In this project, you will complete a questionnaire to help inform the design of a new office space. Then, you will write an article about the relationship between culture and workspaces. As you complete this project, think about places you have worked in the past: How did the culture and design of the workspace impact your creativity and productivity?
Competency
In this project, you will master the following competency:
- Draw connections between human creativity and culture
Scenario
You work for Gauze and Effect, a local humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical care to people in crisis. Two years ago, your friend Dr. Lee asked you to join Gauze and Effect as the organization’s first part-time employee.
Recently, the organization received a large donation from a private donor. It also received a new government grant. These funds will allow the organization to expand its reach nationally. To prepare the company to respond to more natural disasters throughout the country, you will need to add more people to the administrative staff. And to accommodate the larger staff, you’ll be moving to a new, larger workspace.
Dr. Lee wants a workspace that fosters creative collaboration and encourages social connections. Since your employees will be spending the majority of their daylight hours in the space, he wants them to be involved in the design process.
Directions
You are moving into a larger workspace and want to get a sense of what types of workspaces have worked well for your staff in the past. You’re interested to know what types of things they think should be incorporated into the new office space.
Dr. Lee has developed a brief questionnaire to encourage employee participation. He thinks it’s important that all employees participate in this activity, including you!
Workspace Questionnaire
Download and respond to all of the questions. You will submit this completed questionnaire as one of your deliverables for this project.
Article for The Gauzette
Angie O’Gram, the editor of The Gauzette, Gauze and Effect’s monthly e-newsletter, has approached you about writing an article. She’d like you to write about the workspace design initiative. Your article will help explain the initiative to the organization’s network of volunteers.
Angie has given you a list of topics and questions that she would like you to discuss in the article. Using the resources (which is also linked in the What to Submit section), answer these questions:
- Compare and contrast cultural and historic definitions of work and workspace using examples:
- How do different cultures define work and workspaces? What are some examples?
- How have definitions of work and workspaces changed over time?
- How do different groups in a culture define work and workspace?
- Explain how other definitions of workplaces compare to the culture of your current or former employer. Also consider how these definitions compare to the broader societal culture. Share some examples:
- How does your workspace represent the culture of your current or previous employer?
- How does the culture of your current or former employer relate to the larger societal culture?
- How do that employer’s values compare to the values of your society and culture?
- Describe the relationship between your culture and your ideas about work and workers:
- How does your societal culture fit with your self-concept as a worker? Explain your answer.
- Explain how studying the humanities can help you understand artistic merit:
- How has learning about the humanities changed the way you notice artistic merit? How has it impacted what you see in artifacts and your surrounding environment?
You can use the provided resources and conduct some of your own research. If you decide to conduct your own research, make sure that the resources are authoritative. Remember that you must cite your sources in the article.
What to Submit
Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:
Download and respond to the questions in this resource, which will guide your analysis of a workspace and artifact. Then, submit it as a deliverable.- Article for The Gauzette (500–1000 words)
Write an article about the workspace design initiative for the organization’s network of volunteers. The Resources will help you write your article for The Gauzette. Be sure to cite these any source that you use in your article.
