Performance measurement of workplace change: in two different cultural contexts

<p>Thesis presented for the degree of doctor at TUDelft on 22 January 2014 by the author</p>

Nowadays, organisations must cope with the pressure of cost reduction and efficiency in order to succeed in a highly competitive business environment. However, drivers to improve social interaction and employee’s performance and as such to contribute to organisational goals and objectives make it necessary to be concerned with other performance criteria as well, such as effectiveness, flexibility, employee satisfaction, productivity and creativity. There is a growing need for performance management and performance measurement that not only covers all aspects of an organisation, but which can be applied to various situations in a changing internal and external environment. Performance measurement methods which include an integrated perspective of performance have become essential. In addition, it has been realised that corporate real estate can contribute to organisational performance (Nourse and Roulac, 1993, De Vries et al., 2008, Lindholm, 2008, Den Heijer, 2011, Jensen et al., 2012). For this reason, worldwide organisations started to implement new ways of working in a more open and flexible work environment. Although there are various objectives and drivers of workplace change, the common objectives are to reduce costs and to increase efficiency. The changing organisational and external contexts, such as the increasing demand for talented knowledge workers and changing work patterns, have led to the development of new offices that can promote social networks and interaction among employees. The new workplace does not only aim at achieving cost efficiency, but it should also support employee satisfaction and productivity.This PhD research focuses on both themes i.e. performance measurement of workplace change. The aim of this research is to provide a conceptual framework that visualises the impact of workplace change on employees’ responses to the new work environment and to present guidelines on performance measurement of workplace change in different contexts. Two organisations in Thailand and one organisation in The Netherlands were selected to serve as case studies. The impact of culture was explored as a contextual background.