Organizations are exploring effective methods of knowledge creation and innovation. Interaction between individuals and groups with knowledge and creativity is key. Enterprises therefore work to attract the best people and to stimulate creative activity. What role do offices play in this?		  
 
1. Prescription for HR strategy:Does the workplace help in finding the right people?
2. Technology extends the workspace: Exploring the potential of virtual spaces
3. Sustainable buildings: Flexible, ecological, healthy
4. Workplaces communicate: The office as a branding tool
 
 

Since the wave of office innovation accompanying advances in information technology took off in the early 1990s, we have observed a diverse range of case examples, including the appearance of nomadic workstyles and alternative offices, the transition of workplaces into infrastructure that supports business model renewal, and the changing role of the office from cost reduction to value enhancement.
ECIFFO marks its 50th issue as it continues to observe the ever-changing office from various perspectives. In this issue, we reflect on the diverse case studies we have featured so far and explore future directions.relationship.		  
 

As nomadic working styles spread and changing organizations become the norm, people are less inclined to stay for long in the same location or space. This may result in a somewhat weaker relationship between people and spaces. On this basis, it may be time to begin exploring strategies and designs that supplement what is missing, or even exploit the characteristics of the new relationship to create paces as stimulus and catalyst. 		 
 


The ongoing evolution of ICT means that businesses have an ever expanding
set of options for workplace arrangements. Now an office can be "anywhere
with an Internet connection" -- or so people say. Shift your perspective on working people from the individual level to the organizational, and you quickly notice a myriad of unresolved issues. One attempt to address them are the transitions in offices intended to effectively connect people and work spaces.

  
 


When organizations and work styles encounter a new period of change because of pressures from shifting business conditions and technological progress, workplaces must also evolve. This article explores the direction of change, starting with the very first step.		  
 


Advances in information and communications technology (ICT), diversification of work styles, transition to a knowledge-driven economy... These and other interrelated factors contribute to ever greater dispersion and mobility in the workforce. And yet, the importance of direct interaction is also gaining more recognition. How are businesses to integrate these seemingly opposing trends? Can offices be designed to balance the tendency to work apart with the need to come together? The answers promise to provide hints for planning next-generation knowledge communities.
  
 


What kind of office design emerges when organizational ulture is taken into account? How does this change when we consider business philosophies, goals, and long-term strategies as well as the organizational structures and changes necessary to realize them? Businesses create organizations and environments, and these environments in turn inform the organizational cultures underlying the business. In this issue, we look into the role of offices in these interrelationships.
  
 


Everything in the business environment is going thr-ough dramatic change, from the technologies businesses use to the social structures people work in. In this context, it is the role of individual members of an organization to drive its creative endeavors forward and produce innovative results. The workplace and its workspaces also have a crucial part to play in supporting their efforts in a more dynamic way. What are the components of a workplace that encourages innovation?
  
 


What is our current situation? Where are we heading? What should we think of and do to reach the goal? The first step for making an office contribute to a organizational creativity and business success may be to place oneself in an environment which induces favorable activities and values based on the recognition of the organizational culture and the future direction of the business.
  
 


Many business organizations are now tackling reform at a time when information technology and markets are rapidly changing. Such changes sometimes affect business organizations and are responsible for even converting their business systems. At the same time, there is increasing diversification arising in the choice of workplaces, which constitute a considerable part of management resources of such organizations. Now is the time for them to rebuild their strategies for the future, with a wide spectrum of workplace options which even extend to the outside of the organization.
  
 


Keeping pace with the advance of information and communication technology, communication style and business systems are diversifying. In such an era, digital network access points are spreading beyond the confines of the office into the city. What kind of workplace will emerge when various spaces and services are expanded and dispersed?
  


The framework of corporate organizations is undergoing a radical shift with changes in the business environment and developments in the field of information technology, giving rise to groups of workers with special talents in special fields. What kind of a workplace is appropriate in order to heighten the creative potentials of these workers? What sort of processes are necessary to form teams, bring out their potentials and lead them to higher achievements? How can this process be created? The concept of teaming once again calls for our attention.
  


IIT has now become a common term on the business scene and we have been experiencing a myriad of changes at our workplaces. We now have access to new technologies, use various kinds of software selectively and have more options in location as to where to work. Furthermore, business structures themselves have started to change, as the influence of technology broadens in area. In this context, the status of workplace appears to be shifting towards a new dimension, requiring office design to be responsive to the new framework.
  


During the past decade, workplaces have undergone transformation along with the rapid change in the business and technology environment. However, since business and technology keep developing, workplaces will continue to change as well. As new frameworks are starting to take shape, we are reaching a stage at which we need to verify the new trends and envision their future images from various aspects.
  


While the number of knowledge-workers is increasing due to changes in the industrial structure, employment conditions are diversifying through the provision of alternative conditions and the workforce is decentralizing through the advance in information technology, corporations themselves are dynamically changing business systems.As the relationship between workplace and worker diversify and the values pursued by corporations change, it is becoming increasingly important for corporations to control the messages transmitted through their workplaces. How can a corporation get its corporate culture and values across to its workers? What image should it send out to clients and business partners?
  


The arena for business operations and competitions becomes more and more global, as information technology permeates into every aspect of business. Accordingly, the standard of the digital world will be applied for the speed of decision-making and acting. How will the workplaces, which support the activities of corporations, adapt to the rapidly changing business environment? Space needs to be quickly planned and constructed. Changes and renewals constantly take place. Support services are used selectively and flexibly in order to suit particular needs. This issue explores the concept of an "agile workplace" which can flexibly respond to the rapidly changing business strategies and corporate needs.
  


In an environment where technologies and markets supporting the businesses are rapidly changing and the size as well as speed of competition is increasing, many corporations are grappling with organizational reform in order to survive. The diversity of tasks range from restructuring of business systems to reform of corporate cultures, but it is not rare that the means to go about them and facilities are affecting each other mutually. With the society becoming more knowledge-oriented, the workforce belonging to a corporation and the workplace serving as its operational base will gain more significance as management resources. At this point, the workplace, which is an important supportive element of reform will be reassessed.
  


Knowledge and information, which now play leading role in the world of business, traverse the globe in an instance and change in a protean fashion to adapt to new situations. People and organizations that create and operate these protean knowledge and information need physical spaces, offices to base their activities. What roles will the physical office play in supporting the business structure and style that are changing radically now?
  


Information technology and its devices have become important tools for various kinds of office work. They are now widely accepted tools to process, communicate and simulate a diverse range of information. How do tools such as personal computers and e-mails become integrated into our workstyle and office environment in an era, in which they have become indispensable? How do virtual tools and spaces influence those of the real?
 


In the past few years, many of our case studies indicate a trend toward smaller, decentralized facilities and non-territorial workstyle. What will happen to what used to be the "center"? This issue pursues this trend through case studies of new head offices representing the center or of those equivalent to the head office.
  


It is now several years since innovative and flexible office strategies, such as the universal plan and non-territorial office were introduced. How effectively have they been functioning? What influences have they yielded to? In this issue, we revisit some of the offices and trace the changes they have undergone. 		 


What has been called "officework" is nowadays taking place in more diverse places and traditional business strategies alone are no longer effective. This issue studies various examples of flexible workplaces, which reinforce the traditional office,and provide only what is necessary at the place and time it is needed.,		  


The progress in information and communication technology allows workers for more flexibility in the choice of workplace and workstyle. They can now choose from a wider range of workplace and working- hour arrangements, including teleworking and SOHO options. This issue explores the trend for work flexibility in the United States. 		 


The traditional concept of "office" as the place to work is falling apart with the change in management and advance of the information technology. While various types of offices are being used as separate tools, one tool alone can serve as an office. This issue explores the relation between offices and tools.		  


Existing offices should be considered for renovation to accommodate future changes before building new ones. This issue takes a look at trends in office renewal from diverse points of views ranging from preservation for environmental purposes to renovation for coping with the constantly changing business and information technology environment. 		 



Due to the advance in information technology, corporations are now required to rethink their businesses. How will the office of the next generation change? The trend for office environments capable of supporting fluid organizations and workstyles is explored in this issue.

  


The phrase "team architecture" is a keyword for organizing a team, the shape and structure of a team and the space for a team. This issue considers offices, which, like a catalyst, combines multiple functions and skills, beyond organizational hierarchy.