CHOICE
connect
A division of the American Library Association
Editorial Offices: 575 Main Street, Suite 300, Middletown, CT 06457-3445
Phone: (860) 347-6933
Fax: (860) 704-0465
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
Please do not link to this page.
Reaktion Books
The following review appeared in the April 2023 issue of CHOICE. The review is for your internal use only. Please review our Permission and Reprints Guidelines or email permissions@ala-choice.org.
Social & Behavioral Sciences
Business, Management & Labor
Myerson (emer., Royal College of Art, UK) and Ross (independent scholar) argue that efficiency theory was the dominant force behind the evolution of office designs for most of the last century. However, recent economic and public health shocks, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, have disrupted the way work is done and dismantled the old vestiges of office design (though these transformations were already underway before the pandemic). The authors argue that offices should no longer be designed around what people do at work but around how they feel about work. Offices should now seek to create a sense of community. The book uses examples to show how office designs have evolved to emphasize workers over their work. However, the evolution of management theory preceded the evolution in office design, and a literature review demonstrates that management has long been concerned with the feelings of workers and their need for community since the formation of the behavioral school of management in the 1930s. Even so, the authors make a compelling case that old work systems should be unraveled and workers given the freedom to create the work experiences they truly want.
--R. Dupont, Louisiana State University Alexandria