Information Technologies And The Workplace

By Author: Larry Tang
Total Articles: 512
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The use of information technologies in the workplace has posed both challenges and opportunities for organizations and individuals alike. It is widely accepted by many scholars and practitioners that the fundamental nature, content, and context of the work have changed dramatically. Patricia Wallace (2004), among them, aptly discusses in her highly acclaimed book entitled, The Internet in the Workplace: How New Technology Is Transforming Work, the advantages and disadvantages of the internet.

Any organizational change has the potential to disrupt existing routines and patterns of work, and change is not always desirable, at least for the defenders of the status quo.

For instance, according to Wallace (2004), some new kinds of organizations and different patterns of work have emerged concurrent with the use of the internet and some others have slowly disappeared. But not only patterns of work, also some occupations, companies, and even whole industries have ceased to exist. Other negative effects have been job instability and poorly defined relationships between employers and employees (xii).

Another ...
... major impact of the internet was the availability of information to everybody's desktop or laptops. But again Wallace warns: the more is not necessarily better. Employees have become overwhelmed by the enormous amount of information made available to them. Those who were able to take advantage of this voluminous information were the ones that have succeeded. Thus, the key is to understand and act upon the possible implications of the use of information technologies for a successful and effective management of the workplace. As such, managers and workers who are oblivious to these possible affects are risking their own jobs. The world is changing at an enormous pace and those who can't adapt to the new advances are destined to be left behind.

Among others, explosive innovations brought with the internet involved streaming video and audio, e-commerce, worldwide auctions, Internet-based telephony, and desktop videoconferencing. However, existing workplaces were often a poor fit for these new ways of working. Of course, workplace planning and design have had to accommodate all these new innovations and new demands. The workplace was transformed. Multi-purpose copy machines, scanners, webcams, chargers all found their way on the desk or around it.

To help businesses to quickly adopt and incorporate these new innovations and develop their requirements for the workplace, the United States General Services Administration (GSA) has developed new programs. Analyzing conventional workplace programming, GSA has found that a traditional focus on data such as total space needs and head counts offered little understanding of how people work, the problems and constraints they face, and why these problems exist. In other words, GSA acknowledged that workplace planning typically did not solve problems that ultimately benefited the company's mission and goals. In a time of rapidly changing workforce demographics and technology the need to adjust to these trends triggered dramatic shifts in the way organizations performed and delivered their services. Over the past four years, GSA's Public Buildings Service has researched, developed, and tested a suite of tools and methods designed to deliver workplaces that anticipate and address evolving work practices (www.gsa.gov).

GSA also provides on its website a definition of a furniture system, that is, a system of furniture components designed to provide a comprehensive office furniture environment through the ability to create a variety of workstation configurations. It generally includes interconnecting, structural panels as central integrating elements or may employ rails, beams, frames, uprights, cores, or freestanding based elements. Panels/privacy screens, work surfaces, overhead storage and shelving pedestals, filing, task management systems, lighting, electrical, wire management and similar items which comprise furniture systems and workstation clusters. Workstation clusters are workstations generally arranged around a central point that have a fixed footprint. Floor to ceiling demountable walls, partial height walls, and spine type walls which accommodate system furniture components are acceptable as part of, or in conjunction with, a furniture systems line. "Systems" consisting of traditional conventional furniture such as desks, returns, carrels, credenzas, etc. are not acceptable (www.gsa.gov).

While meeting all these requirements, MAiSPACE, America's leader in superior quality, elegantly designed, performance guaranteed modular architectural interiors, ergonomic office furniture and seating systems, has been delivering to its customers the best combination of style, durability, technology, flexibility and ease of installation. Along with lifetime performance and delivery guarantees - all at a reasonable price for more than fifteen years says Mark Bassil, Vice President of MAiSPACE, based in Mt. Olive, NJ.

Our workstations and office furniture products accommodate new technological advances. Some examples are the use of multiple levels of access to power and data in our workstations and our quick change plug and play technologies to reduce down time and rewiring costs. More specifically, MAiSPACE patented standards-compliant plug-and-play zone distribution voice, data, and power cabling system delivers the largest cable capacity in the industry. It is stunning in its simplicity. Cable runs are laid in behind lift-off panel segments and can be easily accessed to reduce office reconfiguration time from days to hours without disrupting the entire network. "It is true that design and appearance are the most visible elements of these decisions, but the real test of a quality office furniture systems lies behind the panels," says Bassil. "Structural integrity plus managing voice, data and power cabling should be at or near the top of the list."
MAiSPACE.com will help business owners and operators make smart choices in Systems Furniture and Office Cubicles for their offices and selecting the right Office Furniture. Information Technologies and the Workplace.