| dc.description.abstract | This research sought to establish the motivations of office layout redesign and the sort of
features incorporated in such redesign. It also sought to establish whether there are any
benefits perceived, and challenges encountered by organizations in such effort. Further,
the research sought comparison of data from private and public organizations to establish
whether such redesign effort had been carried out with the same zeal in the two sectors.
The survey was carried out in twelve service organizations. A questionnaire was used to
collect data from the selected organizations. The questionnaire had two parts, with one
detailing demographic data and the other, features in the layout that may have been
modified, the motivations, satisfaction with the features present, challenges and benefits
of the redesign. Data collected from these organizations was then analysed using
descriptive statistics on Microsoft excel then interpreted.
Findings indicate that all the organizations in the sample had renovated their premises in
the recent past. The data indicated higher levels of satisfaction with the arrangement of
equipment and furniture, and the use of signs, symbols and artifacts than with ambience
in the office environment, the primary motivation of redesign being offering better
services, support of corporate culture, encouraging teamwork and employee motivation.
Benefits accruing to the organization were mainly customer satisfaction and higher
employee productivity while main challenges were cited as protocol and approvals, cost
and space constraints.
From these findings we conclude that in the Kenyan context, businesses have embraced
focus on facility design as a way of maintaining competitive edge while pleasing their
customers and employees. The recommendations from this study are that organizations
should continue to find innovative, cost effective ways to create an ideal physical
environment that pleases the employee and the customer which contributes to
achievement of the organizational goals. | en |
