The Office: 1950 to the Present by Christopher Budd - Article Example

This review analyses the journal article titled “The Office: 1950 to the Present” by Christopher Budd. The analysis of the article is based on different factors and variables such as objectives, theory, concepts, arguments, method, evidence, values, literature, contribution, and style, which thereby looks into the different details of the article and helps to improve the relevance of the study. Analysing the different factors stated above will help to understand the article better and will focus on the core points that have been discussed in the article. The article highlights the changes in offices' and artefacts' building methods that occurred from the 1950's to 2000. The article also discusses the changes that the office construction methods and its premises underwent decade by decade, from 1950 until 2000. It then shows the manner in which the changes have been made and looks at the different theories and models, which were used at that time. The article examines the manner in which offices were designed according to different theories like Theory of X and Y and others. This led to the office space being different and showed the position of the person. With changes in the employee relations, the office space went through various changes. The employee relations development has also helped forming the present reforms and theories that were applied today. This brought forward the transformation and showed the different factors like growth in employee power and knowledge along with employee reforms, which has transformed the office space design. The overall analysis thereby shows the manner in which the working culture has changed and how is has been reflected through the change in office structure, space, objects, furniture, and so on. This explains how those different changes helped in revolutionising the working culture and changing the office settings. The article doesn’t bring forward any theoretical framework but has been implicitly shown within the article. The article indirectly harps on the different theoretical framework, which shows the manner in which globalization, and changes have affected changes in the style of working. This has been aided by the fact that reforms and development of different rules, which guide the employees, has completely transformed the style of working and has resulted in a complete transformation of carrying out business. The article also shows some assumptions, which state that the model, which has been developed in the office, replicates the working style, and determines the authority relationship within the organization but might not be actually true. The concept could have been true for a particular organization but not for the entire economy or globe. The central concept that the article stresses on is changes in policies, working style, the relationship between the authority and the way employees gets depicted in the working style. The working style has been given a parallelism with the style offices are built and has laid importance to show the manner in which it has undergone changes. This has been linked to the changes in theories and employee and employer relationship. The overall effect shows a change in employee motivation and helps to bring a change in their outlook through which better efficiency can be created and different factors, which had a role in development, can be identified. Furthermore, the article looks into every aspect by analysing the decade wise growth which helps to ensure comparability and shows the different environmental changes which were depicted in the working style and resulted in complete transformation of the business. The central argument, which the article shows, is the changes in employer and employee relationship has brought about changes in the office. For example, in the early period, offices were considered to be large and employees who were at higher position had cabins and the size of the cabin along with its location and other facilities would help to understand the role and power that the employee had. Other employees within the organization worked in open chambers. With changing times this has undergone changes as the total relationship and style of working has changed. This brings froward an increase in employee empowerment and more powers being given to an employee, which has thereby transformed the complete style of working over the decades. The method, which the article uses, is the one where direct comparison has been made after analysing the actual offices and the changes in employer and employee relations. The method uses a process where the author looks to make implications based on the office location, size of the office room, amenities and the differences it has with the lower level employees. In addition to that, it compares it with the past structure and then draws a parallelism which gets reflected in the work culture. This therefore helps to develop the required platform and measures through which the different changes can be understood and the working style can be changed. This ensures that the method, which has been used to shows the core matter, signifies the changes and brings forward the developments in the overall working style has changed over the years. The article clearly shows different evidence, which shows the way office space reflects the working culture. For example, in the early period offices were considered to be large and employees who were at higher position had cabins and the size of the cabin along with its location and other facilities would help to understand the role and power that the employee had. Other employees within the organization worked in open chambers. This has been matched by the use of different theories like Theory of X and Y which shows the relation between the employer and the employee is established and develops the different areas of functioning will result in creating the required changes and make the changes in carrying out things. This has further been evident from the changes in the architecture, which with the passage of time has transformed and reflects the cultural factors and working style has changed. The values within the article are implicit as it brings forward the changes in employer employee relations has resulted changes in the style of work. This has resulted in complete transformation decade after decade. It helps to understand the different values which the organization has and brings out the role and importance of employee within the organization has continuously changed. The different decades based on the changes in values have resulted in a complete transformation in the manner of doing business and has thereby brought about wide spread ramifications in the working style. The work fits into the literature reviews as it helps to understand the industrial changes have been witnessed. This had led to the office space being different and showed the position of the person. The changes in employer employee relationship, the place where they work and strengthening of reforms has provided an opportunity to use different theories to facilitate better changes. This brought forward the transformation towards different factors like growth in employee power and knowledge along with employee reforms, which transformed the office space. This is shown by studies, which show that organization works has been altered and has resulted in a change in employer employee relationship. The article contributes immensely towards the future growth and potential of the knowledge as it helps to understand the manner in which environmental factors demonstrate the changes that the organization has undergone. The different changes which the working culture has witnessed by change in role and authority relationship between the employer and the employee has resulted in widespread changes and has brought the required changes in the working culture. The working style has been given a parallelism with the style offices are built and lays stress on highlighting the manner in which it has undergone changes. This has been matched by the changes in theories and employee and employer relationship. The overall effect shows a change in employee motivation and helps to highlight the same through which better efficiency can be created and different factors, which had a role in development, can be identified. This thereby helps to provide future directions and helps to understand the entire topic better and the manner in which it influences the working scenario can be better understood. The style of the author is very clear and direct to the point. The author has used a mechanism of developing a parallelism so that the changes in employer employee relationship over the years can be understood. This has increased the importance and validity of the research as it has helped to bring forward different issues and the changes, which each decade witnessed. This has helped to understand the evolving business philosophy and develop the entire business framework through which better changes can be ensured. The article highlights the changes by looking into the office and its premises for a decade and bringing forwards the manner in which offices were made at that time. It then shows the changes have been made and looks towards including the different theories and models, which were used at that time. This ensures that the style of writing helps to understand the evolving business environment and throws light on the changing relationship which exist between the employer and the employees Thus, the overall analysis of the article which looks into different factors like objectives, theory, concepts, arguments, method, evidence, values, literature, contribution, and style through which the business has undergone changes. The changes that the business has felt has resulted in bring a complete transformation in employer and employee relationship. The overall analysis thereby shows the working culture changed and was reflected through the change in the office structure, space, objects, furniture, and so on. This reflects the different changes were accompanied by chances in working culture and gets reflected in the changes in the office settings. This has changed the culture and style of working and has increased the role of employees and ensured that employees are able to contribute towards the bigger picture. It has also impacted the overall style of work and resulted in developing better relationship so that better use of the resources becomes possible. This has helped to provide better results and has developed the entire process which will help the organization over a longer period of time. References Budd, C. The Office: 1950 to the Present Read More