Chapter Two: Office Planning & Design

Preliminary Preparation

Facility planning is exciting, it gives those involved a power, and it provides physical results to their actions and decisions. The real goal of such undertakings, however, must never be allowed to disappear: Commercial facilities must serve the actual needs of the organization for which they are created. However glamorous the results, they must first and foremost be good design.

What is good design? Ask a cross section of office workers, and most of their definitions will be 90 percent aesthetic. An office planner's or facilities manager's definition is more realistic: Good design is the combination of efficiency, economics, function, logistics, and aesthetics. Therefore, before anyone can judge good design, all the needs it was created to serve must be considered.

This chapter is designed to show the executive involved in planning exactly what information must be collected or considered before any specific layout or design decisions are contemplated. Because the material covered herein is essential to a thorough understanding of the rules behind the discipline of office planning, this chapter will require more study than any other part of this course. How the procedures described in this chapter fit into the overall planning pro­cess can be further clarified by studying the "Space Planning and Design Procedures Outline" presented in the Appendix (part 1, in particular). 

Some Planning Realities  

Logically, an organization can be expected to function most effectively if the space in which it is housed has been designed according to the most efficient layout possible for its operation. Most office functions, however, are assigned to arbitrarily shaped spaces that have been "adapted" to those functions.

This situation results from the fact that most buildings are designed and constructed according to the lowest common denominator - that is, to fulfill the facility requirements of as many different tenants as possible - to ensure the financial return on the investment of the developer or owner.

Ideally, every building should be designed "from the inside out," so that the shell is merely the covering of a purposefully designed layout custom fitted to the needs of the occupant. But since this rarely happens, the executive in charge of locating office facilities must learn to adapt existing buildings to the individual needs of the company.

The provision of office facilities is one of the most important decisions any organization ever makes. Therefore, such a decision should be based on the best input of advice and experience available. Since changes in major facilities are normally made only once in a decade, if that often, most organizations do not possess the knowledge and experience required; if this is the case, outside help should be sought.

The old adage, "There is nothing new under the sun," may be a little over­stated, but many administrational problems would indeed never arise if the solutions employed by other organizations were thoroughly investigated beforehand. This is doubly true in today's world of accelerating technology and business systems. A study into what organizations operating in the same, or similar, fields are doing to solve the same problems will always be useful and, in some cases, may suggest ways in which even the latest methods and systems can be improved.

Each organization should also evaluate how its needs differ from those of other organizations. The solutions to one firm's problems may be aesthetically desirable but completely impractical when applied to those of another company. Possibly one of the greatest mistakes in office planning was made in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, when thousands of individual organizations adopted "open plan" solutions as a way to cut construction costs and reduce the square footage needs of their staff. Although the idea was perfect for some commercial situations, it failed miserably in others. The current trend to employ system furniture may also be similarly viewed in the future as a fashion that was indiscriminately used by facilities executives. Indeed, many of the present day technological advances are better served by custom-made and individually designed work units. Therefore, careful evaluation of what an organization does and what would best serve its needs is essential to effective office planning.  

Analyzing The Existing Administrative Organization  

Before making a decision, whether about a change in layout or a relocation of the organization's office facilities, the planner should first obtain certain working information. The data assembled at this stage will allow the planner to make the right decisions as the job proceeds. The following data should be compiled:

1.   A profile of existing facilities within the organization for the divisions and departments concerned. This should contain such information as:

(a) square footage used per job function ;
(b) interaction between personalities within the unit concerned; 
(c) equipment presently employed.

2. If possible, comparisons of space and layouts employed by other organizations similar to the planner's own should be established.

3. In-house or commissioned reports that have been prepared in the past concerning the unit involved should be analyzed and collated.

4. Expansion or contraction expectations of space requirements should be established.

5. Company policy statements relative to similar or comparable past actions regarding facilities for the organization that might have a bearing on the new facility and its operation should be analyzed and collated.

6. A human resources profile on the individuals involved, outlining their potential contribution or obstruction to possible changes through expansion or relocation, should be produced by department heads.  

With these facts and viewpoints collated, the planner should be able to evaluate all available options and to apply this knowledge to choosing space without making major policy or administrational mistakes.  

Evaluating Space Options

To evaluate all the available space options or to reorganize existing space, using the established data base, the planner and the other decision makers involved should consider the following questions:

1. Do the areas provided by the available room shapes and structures increase potential efficiency and personnel satisfaction?

2. Can the space under consideration absorb expected expansion? And can it be redesigned at minimum cost to accommodate contraction, if necessary, without affecting efficiency?

3. Can easy communication links be established with other departments and locations?

4. What is the relative cost of adapting the space to the established requirements?

5. Does the space offer greater efficiency potential than either the existing space or other available options?

6. Will it serve a permanent, a long-term, or a short-term solution to the organization's present problems or needs?

7. Does the proposed location fit the time schedule requirements with respect to acquisition, furnishing, and moving in?

8. Will the property add to, or detract from, the image and status of the organization?  

The organization's responses to these questions should be organized in a preliminary listing before any preliminary decision is made to acquire property or to issue a statement of intent. In addition, the planners should consult the most experienced and qualified help their organization can provide or can afford to hire before any binding decision is made, if only to save remedial costs at a later date.  

Establishing Organizational Type

To evaluate how well any available space options will fulfill organizational requirements, the planner must categorize the firm according to organizational type or combination of types. Input from department heads with respect to the following questions provides invaluable information for these preparations:

1. How many structural layers, in terms of authority and/or function, are there in each department of the organization (for example, managers, foremen, or supervisors; skilled staff; clerical staff; operators; unskilled workers)?

2. How do these functions interact with each other?

3. Is the department or unit a multifunctional group with total internal communication and interdependent activity (for example, a buying office or a mailroom)?

4. Within the department or unit, are these several layers of autonomous authority that are not privy to the same depth of information (for example, an accounting department)?

This information is essential for deciding about layouts and the amount of visual and acoustical privacy required throughout the facility.

The planner must also establish, by department, division, and unit in the organization, such factors as the size of working groups in any business function; the need for face-to-face communication; the need for client consultation in privacy; the amount of interaction between organizational units; the need for intradepartmental communication and control; and the appropriate image required for the status levels of the executive staff so that the image projected coincides with the expectations of clients, suppliers, and the staff with whom the executives have regular contact. In brief, a very clear picture of the organization must be established - how it is structured, and why; how it functions; and how it compares with competitors and associated organizations.

Categories Of Facilities Space  

There are many types of facilities space, but basically they fall into the following five (5) categories:  

1. Open plan: All functions of the administration of either a total organization or a department are housed in a single area or room (see Exhibit 2-1).

2. Landscaped: This system modifies the open plan format. Some functions are housed in separate rooms that feed into the main area (for example, executive offices, conference rooms, and so on), and screens and large planters are used to separate functions and units of the organization (see Exhibit 2-2).

3. Departmental: This system is based on the theory that each department is an individual unit. Each department of the organization is treated separately and given its own reception, conference, accounting, and human facilities (see Exhibit 2-3). This system provides individual security for each department, as necessary. Within each department, the open plan, landscaped, or cellular approach can be employed.

4. Cellular: This system is still the most common in small and medium sized companies. Under this system, many secure separate rooms, each devoted to one aspect of the organization's operation, are usually linked by a corridor system or a central reception area (see Exhibit 2-4).

5. Group function: This system creates many medium to large areas that are semi-independent of all other areas. The theory behind this approach is that each area should be dedicated to the use of a group of workers who need to interact with each other without distraction from other groups (see Exhibit 2-5).

EXHIBIT 2-1    Open Plan Office

EXHIBIT 2-2    Landscaped Office Plan

EXHIBIT 2-3    Departmental Office Plan

EXHIBIT 2-4    Cellular Office Plan

EXHIBIT 2-5    Group Function Office Plan  

No matter which of the five systems of office planning - or permutation of these systems - is chosen, many factors other than the layout will have a bearing on the success or failure of the planning program. All too often facilities planning is undertaken without a full in-depth knowledge of the needs of the total organization. While an individual department's facilities may be a success, these very same facilities can in fact at times detract from the overall efficiency of the total organization. The application of the facilities plan to the total needs of the organization should, therefore, be carefully analyzed and considered.

Corporate image, group buying, and interactive needs also have a strong bearing on many planning and design decisions, as detailed below.

Corporate Image. A corporate image is established through the standardization of all design decisions. This affects everything that can be considered a design factor, thereby producing standardized (1) letterheads, logos, type styles, and sizes of all company stationery; (2) company liveries (including signs, vans, nameplates, and so on); (3) styles and types of furnishings and furniture; and (4) uniforms, company magazines, and even office layouts. Because of such standardization - that is, because of the corporate image projected - every property, business activity, and product of the company is immediately identifiable as part of that organization.  

Group Buying.  This method of purchasing anything from raw materials to typewriters is controlled at the corporate headquarters, or buying division, and allows the company to benefit from bulk order discounts. Sometimes, group-buying plans are employed simply to control capital expenditures and supplier relationships. With respect to facilities planning, group buying can limit the choice of possible supply points.  

Interactive Needs.  Possibly the greatest problem area for the facilities planner who is making supply or design decisions concerns the interactive needs of facilities located at different sites. In a multi-location facilities application, the planner must take into account that paperwork produced in one office should be applicable to the systems employed elsewhere; that equipment at one location must be able to use the output of equipment in other locations; that systems of filing and accounting must be standardized; and that communication systems must be uniform, or at least usable, throughout the organization.

Categories of Facilities Applications

Facilities applications introduce the various outside factors that have a bearing on the success of any given office-planning program. The most common facilities applications are:

1. Multi-location.

2. Multi-purpose.

3. Stratified.

4. Estate or campus. 

5. Interactive (controlled).

6. Interactive (non-controlled). 

7. Single-level simple. 

8. Tradition based.

9. Acceptance controlled.  

10. International.

Let us examine these applications in depth and show how they can control many of the decisions made in the initial stages of facilities provision. In fact, many of these factors are built into a corporate design brief before the facilities executives become involved with the project.  

Multi-location Application

One hundred years ago, it was common for most organizations to be located in one place, and any other geographic locations that were under their control were not regarded as part of a total corporate image. Thus, in the past, office managers involved in facilities decisions had to consider only the requirements of a single, protected locale and needed little knowledge of what was done 200 miles away, in another state or another country.

Today, however, economic limitations, the need to transfer people and functions to other locations, and the awareness of the value of a corporate image have created in many cases a standardization of facilities throughout many organizations. Therefore, it is almost impossible to undertake the provision of office facilities without reference to existing off ice facilities in use by the same organization in other locations. Similarly, if an innovation that increases efficiency or staff satisfaction is introduced at one location, then that innovation may have to be introduced at other offices within the organization, as well. Company policy regarding group buying of equipment and furniture can also limit the actions of the office planner for economic reasons. Therefore, in a multi-location organization, the planner should undertake a comparative analysis of all facilities and should try to determine how actions in one location may affect all other facilities in the future. 

Multi-purpose Application

Today, many organizations are involved in a myriad of commercial undertakings, all of which have differing operational needs and varying degrees of dependence on the mother company. To ensure efficiency, the office facilities of the mother company, or the corporate headquarters of such an organization, must accommodate all these various needs. In some cases, one office facility located in one building may have to serve several disciplines or commercial undertakings. In such a situation, the planner must investigate each of these operations independently before making any planning or design decisions.

Stratified Application

Because of the rising costs of land and the need for more and more companies to obtain center-city premises, the construction and use of multistory buildings has become common during the twentieth century. Yet many planning decisions are made without full consideration of this development. Behavioral psychologists have established that few employees perceive the multistory context of their work environment - that is, they rarely, if ever, consider the fact that business is being conducted above and below them in parallel to their own activities. Furthermore, many people fail to realize that the population of many office buildings is larger than that of entire towns of the past. The technological advances of building and city operations have left most of us far behind in terms of comprehending the complexity of our environment, yet the facilities planner must strive to include these factors in every decision if he or she is to design a plan that will produce maximum efficiency.

Estate or Campus Application

It is not uncommon for an organization to occupy several buildings on the same site, especially in the case of academic, government, or institutional facilities. The executive in charge of facilities management in this case must build up a knowledge of these various buildings and remember that actions taken in any one of these buildings will affect the efficiency of communications with, or staff morale, in the others.

Interactive (Controlled) Application

Some office facilities are created to administer rather than to direct. This is particularly so in the case of government offices or institutional branch locations, where the activity of the organization exists to carry out the directives of an absent executive council or director. The business of such facilities would normally be described as "passing on" directives or assistance to non-organization people.  

In such cases, the office facility must be created to serve this administrative function and is usually planned according to an existing set of systems and opera­tions. A local post office is a perfect example of this situation. The local facility has a manager and a staff, but the operational systems are developed elsewhere, and all executive directives are issued from the national headquarters.  

In these cases, the planner/designer must create a facility that will be totally compatible with other such facilities - it must be able to operate with the same equipment and forms and in the same situations as all other such units. Within such parameters, the planner can use his or her ability only to improve upon the basic facility and the designer can only affect its aesthetics.  

In an interactive (non-controlled) application, as much as two-thirds of the area being planned will be used for client occupation or goods display; and the office facility, although operating as part of the facility, will be located in the remaining space, separated by some form of "people barrier."  Banks, customer offices, sales offices, stores, and the like often require such arrangements. The planner, therefore, must determine not only the requirements of the organization but also those of visitors, clients, customers, and so on.

Single-Level Simple Application  

This application needs little description except to say that, in this situation, the facility operates on one floor, in one location, and fulfills the total administrational needs of the organization.

Tradition-Based Application

A tradition-based application is not necessarily a single application. In fact, in most cases, it will be an addition to one or more applications. This situation exists when an organization is obliged to place several restrictions on, or give definite guidelines to, planners and designers alike, based on state-of-the-business functions. For example, architects need drawing boards and prefer to work near a window; doctors wish to interview their patients in a private room rather than in a common reception area; and lawyers demand privacy when dealing with clients. No matter how much capital expenditure might be saved or how much efficiency of the overall operations might be improved if tradition-based rules were ignored, the possible (or probable) loss of income or staff would not permit such innovations to be implemented without a great deal of righteous argument.

Acceptance-Controlled Application

Just as tradition-based applications refer to what the employees of an organization will accept, acceptance-controlled applications are dependent upon what people outside the organization (most often, clients) will accept. Most clients of any organization come to the firm because they choose to; therefore, too great a change in that organization may drive away some clients. If Mr. Anderson, for example, has always discussed business with his account executive in a private and comfortable room over a cup of coffee, he may well disappear if he is made to wait in a communal area and then conduct his business in competition with several other concurrent conversations. Therefore, planners should take great care in discerning why the company's clients prefer the company to its competitors, and, once these factors are established, they should be amplified or perfected. Certainly, the planner should not eliminate or replace them without giving very careful thought to the outcome.

International Application

If the main activity of any office facility is to do business with foreign countries or clients, everything must be considered in this light. Provision must be made to make the foreign visitors welcome and comfortable. Communications equipment, and so on, must be compatible with the equipment in other countries, where necessary.

Selecting the Building or Space  

Once the planning executives have established the type of organization they are trying to accommodate and have determined what the most efficient system of planning is in relation to the facilities they wish to provide, their next step is to select the building or to adapt the building that is available. The building (or buildings) available for consideration should be examined to see if they can be adapted to serve the needs of the organization.

At this stage, planning executives will require the input and advice of an architect and a structural engineer in addition to that of an office planning expert. The most perfect situation would be to continue through the design and space-planning process until an interior layout is established and then to commission a shell to be constructed around this "perfect office." This approach, however, is rarely adopted, although in the last decade or so many organizations are concluding that this is, indeed, the best way to provide an office facility, whatever size the project.

If, however, an existing building must be used, or if a choice among several available buildings or sites must be made, then the planner must investigate the following:  

1.  Commuter status: How accessible is the building to the staff (regularity of public transport, density of road traffic at the time the staff will be arriving or departing)?  

2. Updating costs: If the building is not new, there may be heavy costs in­volved in bringing the building up to standard and in complying with building regulations and conservancy laws not in effect when the building was built.

3. Area image: Will the reputation of the organization benefit from being in the building under consideration, in terms of the image the location projects to both the organization's staff and its clients.

4. Communications value: The value of the building must be established in terms of whether it moves the organization into or away from the organization's sphere of business activity (for example, a newsstand outside a cemetery will do less business than one outside a busy railroad station). The building chosen must be accessible to the organization's everyday business activity, or it must be chosen for more reasons than that "it is a good building."

5. Running costs: The planner must take into account every cost that will be incurred, by the organization and its staff, once the facility is in use. How much will it cost to reimburse staff for travel costs? What maintenance costs are probable? What will be the cost of light, heat, air conditioning, and so on? How long will the building serve the organization's needs relative to the necessary investment costs?  

The planner should also establish what the organization's present needs for storage spaces are, and what future needs may be (the possibilities of microfilm and other storage methods should be investigated). Does everything need "secure" storage? It is wise to classify everything that needs to be stored within the building into levels of required security, as follows: class 7 = storage vault; class 2 = fireproof storage cabinets; class 3 = locked filing cabinets; class 4 = classified information kept in locked drawers in executives' desks, and the like; and class 5 = non-classified material.

An important consideration, often not examined until the actual interior design begins, is the weight load of the floors of the space involved. All buildings have a recommended dead weight loading for floors. In the case of some buildings, these figures may have been forgotten or lost with the passage of time. Detailed information about what equipment can or cannot be used because of its weight is something that must be established before any space planning can begin.

Judging the appropriateness of available buildings, spaces, and sites is a complicated matter. Many more factors need to be taken into account than those that are normally voiced in the general board meetings that decide that new facilities are required.  An organization's space needs fall into four categories:

1. Work areas.

2. Public areas.

3. Service areas (rest rooms, elevators, and so on).

4. Storage areas.

The planner, having established how the organization currently uses its spaces, will be able to apply this knowledge in determining the appropriateness of the building under consideration and in planning how to use the new space efficiently. Any available data regarding the organization's expansion needs over a predetermined period of time must also be taken into account.

Quite often, office buildings classify available space according to only two categories: service areas (elevators, rest rooms, entrance lobbies, and soon) and huge work areas (airplane-hangar type rooms). The costs of creating a working environment that satisfies the organization's needs (partitions, cost of setting up these partitions) must be carefully evaluated before any building can be deemed suitable for the company's needs.

Analyzing Departmental Needs

It is usually very difficult to establish in detail what the norm is for off ice facilities for any given area or business activity. Obviously, firm A's competitors are not likely to open their operations to a planner from firm A.  While members of firm A's staff who have worked for competitors may be able to supply some useful information in general terms, they most likely will offer only vague criticisms and comparisons. Few people in any organization ever actually take a tape measure to their own work station, let alone know the technical details of equipment and furniture. For this reason, the planning executive may need to consult a professional office planner. The professional has probably worked on similar projects and will know what to analyze to achieve the best results.

In general, the executive involved in office planning should evaluate departmental equipment, systems, and general space requirements according to the procedures detailed in Exhibits 2-6 and 2-7. (Actual space standards are discussed later in this chapter, as are staff preferences.)  

EXHIBIT 2-6    Procedures for Analyzing Present Facilities

For each department, list the following data, subdivided into sections within the department, where possible:  

1. Determine the total number of people employed in the area.  

2. Computer average space per person in square feet in the existing facility.  

3. Determine actual territory per person.  

4. Compare answers to questions 2 and 3 and ask department heads to evaluate (generally) the performance of individuals relative to the space they use. You may find that space has no effect on individual productivity; or you may find the opposite, which will help you assess space standards and furniture requirements later.  

5. Draw up lists of existing furniture and equipment.  

6. Evaluate, with department heads, requirements for extra furniture and equipment in the new facility.  

7. Evaluate conference facilities (including interview rooms and training facilities) that will be required.  

8. Establish number of rest rooms, personal lockers, and clothes closets that will be needed.  

9. Evaluate refreshment facilities - that is, restaurants, lounges, vending areas, and so on - in terms of the total space required.  

10. Add space requirements for filing and storage.  

11. Calculate square footage of existing corridors and passages.  

12.  Calculate square footage of existing reception areas.

13. Calculate capacity of present car-parking areas.  

14.  Establish the space standards that existed when the existing premises were first occupied.  

---

EXHIBIT 2-7    Procedures for Analyzing Staff Space Requirements  

Evaluate every member of the proposed staff according to the following checklist:  

1.    Visual privacy is:

(a)        absolutely essential.
(b)        important.
(c)        useful.
(d)        not required.

2.    Acoustic privacy is:

(a)        absolutely essential.
(b)        important.
(c)        useful.
(d)        not required.

3.    Contact with clients or visitors is:

(a)        on a regular basis.
(b)        occasional.
(c)        not often.

4.    Contact with other staff in conference is:

(a)        on a regular basis.
(b)        occasional.
(c)        not often.

5.    Job or equipment used requires:

(a)        privacy.
(b)        noise control.
(c)        visual control.

6.    Use of phone or audio equipment is:

(a)        full-time.
(b)        on a regular basis.
(c)        occasional.
(d)        rare.

7.    Creative or concentration input is:

(a)        total.
(b)        important.
(c)        occasional.
(d)                rare.  

---

Try to build up a data bank of what every employee needs to be efficient, productive, and happy; and try to use this information throughout the planning and decision-making processes.  

Space Standards

Space standards are the number of square feet needed for any given task or level of responsibility. The planner should try to obtain the average figure for the particular geographic area or industry involved. (Generally, for a total office facility of a medium-sized company, an area of approximately 100-120 square feet per employee will act as a guide to the size of building required to house an administration, excluding public areas, service areas, and corridors.) The system of office planning chosen will affect the space standards needed for individuals - the open-plan system makes the most economical use of space, and the cellular system gives the most privacy, but is the least economical.

The basic grades of space standards are categorized as follows:

1. Chairperson (President).

2. Executives.

3. Managers.

4. Administrators/Supervisors.

5. Executive Secretaries.

6. Secretaries.

7. Clerical staff.*

* Occupations involving computers or bookkeeping are special cases.

The system used for arriving at selected space standards collates the space needed for equipment and working area with the standardized space for job functions or status. The total number of such functions is then calculated at the space standard size involved for each employee and yields a total work area required figure. Special areas, such as reception, mailroom, rest rooms, corridors, and so on, are then added. The sizes of these special areas depend on the size, in square footage, of the department(s) they serve or link together.  

Expansion Forecasting

Every business is either growing or contracting at any given time. Successful organizations experience periods of true growth far more often than contraction periods. Since an organization will often create new facilities to increase the likelihood of success, new facilities should be viewed as a means of "boosting" growth rather than as a response to past success. Therefore, the planner must incorporate this growth factor into the plans by making sure that the new facilities can house the anticipated growth over a predetermined period of time.

Since most leases are signed for between five and ten years, possible future growth within that time frame should be considered in the plans. All officers of the company should be involved in this exercise, and all predictions should be verified, or at least given credence, by the accounting department and the senior management.

Using the company's records, the planning executive should produce the following growth patterns for the previous ten years, in graphic form:  

Some companies are wise enough to keep records of the number of visitors they entertain, through the use of a visitors' book in the main reception area or by issuing visitor badges at the main gate. A company that does this thereby obtains valuable data about the number of guests the facilities have to serve. Many top executives, in fact, have no idea how many visitors their facilities entertain every day. Imagine the difficulties that might arise when 50 guests arrive at a facility geared to receive only 20. Clearly, such a situation does not present an image of efficiency to prospective clients. If some sort of visitor check system does not exist in the company, the planning executive should institute one as soon as possible to obtain data on the numbers of visitors and on the client-supplier mix that the facilities will have to accommodate.

By calculating the mean growth factor of the graphic data listed above, the planner can predict an expected growth rate for the period in question. Each department head should be asked to predict the growth rate of his or her area of responsibility. Department heads probably know better than anyone what their needs are, but the planner should have every figure verified, as before, to prevent any "empire building." Each department head should be asked to supply the following data, as applicable to his or her department:  

1. Classify the staff levels (for example, managers, secretaries, supervisors, professional staff, clerks, and so on) in the department. Give the number of workers employed at these levels for each of the preceding five years and predict the department's needs for the future period under consideration.

2. Classify workload by job types: give historical levels, present levels, and predicted levels for the future.

3. Identify outside factors (such as market changes) and technological facts (such as new equipment, computers, and so on) that may affect staff levels, and indicate what those effects will be. (Reduce or increase staffing requirements? By how much?)  

By including these additional facts in the graphic outlines, the planner is more likely to develop a relatively accurate prediction of future needs. Corporate plans for expansion, as well as marketing reports and purchasing and supply plans for the future, should also be collated to back up these expansion forecasts.

By this stage in the operation, planners will have ascertained the exact requirements of their organization. 

1. They will know what type of organization they are dealing with and how it is likely to develop. They will also have investigated alternative methods of administration. 

2. They will have chosen the system of office planning that best suits their organization's needs. 

3. They will have predicted the future possible growth of the operation. 

4. They will have obtained the input of all the department heads of the organization. At this point, a planner should be in a position to judge new or existing facilities or buildings in relation to the organization's needs.

Instructional Programming - Chapter Two

1.       If office workers were asked to define "good design," the majority would define it in __________ terms.  

2.   Comparisons of space and layouts employed by other organizations similar to the planner's own should be made before planning begins.

(   ) True
(   ) False  

3.   The planner should examine the structural layers of the organization.

(   ) True
(   ) False  

4.   Departmental office planning assumes that each department is an individual unit and should be planned as such.

(   ) True
(   ) False  

5.       What are the ten most common facilities applications?  

6.   For a multi-location organization, the planner should conduct a ___________ analysis of all facilities.

7.   In essence, a corporate image consists of the standardization of all design decisions.

(   ) True
(   ) False  

8.   Most people comprehend the impact of technological advances in building and city operations on their lives.

(   ) True
(   ) False

9.    Interactive (non-controlled) application in facilities planning describes offices created to administer rather than to direct.

(   ) True
(   ) False

10.  Define the "single-level simple" application.

11.   Acceptance-controlled applications, as applied to facilities planning, are:

(a)  Dependent upon what employees will accept.
(b) Controlled by executive directives.
(c) Controlled by legal statutes.
(d) Dependent upon what people outside the organization will accept.

12.   What are the four basic categories of facilities space?

13.   Few people know the measurement details of the space in which they work.

(   ) True
(   ) False  

14. Space _________ are the number of square feet needed for any given task or level of responsibility.

Answers

Chapter One: Office Planning & Design

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Chapter Three: Office Planning & Design

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Chapter Four: Office Planning & Design

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Chapter Five: Office Planning & Design

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