Workplace change – does it always lead to a new space?

Background and aim – There are various reasons driving the change of workplace in organizations. The process of workplace change is complex and includes not only the transformation of physical spaces but many simultaneous technical, operational, social and psychological changes. It has been indicated in previous research but as important as physical workplace solution is the process of change and how employees have been involved in it. This paper aims at indicating the most current workplace change drivers in various workplace transformations in Finland. Moreover, it proposes ideas of change paths that organizations might implement through Place and Use-map. The research question presented is: What kind of different drivers for workplace transformations can be identified and how they can be clustered as a more comprehensive guidance for workplace developers?
Methods / Methodology – The study takes qualitative multiple case study approach. The data is gathered from the workplace change cases presented in the national "Workplace Action Reward initiative” in Finland in 2019 and analyzed through coding.
Results – Seven drivers for workplace change were identified, demonstrating variations between the cases. The cases are mapped by using Place and Use-map from earlier literature, which is supplemented by introducing change paths for workplace change.
Practical or social implications – The research introduces potential different paths for workplace change processes, which would benefit practitioners by emphasizing the need of understanding and evaluation of organizational processes and people. In practice, this could mean more user-centric workplace change processes.
Type of paper – Research paper