In an era paying respect to the needs of individuals, offices are being personalized according to different positions and different work habits of staff. By giving a practical example of “Copenhagen” in M-Office (MATSU’s mobile office experience hall), MATSU is sharing different ways of working and communication possibilities. So in an era of versatile office, what are your usual means of working and communication among the followings?
No matter what type of work you do, whether you work alone or collaborate with people, you will find the next three ways of working and eight means of communicating in workspaces around the world.
1. Different way of working
Way of working is how you accomplish your work. The Copenhagen diverse workplace systems can be flexibly adapted to the unique needs of a particular department within a company, depending on the needs of the different departments. Spaces can be molded into a brand delivering the corporate culture.
01
Open Workstation
Human beings are not machines. Machines can mimic the array arrangement and achieve logic thinking more stringent than ordinary people, however, are not likely to replace the enthusiasm of people on things, or the creativity mobilized by mood that stimulates the cerebral cortex. And the atmosphere created by space can stimulate this valuable creativity.
The Copenhagen open alien workstations are arranged in an irregular slash approximating a straight line to ensure space utilization efficiency and agility. From the perspective of evolution, irregular disorder can breed a prosperous life. In such a flexible space, creativity doubles.
Round corner angle of the tables facilitates space utilization efficiency and agility too. A space without sharp right angles makes people feel at home.
Honeycombed perforated steel screen allows slight obscurity between employees sitting in the opposite, so that they have their own independent space of thinking, while the computer back and wires are covered up to make the desktop clean and tidy; the perspective porous design also allows these employees to share and communicate easily and smoothly.
02
Height Adjustable Standing Desks
Height adjustable standing desks are also a great choice for healthy office life, which can adapt to different needs of staff of different body proportions for the table height, and also allow a perfect switch between standing and sitting position in the office. After lunch, work in a standing position not only help digestion, but also make the abdomen more compact.
03
Focus area
A combination of sofas brings the convenience of communication, but actually affects employees in their desk work. However, a Focus area created with landing screen offers a pure land for desk work. It is suitable for the handling of concentrated individual work tasks, so that employees are engaged in a specific work related to their duties, solve the problems and deliver their output (deliverables). The Focus area is perfect for short-time focused work tasks, while ordinary table height keeps one focused for a long time on their work.
2. How many possibilities of communication are there?
Friction leads to sparks. By enhancing the collision rate between the staff we will stimulate the sparks of inspiration. Here “collision rate” refers to the number of exchanges between people per hour in a certain area. Then, to determine the collision rate it is crucial to create collaboration and leisure spaces.
• Cannot communicate? Conflict like fire and water? Not on the same channel? No feeling?
• A nice chat! Tacit understanding! Hit it off! Inspired!
The two totally different communication results actually happen in the same team. The difference is in the way of communication. So, at work, how many kinds of communication on earth we are using?
01
Discussion (2-4 persons)
Discussion. At the sofa area beside Copenhagen workstation, we add a flexible cabinet to form a collaboration area near the workplace. Here a team, or 2-4 people from different teams can carry out improvised communication for a project, or a background description or discussion for a short-term project before seeking other departments’ assistance. Here only brief interruptions occur in the workflow.
02
Communication (2-3 persons)
Communication. Targeted interactions happen between 2-3 colleagues working on a topic, such as meeting suppliers, interviewing, or communicating with each other about their recent work status. The Co System compartment gives the window seats some privacy. Compared with discussion or chat, the communication is more formal, but not as serious or cramped as a formal meeting.
03
Chat (2-3 persons)
Chatting. If you do not fancy the atmosphere of a formal conversation, then chatting on the sofa can be a good choice. Chatting is an occasional, improvisational interaction among colleagues. It is an opportunity for employees to interact, to know each other’s current situation, ask simple questions, or seek advice. It often begins with a social hotspot, which might produce creative sparks, or lead to ideas or feelings about an issue. For example: gossip after launch, greetings on encounter. It’s not necessarily directly related to work, but quite likely to inspire amid chatting.
04
Conversation (3-4 persons)
Conversation. Conversation is more formal. It often happens among 3-4 people on a certain issue. They work on the details, reach a consensus on the target, or feedback problems encountered and find a solution.
05
Brainstorming (3-6 persons)
Brainstorming. Employees often need to seek inspiration for project launch, etc., so they convene a team on purpose and brainstorm on a topic, and usually need to record their ideas on the whiteboard. The introduction of Wings high-back sofa offers an exclusive space for brainstorming away from disturbance and ensures noise reduction and some privacy in an open office space.
06
Presentation (6-8 persons)
Presentation. A team of 6-8 people decides a time in advance and plans a product training or creative proposal through video or whiteboard.
07
Meeting (4-8 persons)
Meeting joined by 4-8 people for large-scale project introduction or official launch, especially cross-departmental project description, task assignment, etc.
08
Thinking alone
Thinking. An opportunity for one to suspend his work and consider the best way to make an advance, or to temporarily get away from work and catch a breath. You can stay around the study area created by Copenhagen bookshelf - bring a notebook and sit on a bar chair, looking for inspiration from a book. You can enjoy the sunlight by the window and adjust yourself out of the fatigue of work. Interact with the kitten outside the window on the grass, or admire the beat of raindrops on the window, or immerse into the world of books. The silence provides necessary degree of concentration that helps you digest complex information from the outside world.