As a person with extensive management experience at various organizations, one thing I have learned is that apart from putting the right man in the right job, one must give equal importance to "designing the right workplace for the right person". The reason is simply that with the surrounding unfavorable to productivity and encouragement, persons with knowledge and ability can easily stumble and eventually fail to perform.

     Quite a number of management executives or company leaders may not pay enough attention to providing a kind of workplace atmosphere appropriate to staff members simply because they do not realize it or overlook its importance. Simply put, they do not understand how influential the workplace is to both positive and negative performances.

      Arranging all the desks in the same way without taking into consideration differences of each department could just be a mistake that undermines the strength of the workforce. For instance, people in charge of creative work, planning and solving problems will need to work as a team. Arranging their desks in a regular way may instead make things more difficult for them. Desks facing each other or providing more individual space for each desk may be a better choice in this case. Keeping the people in the room at an appropriate number or decorating the room to enhance imagination can also be of benefit, which in return translates into greater working efficiency.

     Some offices need to tighten their belt by limiting the use of air-conditioners, substituting them with electric fans or opening the windows in the morning. Thinking that the weather outside is nice, the consequences may disastrous especially when the temperature rises. The heat directly affects the staff physically, resulting in poor performance and deteriorating working atmosphere. What could be saved financially could turn into an unpleasant lost of money.

     Of course, it sounds like a very small matter on the part of the management, but for me as the head of an organization, it is the opposite. I realize that the working environment creates a direct impact to the efficiency of my team members. Appropriate working environment helps bring the organization to success, not only in terms of achieving the goal but also in terms of enhancing individual's capability and upgrading the overall competitiveness. In order to make the workplace appropriate for the staff, I adhere to the philosophy of making it as much as possible a human-centered environment. A consultant or expert in the field of design is needed to help complete the job, while essential information must be provided in order to understand the following elements:

Image of the organization

     The image of an organization must be reflected through the working environment, which means the arrangement must coincide with the operating goal of the company in order to allow visitors as well as all employees to realize the identity of the organization. As for the business I am overseeing, there are 2 parts - aggressive organization and academic entity. The first part deals with programs, computer books and tourism. The workplace must then be modern - from the building itself to guest reception area and each comprising department.

      This way, visitors will be impressed. Impressed customers bring good business to any company on regular basis. The other that I deal with is the part that does work with academic concern and researches. The organization here needs to create a kind of image that encourages good trust on the account of knowledge and researches with great importance provided to an information center. The working environment including the document filing system must be orderly and neat. A special service such as access to the Internet must be ready for visitors and clients who are interested in the information the company provides.

Individual department's requirements

     Another important factor to be considered when arranging the workplace is the internal structure of the organization. The environment must be favorable to the requirement of each different department. The production department dealing with production of books and computer programs must have a kind of workplace that is modern and equipped with high-tech equipment to allow smooth and efficient operation, while encouraging creativity. As for the research department, employees demand concentration, which means partitions may be needed to allow quiet surrounding appropriate for the kind of work they are handling. Cabinets for books and documents will become essential to researchers in this case.

     For the case of a conference room, where policies and goals of the company are discussed and determined, everybody must feel encouraged by the atmosphere of the room to make contributions and exchange views. The arrangement of tables and chairs or choosing of color for the room should produce a friendly atmosphere.

Working efficiency

     The workstation of each employee must take into account utmost productivity as well as efficiency, while preserving working satisfaction each employee deserves. By looking at it this way, space for each individual will become significant. In order to concentrate on working, the staff must not be distracted by the external elements. To help ease the tension, a small aquarium can be used as employees can also take a short break to feed the fish or look at them swim. Well -arranged desks are also a key to better working efficiency. Piled-up documents prove lesser working efficiency, while creating a polluted sight quite disturbing to other officemates.

     Organizations that realize how much workplace means to the overall operation can benefit directly from good image projection and customer appreciation. The right workplace can simply help unlock obstacles blocking the potential of each employee. All these certainly lead to the ultimate corporate goal of success.