >> factors above and any others?
> >>
> >> If you are currently in a smaller office, what are your thoughts
> about any
> >> potential
> >> future move to open plan or hotdesking? Would you happily move any
> time? Gradually
> >> get used to it after a period of complaining? Or would this be the
> final straw
> >> before
> >> you quit and set up a donkey sanctuary?
> >>
> >> Personally, I've worked in offices of 1, 2, 3 and 5 people. Funnily
> enough, the
> >> most
> >> awkward one was the office of 2. We were both perfectly friendly,
> but there was an
> >> inevitably heightened awareness of any noises we made, and a
> greater attention to
> >> letting each other know if we were (or weren't) going to be in the
> office at a
> >> given
> >> time. As I say we got on just fine, but it seemed slightly trickier
> in these
> >> respects
> >> than working even in an office of three, where there's a
> significantly greater
> >> expectation of someone bustling in unannounced. For my part, I
> think I'd adapt
> >> well
> >> to hotdesking or working open plan, but then I know I'm extremely
> unusual in
> >> pretty
> >> much hotdesking already anyway. Almost everything I do is in my
> laptop; I am quite
> >> the digital hermit crab. I don't use hard copies of anything
> (ebooks all the
> >> way), I
> >> don't print stuff out, I don't make notes by hand, and at the end
> of the day my
> >> desk
> >> looks I'm the one who's decided to set up that donkey sanctuary.
> But as I say,
> >> I know
> >> I'm very odd in that respect (possibly others too!), so I try to
> diplomatically
> >> keep
> >> my mouth shut on the matter at work.
> >>
> >> What do other TeachLingers think?
> >>
> >> Peripatetically yours,
> >> Dave
> >>
> >> --
> >> Dr. Dave Sayers, ORCID no. 0000-0003-1124-7132
> >> Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University |
> www.shu.ac.uk
> >> <http://www.shu.ac.uk>
> >> Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD |
> www.wiserd.ac.uk
> >> <http://www.wiserd.ac.uk>
> >> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> |
> >> http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers <
> http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Dr. Lynn Burley
> >> Interim Chair of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, & Cultures
> >> President, AR State Conference, AAUP
> >> Irby Hall 207J
> >> 501.450-5648 <(501)%20450-5648>
> >> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> >
>
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> To unsubscribe from the TEACHLING list, click the following link:
> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=TEACHLING&A=1
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