Decentralization of Workplace

The electronic cottage, hitherto only a future possibility, is now becoming a reality due to the recent advance of information and communication technology. This trend means, in a way, going back to the pre-Industrial Revolution workstyle where one's workplace and residence were close together. Today, the industrial structure is undergoing a radical shift to adapt itself to the information-oriented society, giving rise to an office environment where workers do not have to stay at one place. To what extent will this mode of office be possible and what kind of workstyle will it offer us?

 
aWarehouse, San Francisco, USA
Small Office, Home Office  
Small Office, Home Office, abbreviated as SOHO, means a small-scale office or an office at home. information and communication technology further advances. The downside of SOHO is said to be the difficulty of workers keeping up contact with other workers and receiving stimulus from the outside world. However, there have been positive attempts to overcome this weakness and create new styles of SOHO by collaboration with other SOHO's and communicator using the Internet. This article introduces four types of SOHO in San Francisco and explores the future trend of SOHO.
 
 
aWarehouse/ San Francisco, California, USA
 
 
 
TRIPP MIKICH/ San Francisco, California, USA
 
 
MICHAEL MANWARING Environmental Graphic Designer/ San Francisco, California, USA
The Home Office Is a Comfortable Space for Creative Work.
 
 
MICHAEL SATTLER Office Consultant/ San Francisco, California, USA
A Cafe Is Another "Home" Office.
Flexible Workstyle  
The advance of information and communication technology has given rise to a situation where people can work wherever they are, if they are equipped with personal computers and telephone lines. This means workers are no longer confined to offices. Corporations, on the other hand, in an attempt to win ever intensifying economic competitions, try to slim down their structures, while giving more flexibility to workers in order to attract high quality workers. In this context have appeared such new modes of working as telecommuting, mobile working, and virtual working. This article introduces the cases of three large New York-based corporations which have carried out a structural reform.
 
 
ISSC, a subsidiary of IBM / New York, USA
Tools of a Mobile Worker
 
 
AT&T / New York, USA
Home Office of a Telecommuter
 
 
THE CHASE MANHATTAN BANK/ San Francisco, California, USA
 

Talk: Flex-place--More Freedom in the Choice of Workplaces

  
Takashi Onish, Professor, Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo + Akihiro Kishimoto, Institute of Office Systems, Kokuyo Co., Ltd.

The number of SOHO has been rapidly increasing in the United States. In Japan, some programs were started on an experimental basis in the latter part of the eighties. What is the outcome of those experiments? Kishimoto interviews Takashi Onishi, who is a member of the International Flex-work Forum and the Home Office Forum, is an expert on the present and future trend of telework such as SOHO and Satellite Office.

Gil Gordon Interview
Mr. Telecommuting Talks About the Future of Telecommuting

Mr. Telecommuting Talks About the Future of Telecommuting

Gil Gordon became independent in 1982,after working in the recruiting division of Johnson & Johnson. He started consulting services to promote the idea of telecommuting, a virtually unknown concept at the time, and to support companies interested in the idea. But the attempt was a little ahead of the times, so that he had to support himself by consulting on recruitment services.
Currently he heads Gil Gordon Associates and has been publishing the Telecommuting Review since don