The Workplace - Johnson Controls Inc.

Workplace Futures 

A Prospective Through Scenarios 

Authors 

Professor John Ratcliffe 

Ruth Saurin 

Project Coordinator 

Dr Marie Puybaraud

Contents: 

Keynote 

Background 

Exordium 

21 st Century challenges 

The Top Ten Trends 

What Lies Ahead? 

Sixteen 21st Century Challenges 

Facilities Management 

Challenges to Management by Dr. Patrick Dixon 

The Workplace 

The Futures Methodology & Process 

The Workplace Prospective 

The Strategic Question 

Societal Drivers, Issues and Trends 

Demographic Drivers, Issues and Trends 

Economic Drivers, Issues and Trends 

Governance Drivers, Issues and Trends 

Environmental Issues and Trends 

Technological Drivers, Issues and Trends 

Wildcards 

Long-Term Global Risks 

Scenario Logics 

The Scenarios 

Scenario One: Jazz 

Scenario Two: Wise Counsels 

Scenario Three: Dantesque 

The Wind Tunnel Test 

A Workplace Prospective 

Next on the Agenda 

Research Priorities 

Propositum 

Appendices 

Participants 

Academic thought provocateur 

Provocative thoughts by Dr Michael Fenker, School of Architecture Paris La Villette 

Provocative thoughts by Dr Ruud van Wezel, The Hague University 

Provocative thoughts by Peter McLennan, UCL 

The Futures Methodology 

Partners 

Research Team 

References 

1 

© 2007 Copyright Johnson Controls Facilities Innovation Programme 

No information can be reproduced without the authorisation of Johnson Controls

Keynote 

by Rick Bertasi, VP Global 

WorkPlace Solutions, EMEA 

The Global Economy in which we operate is a major factor shaping the Future. The recent 

emergence of the Net Generation and the rise of business-web (b-web) has created a collaboration 

economy provoking unprecedented evolution in the way we aggregate a value chain, source 

suppliers and deliver services. Tapscott and Wiliams in Wikinomics qualifies this phenomenum as a 

“Category 6 Business Revolution”, calling for new strategies and business models to innovate and 

rewrite the rules of competition. They call it the world of “wikinomics” (“in which the perfect storm of 

technology, demographics, and global economics is an unrelenting force for change and innovation”). 

Where are we going? How should we, Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions, a large multibillion 

corporate enterprise, operating over 130 countries and managing over one billion square feet 

of facilities globally for some of the world’s largest companies, anticipate the future? We have worked 

alongside some customers for almost 20 years, evolving and flexing our solutions as their business 

has changed. At each stage, we have provided the expertise and resources that have delivered 

tangible value and created business advantage. We know implementing business change quickly, 

with minimum disruption and risk, is key to corporate agility. But anticipating what will affect our 

customers business in the future could be even more beneficial. This report represents one of our 

efforts to do so. 

This Futures Workshop was designed to capture the views and opinions of thought leaders through 

prospective scenarios. Professor John Ratcliffe argues later in this report that “workplace change and 

innovation has become critical to the future of organisations in a dynamic, economy-driven and 

knowledge-based society”. Like John, we agree managing change is a vital dimension underpinning 

successful transition - to new work styles, patterns and locations all within the aegis of facilities 

management. 

In this workshop we used three future scenarios to explore and inspire imaginative and shared 

thinking. The objective is to provide a rich picture of the future through each scenario and engage our 

clients and partners on a thought provoking journey which opens all of our minds to future changes to 

support our clients’ business success. 

In this report you will have a chance to explore our findings and discover what the future of the 

workplace may look like through our three very distinct scenarios: 


“Complexity managed by ‘marketising’ decision processes” 

This scenario assumes an unprecedented acceleration of economic growth, relentless pressure for 

short-term gains and fierce competition on a global scale, driven by rapid technological advances 

and further market integration. 


“Harnessing the knowledge economy for sustainable development” 

This scenario assumes global economic stability and an effort to attain environmental balance and 

social progress. 


"Social reaction to over rapid change” 

This scenario assumes global economic stagnation, cultural difference and insecurity. 

Of course, these three scenarios are false choices. The true future could have features of each 

scenario above in multiple forms which are not covered herein. But Jazz, Wise Counsel and 

Dantesque give enough food for thought to start exploring the future. 

Let me know if you find this of help or interest. I can be reached at richard.s.bertasi@JCI.com. 

2 



Background 

This report offers an approach towards overcoming the continued resistance to change in the 

workplace. It is an era characterised by global economic boom, cutting edge technological inventions 

and the rising power of international brands. These factors are fuelling the competition for talent 

between organisations and changing the workplace. Workplace change and innovation has become 

critical to the future of organisations in a dynamic, economy-driven and knowledge-based society. 

Managing this change, however, is a vital dimension underpinning successful transition - to new work 

styles, patterns and locations all within the aegis facilities management. Providers of physical and 

virtual workspaces need a clear understanding of the forces driving these changes and their impact, 

not only on individuals, but also on the organisations themselves. 

To this end, the Futures Academy in the Dublin Institute of Technology has collaborated with 

Johnson Controls to produce this report. Its aims are to: 

• Explore the changing context and nature of the workplace in the 21st century 

• Identify the challenges faced by a global workplace solution 

• Examine the current and emerging trends 

• Build a roadmap for the future 

As part of the process, The Futures Academy undertook in-depth background research. It analysed 

the data from survey questionnaires and held strategic discussions. In May 2007, a ‘Futures’ 

Workshop was held in conjunction with Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions to identify and 

discuss emerging concepts, challenges and uncertainties surrounding the workplace change debate. 

To better understand the uncertainties, trends and interrelated forces influencing the shape and 

direction of the workplace, a creative approach was adopted. It is argued in this document and by the 

writers that a creative approach - in particular a “futures” approach - offers a broader insight into 

workplace prospects and generates a recognisable representation of what the future might hold. 

At The Futures Academy, the creative approach of the “Prospective Through Scenarios” 

methodology has been advocated. This methodology has been developed to explore and inspire 

imaginative and shared thinking. It is a process that enables decision-makers to envision a preferred 

future for their organisations and prepares them for navigating uncertainty. It results in improved and 

more informed decisions. 

Using scenario techniques enables us to expand our mental horizons. By developing a number of 

plausible scenarios, we can better understand and accept change. This will stimulate debate about 

the future move toward a common approach to change. 

The scenarios will not work if they are seen as a gimmick. The scenarios show that, given the 

impossibility of knowing precisely how the future will play out, a good decision or strategy is one that 

plays out well across several possible futures. 

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Exordium 


The spirit of this work is based on the premise that a new mindset, reinforced by fresh ways of 

thinking about the future, is needed by all those involved in conceiving, designing, funding, 

constructing, occupying and managing the workplace so as to face the challenges, and grasp the 

opportunities, that lie ahead over the new few decades. 

At the global scale, there is growing recognition that humankind is on a non-sustainable course which 

could lead to ‘grandscale catastrophes’ [e.g. Lovelock, 2006; Rees, 2004]. At the same time, 

however, we are unlocking formidable new capabilities. This could be humanity’s last century, or a 

century that sets the world on a new course towards a spectacular future. Echoing the warnings of 

Paul Hawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins (2000), and their promotion of natural capitalism as a 

fundamental change in the way of doing business, the global economy seems to be outgrowing the 

capacity of the earth to support it. We are consuming renewable resources faster that they can 

regenerate: forests are shrinking, grasslands are deteriorating, water tables are falling, fisheries are 

collapsing and soils are eroding. On top of this, there is climate change, rising and moving 

populations, an increasingly polarised world, perverse subsidies by governments, impending energy 

and water wars, failed nations, shanty cities and false accounting for the GDP measure that ignores 

natural capital. Throughout, there is also the uncertainty of new technologies more powerful than the 

sum of their parts. Indeed, it is possible to think that we have become like the sorcerer’s apprentice, 

having started something we can barely control! 

Arguably, one of the single most important issues entwined in this imbroglio is the power of large 

corporations to shape the future of the planet. And, for the property professions, this means how 

corporate real estate, in all its forms, is proficiently developed and properly managed. The debate, of 

course, rages around those twin concepts of ‘sustainability’ and ‘corporate social responsibility’, and 

few involved in the processes of land use development or property facilities management can remain 

untouched or agnostic about either the ethics or economics of each. Palpably, both sustainability and 

corporate social responsibility [CSR] are fast becoming mainstream business imperatives. 

The main proposition, throughout, is that the real estate community worldwide, through initiatives 

such as this should foster and promote a more informed, structured and imaginative understanding of 

the long-term strategic stewardship of the built environment. Most particularly, that corporate 

organisations and real estate companies collectively and singularly anticipate and prepare for the 

future condition and function of the workplace by exploring and addressing the constructive 

connections between sustainability, CSR and property facilities management. 

4 



21 st Century 

challenges 

There is widespread recognition that 

we live in an era of rapid change in 

which new discoveries, philosophies 

and technologies play an ever more 

prominent part in shaping social and 

economic development. The world is 

becoming increasingly complex, more 

competitive and better connected. 

There is economic internationalisation 

on the one hand, yet cultural 

decentralisation on the other. Society 

has shifted from an industrial base to 

an information and knowledge 

orientation. Advances in genetics, 

materials, energy, computing, robotics, 

miniaturisation, medicines, therapies 

and communication proceed apace. 

The developed world is getting smaller, 

older and wealthier, whilst the 

developing world grows bigger, 

younger and relatively poorer. 

A blurring of boundaries between 

disciplines, industries and social 

enterprises is taking place. And as 

those boundaries fade, the lines 

connecting the constituent parts 

become more critical, so that networks, 

systems and holistic thinking are more 

meaningful. Moreover, crucial issues 

on a global level – demographic, 

natural resources, the environment and 

human culture – have to be addressed. 

A veritable transformation, or great disruption, is occurring. Something old is 

coming apart at the seams, and something new is emerging. 

Why the 21st Century is Different 

Until relatively recently humankind retained a simplistic view of the world. Back in the 1960’s, and 

early 1970’s, it seemed possible to keep an overview of development, take future changes into 

account and make five to ten year planning proposals based on ten to twenty year forecasts. It was a 

period of trend projection, time series, network analysis and mathematical modelling. Above all, 

perhaps, it was an era with a belief that tomorrow would mostly resemble today. The future was a 

given, and planning of all kinds sought to adapt current trends to meet that predestined condition. 

During the 1970’s, and into the 1980’s, however, the view of the future changed. With sudden and 

significant economic disruptions and social upheavals the future did not seem as predictable as had 

previously been imagined. Indeed, it became recognised as uncertain. There was no longer only one 

likely future path of development, but several different and possible futures. All these futures, 

moreover, would be shaped by a number of critical challenges: 

• Too many people. As the world’s population grows to about 9 billion around 2050, global 

tensions will climb as a result of dropping water tables, rising and changing consumer demand, 

uncontrolled migratory movements, calls for equality in healthcare, pollution, famine, congestion, 

unemployment, poverty, disease, starvation, social violence and the like. The challenge is to 

determine and achieve a stable and sustainable population for the earth. 

• Not enough resources. Conflict over valuable resources – and the power and wealth they confer 

– is fast becoming a prominent feature of the global landscape. International security expert 

Michael T. Klare (2002) argues that in the early decades of the new millennium, wars will be 

fought not over ideology, but over dwindling supplies of precious natural commodities. The 

challenge is to shift economic thinking from an emphasis on human productivity to a radical 

increase in resource productivity through the concept of natural capitalism. 

• It takes time. Many, if not most, of the major ‘momentum trends’ for the 21st century are longterm 

in their formation, impact and necessary control. We need to ‘stand in the future’ and create 

a strategic view that is unrestricted by the exigencies of the present – imagine ahead and plan 

backwards. Whilst we cannot predict the future in detail or with surety, we can study the 

alternative directions it might take and how to influence them over time. The challenge is to learn 

how to handle long-term, intergenerational lead-times. 

• There will be new technologies. With 20th century technology, there was a massive gulf between 

nature's systems and man-made systems. At the dawn of a new century we are witnessing new 

discoveries, innovations and adaptations that combine living and non-living systems. There are 

new forms of medicine and farming. There is also the prospect of new forms of ‘artificial life’. The 

challenge is to decide how to use these technologies responsibly and harness them to create a 

better world. 

• There will be surprises. Wildcards or jokers will be played from time to time. Some of these might 

be totally unexpected – some could be unlikely yet predictable. Leaders in organisations at all 

levels, and in all situations, need to collect the information, study the signs and confront the 

issues surrounding the degree of probability and scale of impact of macro-uncertainties that 

might impinge upon their areas of responsibility. The challenge is to avoid tragedy by both 

anticipating and preparing to mitigate damage done by ‘predictable surprises’. 

Perhaps the main difference that distinguishes the 21st century from those that proceeded it is the 

need to develop a mindset that can tackle the conscious design of large systems – cities, 

communities, corporations, countries, cultures, domains and the earth itself. 

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The Top Ten Trends 

1. A New Energy Age 

• China and India competing with the United States and Europe for access to energy resources. 

• New energy innovations will spawn new industries – hydrogen, nano-energy and advanced 

nuclear as well as renewable sources. 

• Energy terrorism as a potential weapon. 

2. The Innovation Economy 

• Free minds and free markets creating prosperity based on the new ‘building blocks’ (bits, 

atoms, neurons and genes). 

• Internet and wireless all-pervasive by 2020. 

• The infotech market grows to over $2.5 trillion by 2020. 

3. The Global Talent War 

• A scarcity of skilled employees at a time of increased globalisation and competition. 

4. Longevity Medicine 

• The largest global marketplace in the near future will offer a variety of anti-aging and health 

enhancing products. 

5. Heavy Weather Ahead 

• Climate change is a ‘singularity’ that cannot be fixed fast enough. 

• Industry will compete to clean up the planet. 

• Corporations will lead the charge to build a more sustainable world. 

6. Cultures in Collision 

• The ‘battle for the future’ pits secular and religious extremists against the movement towards 

modernity. 

• Continued poverty will kill globalisation. 

• Sustainable globalisation is needed. 

7. Security Trends 

• World War III has begun and we are not prepared. 

• Bio-tech risk is high and dirty bombs threaten life and property. 

• Cyber attacks are coming and privacy will be traded for security. 

• Crime will be more sophisticated and dangerous. 

8. Weird Science 

• Artificial life will spawn new electronic beings. 

• Nano-biology will build improved humans. 

• Quantum computers will radically increase our understanding. 

• Robots, to protect, heal, manage and clean, will become vital members of society. 

• The Megaverse (collapsing TV, telephones, wireless internet and computers) becomes the 

Next Net. 

9. The Emerging Invisible War 

• A dangerous war emerges between global organisations, governments and religion, 

competing to control individual rights, minds and freedoms. 

10. China’s Future 

• China will dominate world trade, energy resources, innovation and security. 

• It faces many risks about its future stability. 

• The US – China relationship is paramount to the future growth and stability of the world. 

Source: The Extreme Future (2006) 

James Canton, Institute for Global Futures. 

6 



What lies ahead? 

It is an extraordinarily mixed picture that emerges when we try to look forward to the global condition 

for the 21st century. 

The following challenges are among those that come to the fore. 

• Corporate Governance. The integrity of corporations, financial institutions and markets is 

essential to maintain confidence and economic activity, and to protect the interests of 

stakeholders. A spirit of transparency, a culture of responsibility and people of probity are the 

three prime elements of public trust. This trust has been shaken in the opening years of the 21 

century, but there are significant signs that ethical business practice and corporate social 

responsibility are on the up-turn. 

For the future, it is agreed that moral capitalism is the most appropriate means by which our 

modern, global human civilisation can empower people and enrich their lives materially and 

spiritually [Young, 2003]. 

• A Broken Internet. Rapid global expansion of Internet use obscures the looming problem of added 

patches, plugs and workarounds, as the net becomes more fragile. Worrisome reports abound of 

more spyware, virus-laden e-mails, security attacks, spam, botnets and digital extortion. Indeed, 

the worldwide IT infrastructure is highly vulnerable to premeditated attacks with potentially 

catastrophic effects. Heavy handed reforms, however, might make the Internet more secure, but 

less interesting. Nevertheless, we might just be at the point where the utility of the net stalls – and 

perhaps turns downwards. 

• Improved Global Governance. The international system is facing a serious challenge as faith in 

the pattern and performance of global governance wanes, and the faultline between rule-makers 

and rule-takers widens. Five issues top the human agenda: peaceful coexistence of different 

people, the widening gap between rich and poor, ideological gulfs between and within societies, 

environmental protection and good governance. Seven possible regimes of international society 

have been identified with varying degrees of centralisation and differing capacities to promote 

peace, distributive justice, cultural pluralism and individual freedom [Walzer, 2004). 

A. A Unified Global State; of maximum centralisation, where all humans have the same rights 

and obligations. 

B. International Anarchy; of a radically decentred world, where organisations are individual 

sovereign states, with no effective law binding on all of them. 

C. Imperial Rule; a form of Pax Romana (Pax Amerciana? Pax China??? Pax Walmart???). 

D. The Current Arrangement of International Society; one step from anarchy, with a series of 

global organisations that serve to modify state sovereignty. 

E. A Much Stronger International Civic Society; perhaps the best available option, but not 

necessarily sufficient for the task. 

F. A United States of the World; a federation of states, with a greatly strengthened UN 

incorporating the World Bank and a World Court. 

G. Third Degree of Pluralism; the familiar anarchy of states controlled by a threefold set of nonstate 

agents – organisations like the UN, civil society associations and regional unions like the 

EU. 

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• Strengthened Leadership. It is often said we lack real leadership in today’s world. People are 

needed who can provide real leadership in multiple and diverse contexts, with leadership 

approached as an interactive art. Six challenges of leadership for the 21 century have been 

established [Williams, 2005]. 

A. The Activist Challenge; calling attention to a contradiction in values and the fact that there is a 

problem of behaviours and values that undermine the long-term integrity and survival of the 

group. 

B. The Development Challenge; cultivating the latent capabilities to progress by giving people 

time to discover what works, and giving them a stake in developing their capacity. 

C. The Transition Challenge; moving from one system of values to another by providing an 

orienting purpose and becoming a visible symbol of the transition ideal. 

D. The Maintenance Challenge; protecting and sustaining what is essential during hard times by 

maintaining the mission and core values. 

E. The Creative Challenge; doing what has never been done before by being generous in 

‘wasting’ time and resources. 

F. The Crisis Challenge; leading in a period of extreme danger by exploring every alternative. 

All in all, the leader of the future must be part teacher, part nurturer, part visionary, part warrior and 

part sage. [Sidle, 2005]. 

Healthier Society. Introduction of new technologies has brought remarkable health improvements over 

the past few decades. The decades to come present a plethora of challenges, including: 

A. The Quest for Human Longevity; the first longevity revolution mainly occurred over the early 

part of the 20 century due to sanitation, vaccines and improved nutrition, and we may now be 

at the cusp of a second as science seeks to retard, stop or even reverse our physical 

deterioration. 

B. Medical Biotechnology; receives undisputed support for faster and more accurate diagnosis, 

prevention and therapy, but there is growing scientific consensus that biotechnology has 

advanced to the point that terrorists and rogue states could engineer novel pathogens. 

C. In the Shadow of Pandemic; pandemic influenza should be viewed as a permanent problem 

that can only be managed, never solved. 

D. Brave Neuro World; scientists have recently developed minimally invasive and comparatively 

benign technologies for exploring and altering the brain, which can change personality, 

behaviour and mood, but such advances raise major ethical, legal and philosophical issues. 

E. Prescription Drugs Alter Lives, Minds and Bodies; today’s drugs are increasingly directed 

towards three groups – high performance youth, middle-aged seekers of productivity and 

comfort, and high performance seniors, with liver distress the canary in the mineshaft. 

F. Keeping Patients Safe; staggering figures are emerging as to the number of hospitalised 

people who die each year as a result of errors in their care, though a new culture of safety is 

evolving. 

G. Drug Abuse and Addiction; has plagued almost all parts of the world over the past 50 years, 

and the threefold approach to mitigate it – reduction of supply, incarceration and treatment – 

has largely failed. 

H. A Global Response to AIDS; we have the science and technical capacity to deal with the AIDs 

epidemic, yet investment still has not begun to yield results. 

8 



Sixteen 21st Century 

Challenges 

The meaning of the 21st century is that evolution on Earth is now, suddenly, largely in human hands. 

Now that we are in charge of evolution we must learn the rules. Humanity has to learn how to control 

technology and avoid what is too dangerous. This century, one hopes, will see a transition to a planet 

managed well enough to make its long-term survival likely. The 21st century brings 16 challenges: 

1. Changing from wrecking the planet to healing it. 

2. Ending extreme poverty. 

3. Lowering population. 

4. Improving lifestyles while healing the environment. 

5. Preventing war among nations with WMD. 

6. Enacting appropriate laws and trade agreements, so that global business benefits everyone. 

7. Preserving the biosphere. 

8. Removing the means and motivations for terrorism. 

9. Helping young people everywhere to understand the meaning of 21 century. 

10. Building appropriate defences against infectious diseases. 

11. Developing the capability latent in everyone. 

12. Insuring that the Singularity – a chain of reaction of computer intelligence – acts in our best 

interests. 

13. Taking whatever actions necessary to bring the probability of extinction to zero. 

14. Understanding what Transhumanist changes to Homo sapiens can be made without negative 

consequences. 

15. Considering what a truly magnificent civilisation could be like at the end of the 21 century. 

16. Living at peace with Gaia – the Earth’s controls system – by understanding and not exceeding its 

constraints. 

Source: The Meaning of the 21st Century (2006) 

James Martin, Chairman Emeritus, Headstrong. 

9 



Facilities 

Management 

The emergence of the knowledge 

society, building on the pervasive 

influence of modern information 

and communication technologies, 

is bringing about a fundamental 

reshaping of the facilities 

management sector. In the wake of 

this dynamic trend, the facilities 

management industry is full of 

energy, ideas and enthusiasm. 

As companies strategically expand their remit to embrace globalisation, international boundaries are 

being wiped away, as technological, political and marketplace forces spur on competition, forcing 

organisations to adapt and formulate new best practice methods in order to compete in the world 

marketplace. As a result, services are now being offered on a global basis. Facilities Management 

needs to be framed to this context, taking account of the organisation, its customers, the workforce, 

service providers and suppliers and the community. 

Consequently, facilities managers are moving a step above the design, procurement, and furnishing 

of buildings, and are focusing on developing the skills of managing how a facility is used and how it 

evolves in response to changing occupier demands. The stage is being set for dramatic 

improvements, including more efficient utilisation, cost reduction, improved facilities condition and 

more productive workplace environments. Nevertheless, these developments do not come without 

their costs. While innovative improvements expand the remit of the facilities management sector, 

critical issues are arising in the form of commercial survival, global dominance and total enterprise 

security. Facilities managers must be able to make timely proactive decisions in order to surpass 

these criticalities. 

Facilities management is increasingly thought of in terms of business support. Solutions and criteria 

are set in terms of business performance, and operations re-defined as business services. The 

objective here is to facilitate business and work. But, how can a facilities manager stay connected to 

the business strategy, manage more projects with less staff, and still provide responsive service, 

while the business environment they support is changing rapidly? Nowadays, Facilities Management 

(FM) is defined in terms of business support while business performance harnesses business 

success, and business operations have become otherwise known as business services. The FM 

objective now is to facilitate business goals and work practices (Alexander, 1997). Nevertheless, how 

can a facilities manager align himself to the business strategy and provide a reactive service, while 

the business environment they support is changing rapidly? 

In response to this, according to Gaddie (2003), facilities managers should be encouraged to: 

• Cultivate strategies, plans and budgets in a continuous, hands-on fashion 

• Develop, plan and implement facilities projects in alignment with the organisational strategic 

vision and budget 

• Prioritise and allocate equipment and facilities in alignment with organisational priorities 

• Provide consistent performance to plan measures, communication and reporting for all projects 

This new phase of facilities management requires much deeper consideration in order for it to 

succeed in the 21st century. Consequently, a number of hard-hitting questions have been posed with 

the intention of provoking ideas, responses and openings within the mindset of the facilities manager: 

• Is the pace of organisational change exceeding the ability of the facilities managers to act 

accordingly? 

• What is the next radical step in reshaping facilities management? 

• How can a facilities management strategy provide flexibility in uncertain times? 

• What are the key competencies of successful facility managers and how are they identified? How 

do they improve and pass on these skills? 

• What are CEO’s and CFO’s looking for from facilities managers? 

Organisations, are dynamic at different levels, and as their pace differs, so does the necessary 

management response to accommodate or even encourage change. In practice, few organisations 

have the opportunity to design a facilities organisation with a ‘blank sheet of paper’. For most 

organisations there will be existing activities, probably fragmented, possibly with gaps in the provision 

and maybe with overlaps and some confusion. It is from this base that those seeking change must 

move. Adaptation to change will continue to be a key business criterion in the coming decades, and 

will also continue to provide the greatest challenge. 

10 



Thinking and planning forward in order to adapt to change demands a more integrated, holistic and 

synergistic mechanism involving a wide range of stakeholders taking responsibility for the 

development of shared future orientations as a basis for long-term strategic planning in facilities 

management – ‘A Futures Approach’. 

11 



Challenges to 

Mangement by 

Dr Patrick Dixon 

Leading futurist, Dr. Patrick Dixon, contends that what lies ahead for the world will 

be: 

Fast; Urban; Tribal; Universal; Radical; and Ethical. Here are some of the major challenges he poses 

to corporate management heading towards such a future. 

Fast 

• How flexible is your organisation in adapting to change, and does it use outside ‘visionaries’ to 

question the basic assumptions held internally? 

• Since planning takes longer than events to happen, is enough time invested in parallel planning? 

• Is the best value for money obtained in telecommunications? 

• How is the entire organisation’s intellectural capital and knowledge base managed? 

• Is the company up-to-speed in such areas as internet access and use, website value, encryption, 

multimedia investment, virtual reality, personalisation, speech recognition, surveillance and a 

pending financial services revolution? 

Urban 

• Does the organisation understand the nature of megacities and have a strategy for developing 

markets there? 

• Is there a location policy devised, and are the offices of the right size, in the right place, with 

continuing easy access globally, regionally and locally? 

• What effect will energy and water restrictions have on the business? 

• Is the company family friendly and relationship aware with appropriate policies in place? 

• How does the organisation intend to tackle the issue of an ageing population in terms of 

retirement, recruitment, terms and conditions of work, pensions and the ‘grey spend’? 

Tribal 

• Has the organisation ever examined ‘tribalism’ as an issue – national culture, target groups, 

markets and corporate behaviour? 

• What is company policy regarding language, and does it need reviewing in the light of current 

trends? 

• How sensitive is the organisation to cultural issues, and is special training given at any time? 

• Does the corporation invest enough in relationship management, building a tribe of loyal, happy 

customers? 

• Is there a strong corporate ‘pride factor’ among the workforce? 

Universal 

• How does the company address the new challenges posed by globalisation and ensure that all 

concerned are fully aware? 

• How vulnerable is the organisation to political risk, economic instability and currency fluctuation, 

especially in emerging markets? 

• Is the organisation prepared for sudden change in such areas as transnational trade unions, 

working hours in the global village, disintermediation, virtual company competition, home working, 

and threats and opportunities in mergers, acquisitions and disposals? 

• What future-oriented market research is undertaken, is the company identity right, and do 

products need rebranding for a global market? 

• Does the current location, structure and style of the company provide a continuing competitive 

advantage? 

12 



Radical 

• How ready is the organisation for significant shifts in market ‘culture’ – the way people think, 

believe and behave? 

• Is the company effectively networked nationally, regionally and globally – particularly in the event 

of the loss of national government power? 

• Does the corporation have community action or civic engagement policies, and is it prepared to 

address the vexed issues of ‘reasonable profit’, i.e. institutionalised corruption and ‘corporate 

responsible behaviour’? 

• How is the company prepared to handle single-issue activism – is there a think-tank or monitoring 

system to give early warning, and a rapid response media unit to provide quick, reliable and 

authoritative answers? 

• Have special issues adequately been reflected in corporate policy and promotion? 

Ethical 

• What are the key ethical issues facing the organisation over the next decade? 

• From where do corporate ethics emerge? 

• How well protected and sensitised is the company against civil litigation? 

• Is the corporate culture sympathetic to and supportive of the well-being of the workforce? 

• Does the upsurge in spirituality in many parts of the world impact upon corporate culture? 

[Derived from Dr. Patrick Dixon (2004) Futurewise, Profile.] 

13 




Workplaces have undergone dramatic 

changes since the 20th century, and 

now, with the advent of the new 

millennium, they are facing many new 

opportunities and threats. 

Pivotal Events 

The workplace picture is a fluid one. Advocates of workplace change believe organisations are not 

able to keep up with the pace of change; the notion that ‘a job is for life’ is disappearing; and 

workplaces are increasingly complex areas. While critics argue that these claims are sensationalised, 

producing unnecessary scaremongering. Regardless of what view one takes, a number of factors are 

contributing to a changing global pattern, which includes globalisation, democratisation, and technical 

and creative innovation. And each in some way is impacting upon the workplace. 

Past pivotal events which have significantly impacted the workplace and brought it into its new (albeit 

ever changing) landscape have been identified as follows: 

• The Advent of Communications Technology; this has enabled increased flexibility in the 

workplace as the move towards ubiquitous connectivity occurs. 

• Increased Use of Automation; there is a reliance on hand-held devices to minimise paperwork 

and boost the accuracy of data collection. Also, in terms of facilities management, greater focus is 

placed on integrating facilities and building control systems. 

• The Blackberry Device; the emergence of this device has enabled 24/7 access to people, allowing 

workers to choose their own work-styles. 

• Cost Reductions; their inclusion in new workplace concepts has encouraged employers to 

accommodate employees in creative and autonomous environments. 

• Real Time Data; while improving communication within the core business and it is supporting 

networks and services, this supports strategic decision making by improving reporting and 

monitoring system capabilities of different types of facilities. 

• Conflict, Terrorism and the Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction; these have led to security 

issues and preparation for extreme events by facilities and workplaces all over the world. 

• Flexible Working; growing acceptance of this concept is evident through the increased reliance on 

supplemental staff to help in-house staff cope with unplanned work. It also helps control labour 

costs and enables short-term staffing and in turn, helps managers focus on core competencies. 

• Over-Regulation; the Sarbanes Oxley reporting tool, for example, has been adopted out of 

necessity in the United States. However, financial services in the United Kingdom do not have an 

equivalent to this legislation, thus creating different business pressures in different regions. 

• Lack of Strategic Long-Term Thinking; this has led to the ‘silo effect’ where individual practices 

encourage individual service habits and culture, and generally leads to the dilemma, what is 

acceptable in one organisation may be unacceptable and irrelevant to clients in the facilities 

world. 

• Experience; reliance on this concept in the workplace has resulted in producing more predictable 

and reliable training for employees as well as developing employee expertise 

Changing patterns of work are supported and enabled by behavioural and structural changes in the 

organisation. In contrast to the adage “one size fits all”, three types of workplace have emerged to 

accommodate these changes in a productive manner. Each of them supports both the personal and 

professional demands of the workforce. 

• Traditional: generally this type of organisation has a small number of people at the top of the 

chain of command, sharing the majority of power, while the rest of the workforce is below them in 

organisational status and power. Typically, it is quite bureaucratic and hierarchical, and many 

firms still exist in this form today. 

• Team-based: this is a popular variation of the traditional workplace, but flatter and more 

organised. It is a type of structure that allows the organisation to become more creative. This, in 

turn, makes it more competitive and boosts employee morale. 

• Agile: this type of organisation is a popular new phenomenon that encourages adaptation to new 

changes in the workforce, workplace and the organisation itself. It is comparable to a spider’s 

web, because it is flexible and can usually adjust in any direction. People are the main focus and 

at the heart of such organisations. 

14 



Opportunities 

Some changing work and workplace concepts are beginning to offer new opportunities for, as well as 

threats to, the facilities management sector. Possibilities that the world of Facilities Management (FM) 

and workplace design should consider have been identified as follows: 

• Create an office as an interpersonal meeting space; 

• Adopt the ‘can do’ approach; 

• Incorporate individual attitudes at a strategic decision-making level; 

• Identify the ability of flexible working to encourage positive lifestyle changes; 

• Understand the role of women in the workplace as a way of improving workplace efficiency; 

• Adopt the multi-sensorial approach, particularly smell, to improve conditions in workplaces; 

• Focus on labour mobility to recruit and retain the necessary key people; 

• Place social and fiscal pressure on organisations to reduce business travel; 

Threats 

• Incorporate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into an organisation as a catalyst for 

innovation and investment; 

• Facilitate the convergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to further 

expand the flexibility of workplaces; 

• Integrate design issues into change management; 

• Ensure continued growth in services; 

• ‘Trade through space’ to increase cash flow by enabling other smaller companies to use excess 

space; 

• Cultivate knowledge in a creative working environment which enables organisations to adapt to 

the expanding knowledge economy, 

• Appreciate diversity in the workplace because economies rely on international emigrants. 

Threats, conversely, that will hinder the Facilities Management and workplace design industries have 

been discovered to be: 

• Business change occurring at an astounding rate, leaving the workplace behind; 

• Mobile working causing the industry to ask the question, Is the traditional workplace necessary?; 

• Corporate attitudes leading to a lack of flexibility and creativity; 

• Financial restrictions encouraging the attitude ‘can’t afford it and there are better things to do with 

it’, putting research and innovation on the back burner; 

• Quality of life being threatened as commuting issues such as inadequate transport infrastructure 

put a strain on the worker; 

• Global threats of conflict and terrorism; 

• Economic decline being set off by Chinese dominance; 

• Legacy and loyalty issues hindering the total replacement of existing workplaces; 

• The assumption that the business market core will remain in the North American and the 

European catchment areas; 

• Continued antiquated thinking concerning flexible working, rather than evolving thinking about the 

axiom that work is what you ‘do’ and not where you ‘go’; 

• Total standardisation of workplace solutions; 

• Increased taxes on scarce resources; 

• Lack of information, wisdom and judgements in a knowledge society being damaging to the 

workplace; 

• Complex heterogeneous workplace environments that are crowded with a multitude of different 

desktop and portable PCs, mobile and wireless devices, printers, networks and applications, with 

little or no technical support from organisations which has proven difficult and costly for IT 

organisations to manage and support; fads and fashion threatening long-term strategic decisionmaking 

within organisations. 

15 



The Futures 

Methodology & 

Process 

There is a growing realisation, in all areas of life, that the future is not fixed. The notion that the future 

can be ‘shaped’ or ‘created’ has gained currency over the past decade, and is increasingly the basis 

upon which organisations of all kinds make their plans. 

The concept of ‘futures’ is encapsulated in the idea of trying to make things happen, rather than 

guessing what might happen. Using this concept, and the business of discovery, organisations and 

individuals have to embrace uncertainty, and continually review a wide range of policy options. 

Though there are many variations of any theme, the stages in Figure 1 are typical of a prospective 

through scenarios process. The ‘Prospective Through Scenarios’ process is becoming more popularly 

applied across Europe in a variety of strategic settings. It requires organisations to perceive creatively 

what is going on in their environments. It requires them to think through, in an imaginative way, what 

their environment means for them, and then demonstrate the readiness to act decisively upon this 

new knowledge. Most of all, however, it demands them to determine what they wish their preferred 

future to be. 

Figure 1 ‘Prospective Through Scenarios’ 

(Source: Ratcliffe and Sirr (2003) The Futures Academy) 

The full methodology can be found in 

Appendix C 

16 




Prospective 

WARNING: This is not an authoritative 

document. It represents the findings 

largely from the participants of the 

Futures Workshop. The information is 

believed to be correct, but cannot be 

guaranteed, and the opinions 

expressed constitute our judgement as 

of this date and are subject to change. 

Jazz: a hectic world 

Wise Counsels: a sustainable 

world 

Dantesque: a controlling world 

17 



The Strategic 

Question 

Resulting from the workshop, and supported by a number of strategic interviews, the strategic 

question was set as: 

“How can the Facilities Management community prepare for the future of the workplace considering 

the following driving forces: 

1. Knowledge capital 

2. Workplace culture 

3. Technology and the environment 

4. Quality of life 

5. Large scale governance 

Drivers, Issues and Trends 

Although there exists an endless list of important drivers of change impacting on the global workplace, 

it is essential to identify what the most influential of these might be, and how they might interact to 

propel change in different ways. In doing this, an understanding is required of the various forces that 

are driving change. These are characterised under the ‘six-sector approach’ (DEGEST) and include: 

1. Demography 

2. Economy 

3. Governance 

4. Environment 

5. Society 

6. Technology 

Sequentially, these forces will then propel the storylines described in a particular plot for a scenario. 

Once these driving forces of change have been identified, a number of issues and trends are 

considered using different spatial levels: META, MACRO, and MICRO. They will impact considerably 

on the workplace environment and will affect the strategic question in some shape or form. With 

regard to the META and MACRO trends, it is readily recognised that there is interconnectivity 

between sectors and between levels in a complex world where “everything affects everything else”. 

Six Supertrends 

1. Technological Progress. 

2. Economic Growth. 

3. Improving Health. 

4. Increasing Mobility. 

5. Environmental Decline. 

6. Loss of Traditional Culture. 

Source: Edward Cornish. (2004). Futuring. World Future Society. 

18 



SOCIETAL Drivers, Issues and Trends 

Socionomics is a non-scientific theory that identifies and attempts to explain patterns in collective behaviour and the 

forces that drive them. The theory’s key hypothesis is that social actions and events do not cause changes in social 

mood, but rather, changes in social mood produce trend changes in social action [Wikipedia]. 

META & MACRO Drivers, Issues and Trends: 

World order has been changing and some long held societal and personal values are shifting, 

resulting in considerable transformations in society, particularly affecting how the world deals with 

people and groups compared to past events. The nine most compelling META and MACRO 

societal driving forces of change have been identified concerning perceptions, beliefs, values and 

attitudes 

MICRO Drivers, Issues and Trends 

The workplace of today is culturally very different 

from the workplace of yesteryear, and will 

undoubtedly change again in the future. The 

workplace is now confronted with more pressing 

social changes, and ten of the most consequential 

societal MICRO issues and trends have been 

identified within the workplace and are 

summarised below: 

META 

• Emerging communities and organisations 

are becoming boundary less, reflecting that 

cultural collaboration is becoming more 

interactive and diverse. 

• Emerging new technologically motivated 

generations: the IPOD generation. 

• Nationalism is on the wane as there is an 

increasing number of people who are 

becoming international immigrant and, 

thus, finds it difficult to identify with one 

single nation. 

• Rising power of international brands and 

celebrity worship are sustaining the craze 

of consumerism. 

• Escalating income and value disparities 

between countries, within countries and 

between corporations is increasingly 

evident. 

• Multi-cultural societies have evolved 

tenfold in the advent of globalisation, 

leading to increased diversity in the 

workforce and changing values in 

communities and corporations. 

• The younger population (in developed 

western world) is educated for longer 

because increasing standards in education 

and literacy necessitates this. 

• On the one hand, there is a drive towards 

multinationalism, as the isolationalist 

principles of nationalism command less 

importance than global economic 

prosperity; on the other hand there is a 

drive for protectionism. 

• Increasing awareness of the need for 

balance between quality of life and leisure, 

and work. 

• Increasing tensions between the rise of 

devotional and faith-based views and the 

spread of more secular positions will create 

major societal faultlines. 

19 

MACRO 

• Increasing awareness of environmental 

costs of commuting, demonstrating the 

value change towards the natural 

environment. 

• Developing third generation multi-ethnic 

societies are now fast becoming a source of 

talent in the West. 

• Operating serviced offices in the US and 

UK is becoming increasingly popular. 

• Widespread violence is tearing families and 

communities apart. 

• America’s conservatism and culture of the 

individual does not encourage open-plan 

work styles. Conversely the Western 

European office, typically in the UK, reflects 

a social democratic culture where sharing 

space is increasingly popular. 

• Digital Jockies describe the way in which 

‘older’ and ‘younger’ people work - younger 

workers are perceived as being highly IT 

literate while older workers are perceived as 

working with knowledge and relationships - 

which demonstrates the issue that there are 

very different expectations of workplaces 

and work-styles. 

• Increasing presence of multiple worker 

generations in the workplace. 

• Growing distributed workplace strategies 

are promoting urban regeneration and 

urban development as organisations move 

outside the physical realm of their building 

into large organisational networks across 

cities and integrate a wider range of urban 

work settings which promotes this type pf 

development. 

• Limitations of travel can impact on society 

and the workforce due to the scarcity of 

resources. 

• Continued emergence of gated 

communities demonstrates the desire to 

lock out the outside world. However, it is not 

just for the rich, it cuts across all income 

groups. 

• The phrase ‘think globally, act locally’ is 

becoming increasingly popular within 

organisations. 

• Changing nature of work: more leisure time 

for the individual; the house has become 

more than a home; the increasing demand for 

flexibility. 

• Age, the increasing numbers of immigrants 

and being globally mobile are emerging 

factors affecting the changing workforce and 

may impact on the availability of key staff. 

• The inherent need to possess territory is 

further evident. 

• Increasing need for language skills in the 

global workforce. 

• There is a danger of repressing creativity by 

nurturing individualism in the workplace. 

• The current skill/intellect set available is 

skewed to more traditional roles and 

responsibilities. 

• Increasing expectations in terms of status, 

location and reward are becoming the 

everyday norm in seeking work. 

• There is a rise in the use of cross-functional, 

multi-disciplinary teams with globally and 

ethnically diverse memberships, proving that 

organisational culture is proactively changing. 

• Changing dynamics of work is strengthening 

the notion that there is no job for life. 



DEMOGRAPHIC Drivers, Issues and Trends 

“Mighty are numbers, joined with art resistless” 

[Euripides]. 


The global population is increasing, but at a decreasing rate, and it is also diverging and getting 

older. The question about population growth is not numbers, but where the numbers reside and 

how they use available resources: notably in the developed countries where population growth is 

much slower, adequate resources exist compared to rapid growth in developing countries and food 

and other resources are in short supply. Overwhelming growth is occurring in the developing 

countries and this will change how things are looked at and accomplished in the world community. 

The nine most compelling META and MACRO demographic drivers of change have been identified 

as follows: 


Demographic characteristics help shape the 

demand for certain occupations that will provide 

the population with products and services. It also 

shapes the composition, age and ethnic 

distribution of the labour workforce. Ten of the 

most consequential demographic MICRO issues 

and trends have been identified and are listed as 

follows: 

META 

• Levelling of world population in the mid 

21st century is projected to be about 10-12 

billion people. 

• Mass migration is redistributing the world’s 

population. 

• Improved living conditions and advances in 

healthcare technology are reducing 

instances of infant mortality. 

• The 60+ age group will reach one billion, 

and 75 percent of this group will live in the 

developed world. 

• Developed countries of the world have 

witnessed an unprecedented increase in 

population, 90 percent of which have been 

in urban areas. 

• Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Asia are 

the fastest growing populated regions in the 

world, demonstrating a considerable shift in 

population centres in areas historically 

considered troubled from a perspective of 

natural resources and political stability. 

• There is a global nomadicism, where 

massive groups of skilled and unskilled 

labour are shifting population centres for 

employment opportunities. 

• Every society relies upon a workforce large 

enough to support those dependent on it – 

the dependency ratio. However, in some 

developing countries like Italy and Finland, 

low birth rates and early retirement have 

exacerbated a declining workforce placing 

a strain on social service systems. 

• The phenomenon of longevity is evident to 

some extent in all developing countries, 

where it is not only prevalent but regarded 

as an entitlement. 

• Mobility of labour and migration are solving 

the labour shortages. A pattern could 

emerge, however, where a technocratic 

elite, who are highly paid, dominate in the 

developed world while the rest of society 

are employed in low-value-added service 

work. 

20 

MACRO 

• Without radical reforms, the sustainability of 

the pay-as-you-go pension system and 

high-quality healthcare will become 

unsustainable within a few decades when 

the numbers of workers comes to equal the 

number of pensioners. 

• The new age patterns will substantially 

change the structure of demand in 

consumption segments, financial market 

yields will probably fall and growth potential 

will decrease. 

• The growth in demand for healthcare is 

continuing to rise with the aging workforce. 

• In under developed and economically weak 

areas, the mass exodus of the younger 

population to city regions is leading 

governments to acknowledge these 

developments and factor them into the 

provision and financing of public 

infrastructures and housing 

• Demographic challenges are producing 

significant economic pressures such as 

income equality. Demographic shifts 

associated with immigration pose major 

challenges for social inclusion. 

• The number of asylum seekers in the 

world’s 38 developed countries in 2004 fell 

to its lowest level in 16 years. However, for 

several of the EU’s new member states the 

figures rose sharply. 

• Birth rates depend on the number of 

working females, rates of female entrants 

to third level institution, family friendly 

workplaces and marriage rates. 

• Death rates and life expectancy depend on 

lifestyles, and the question arises, how 

does one get the balance between work 

and life correct? 

• The explosive growth of cities in the 

developing world will test the capacity of 

governments to stimulate the level of 

investment necessary to generate jobs and 

supply services, - and maintain law and 

order under inevitable natural disaster 

events. 

MICRO 

• An ageing and diverse workforce. 

• Increasing mobility of labour. 

• More people will relocate to unpopulated 

areas because they will be supported by an 

innovative technological infrastructure. 

• Different spending patterns of an ageing 

population result in differing demands for 

labour. 

• Ageing populations lead to shifts in 

government spending patterns. For example, 

different allocation of investment to health and 

education. 

• Ageing of the labour force brings about an 

increase in occupational retirements, which 

affects the demand structure for workers. 

• As the workforce ages, more employees at all 

levels will have physical disabilities and 

increased litigation could result from this if 

employees remain uneducated and 

uninformed about disabilities in the workplace. 

• The talent war now rages on. 

• Technology will help to solve labour shortages 

that currently plague many organisations. 

Advancing technology creates more jobs in 

unforeseen sectors, such as web designers 

and games programmers. However, the 

human downside will be that although it will 

help to solve labour shortages, technology will 

ultimately result in job destruction with for 

example, increased automation. 

• The workplace is becoming increasingly 

bipolar in terms of age, where skill-short 

companies are compelled to open up more 

opportunities to older workers and not just the 

attractive younger generation. Employers will 

have the challenge of getting the two groups 

to work together harmoniously in order to 

sustain growth. 



ECONOMIC Drivers, Issues and Trends 

“Economists have predicted nine of the past five recessions”. 


World economies are interlinked through the dominating system familiarly known as globalisation. 

A major shift is occurring within the economic realm, because generally the laws of supply and 

demand which are scarcity oriented have prevailed. But, now with technological developments 

reigning supreme, there is a shift to all things plentiful, such as Internet information access, ICT 

communications or some form of underground economy. The ten most compelling META and 

MACRO demographic drivers of change have been identified as follows: 

META 

MACRO 


This impacts on the world of work through 

increased job flexibility, skills obsolescence and 

unemployment. Eleven of the most compelling 

META and MACRO economic driving forces of 

change have been summarised as follows: 

MICRO 

• Growing disparities between countries and 

corporations. 

• Rising social expenditures over the next 

few decades are apparent as the baby 

boomer generation hits retirement age. 

• Increasing taxation on workers to maintain 

the current level of social support and 

health-care services. 

• Investing now in climate change prevention 

will decrease the likelihood of shorttermism, 

as stated in the Stern Report. 

• Most decisions about energy use were 

based solely on cost and availability. Now, 

with carbon emissions from fossil fuels 

contributing to global climate change, 

environmental concerns are becoming 

important externalites. 

• The world economy is now moving from the 

information age to the conceptual age. In 

the advent of over-supply, outsourcing to 

Asia and automation, businesses must now 

concentrate on creative and cognitive 

assets such as design, story-telling, team 

work, empathy, play and meaning. 

• Emerging markets such as China, India 

and Brazil pose a potential threat to the 

dominating Western economies as their 

influence increases across the economic 

and political global arena. 

• Booming businesses are those that have 

mastered the art of getting information to 

and from their customers. 

• Emergence of the new ‘uber-knowledge 

workers’ that are capable of working 

anywhere and demand high quality 

environments. 

• Globalisation and the technological, 

political and marketplace forces behind it 

have wiped away borders and spurred 

competition while creating greater 

economic interdependence. 

• Depending on the region, country or 

corporation, localisation is becoming 

increasingly complex, driven mainly by cost 

issues. 

• Expanding financial and labour markets are 

creating greater competition, more efficient 

markets, and lower prices. 

• The manufacturing workforce in the 

developed world are watching their jobs 

and factories leave for other countries as 

outsourcing and relocation continues to 

flow to low labour cost countries. 

• Educational attainment of workers is on the 

increase. 

• Rising levels of good health and longevity 

can provide tremendous potentialities for a 

country’s wealth. But one issue to be 

untangled is the need for structural policy 

changes to be made to maximise the 

opportunities for labour utilisation and 

productivity. 

• Growing strength and reach of the 

microfinance sector is continuous as it 

improves extremely impoverished areas 

and changes people’s lives for the better. 

• The West has a vested interest in retaining 

the Chinese political system because it 

cannot afford for China to collapse now as 

so much manufacturing is done in China. 

• Emerging dilution of corporate coherence, 

demonstrated through the increase in 

contract and freelance staffing. 

• Talent has replaced land, capital and raw 

materials as the primary source of 

competitive advantage. 

• Failure to invest in adequate infrastructure 

will threaten future economic growth 

potential. 

• The workplace is experiencing a dynamic 

transformation from a manufacturing 

dimension to a knowledge economy where 

technology and the creation of services is 

dominant. Ten of the most compelling 

economic MICRO trends have been identified 

as follows: 

• Increasing mergers and acquisitions among 

corporations. 

• Emerging highly skilled and talented 

workforces. 

• Facilities Management is seen as a cost and 

not as an investment. 

• Doing more with less – reduced capital outlay, 

less time and fewer people are improving 

organisations planning and scheduling. 

• Indices such as the Dow Jones Sustainability 

Index may influence the attitude of 

shareholders. 

• Cost of living is generally on the increase and 

people need to work more to earn more. 

• Lifecycle costs are emerging to be the central 

issue in the design and decision-making 

process. 

• Increasing requirement for greater 

accountability in financial reporting due to an 

increase of corporate fraud cases. 

• Source of labour is becoming more diverse 

and global, and as a result, more highly 

competitive. 

• Dominance of global corporations is changing 

the dynamics of the workplace. 

21 



GOVERNANCE Drivers, Issues and Trends 

“As wealth is power, so all power will infallibly draw wealth to itself” 

[Edward Burke, speech in the British House of Commons, 1780]. 


Global governance is changing with increased complexity and uncertainty. National governments 

are riding the wave of change that will result in reduced authority across people’s actions, social 

problems, economic power and corporate power. It is a world of global governance but not with a 

global government. Nine of the most compelling META and MACRO trends have been identified 

as follows: 

META 

MACRO 


Ten of the most consequential governance 

MICRO issues and trends have been identified 

within the workplace and are summarised below: 

MICRO 

• Increasing dichotomy of government 

bureaucracy and creativity. It is the new 

dilemma of modern leadership; countries 

that are heavily governed can lose out in 

the global race for innovation, research and 

development. Conversely, a global shift in 

the implementation of regulation in different 

regions can win the battle to allow for 

further creativity. 

• Emerging large economies like China and 

India will undoubtedly alter the balance of 

global governance. 

• Rising tension between increasing 

governance and civil liberties. 

• National languages are being mixed with 

supranational languages. 

• There will be a constant progression 

towards democracy and away from 

authoritarianism, but the threat of 

theocracies through widespread 

fundamentalist thinking will be everpresent. 

• Constant threat of war and social upheaval 

due to power/resource struggles. 

• Emerging tension of political systems 

demonstrated in the apparent efficiency of 

the Chinese political system compared to 

Western style democracy. 

• The concept of sustainable development 

will permeate policy-making at all levels, 

and peace, non-violence and human 

security will increasingly be viewed as 

‘public goods’. 

• Cities are becoming the focal point for 

economic activity, governance and social 

organisation. 

• Growing sophistication of crime is making it 

difficult to combat. However, new 

technological advances are both helping to 

tackle it and generate it. 

• Cost of governance has increased, 

particularly with the introduction of 

Sarbanes Oxley. In corporate America 

alone, this is likely to result in a backlash of 

governance where corporations must pay 

billions of dollars in auditing and legal costs 

to ensure the accuracy of their financial 

statements. 

• Legislative changes in industrial sectors, 

and the difficulties in regulating information 

flows within and between states, impact on 

the operations of facilities. 

• Corporate Social Responsibility is diffusing 

through all levels of policy making. 

• Improvements to the education system 

need to be made to produce managers and 

employees that can function effectively in 

the new workplace. 

• The need for attractive governance 

structure for younger generations – 

SEMCO Brazilian FM organisation is built 

on complexity theory: hearts and minds 

rather than regulation and placing 

employee freedom and satisfaction ahead 

of corporate goals. 

• Greater transparency of costs and liabilities 

for shareholders. 

• Different intergenerational agendas (‘grey’, 

youth, workers) 

• Increasing need for operational 

understanding of fixed assets risks. 

• Will national and regional legislation 

support or challenge the workplace? 

• Increasing ‘incentives’ of insurance 

companies. 

• Lack of communication from the strategic 

level to the operations level. 

• Openness, disclosure and accountability are 

required now in corporate governance circles 

due to several corporate scandals. 

• Increasing focus on health and safety of home 

and mobile workers. 

• Workplace needs to inspire more creativity. 

• User involvement in management decisions 

impacts value of workplace to business. 

• Workplace democracy is on the increase, 

where managers are democratically elected 

by workers, and all decisions are subject to 

democratic review, debate and vote. 

• Confusion as to FM accountability. Who is 

responsible for different areas and projects 

within the organisation? The real estate 

manager or facilities manager? 

• Increasing need for proper local leadership. 

• Communication and dialogue needs to be a 

two-way system, top-down and bottom-up in 

the workplace. 

• The requirement for flexibility to meet 

compliance requirements. 

22 



ENVIRONMENTAL Drivers, Issues and Trends 

“In Nature’s infinite book of secrecy, A little I can read” 

William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra]. 


The concept of sustainable development is gaining momentum with growing enlightenment on the 

matter. However, the inclination to underestimate the nature of environmental problems and defer 

timely action still remains constant. The notion that modern environmentalism is no longer capable 

of dealing with the world’s most serious ecological crisis is on the rise as global warming continues 

unabatedly. Ten of the most compelling META and MACRO driving forces of change have been 

identified as follows: 

META 

MACRO 


The built environment has a profound effect on 

the natural environment and for facilities to 

support the workplace and create long-term value, 

organisations must understand that human and 

environmental issues are considered essential 

components of business processes rather than 

the consequences of those processes. Ten of the 

most consequential environmental MICRO issues 

and trends have been identified within the 

workplace and are summarised below: 

MICRO 

• It has now become apparent that, in no 

uncertain terms, the world’s atmospheric 

temperatures will rise between margins of 

one to five degrees Celsius. 

• 47% of the global footprint comes from 

fossil fuels, demonstrating continued 

dependency growth. 

• Increasing urbanisation in the developing 

world as 180,000 people are added to the 

urban population per day, and as sprawl 

continues to consume arable land and 

force consumption of non-renewable 

resources. 

• More than half of humanity will be living 

with water shortages, depleted fisheries 

and polluted coastlines within 50 years 

because of a worldwide water crisis. 

• Effective waste management strategies will 

dominate corporate agendas with 

increasing recycling targets and 

programmes. 

• Increasing demand for clean potable 

drinking water. 

• Availability of food supplies continues to be 

distributed unevenly throughout the world. 

• Increasing transport challenges within the 

urban environment. 

• Global growth of car ownership. 

• Increased global regulatory and public 

consensus pressures to reduce CO2 

emissions. 

• Increasing influence of sustainability on the 

real estate strategy in terms of the working 

environment, specifically commuting or 

transport strategies. 

• Increasing shareholder expectation on the 

‘greening’ of corporate portfolios. 

• Growth of ecological architecture. 

• Increasing threat of pandemics. 

• Increasing international reach of the 

‘polluter pays’ principle. 

• Fossil fuel scarcity will have a detrimental 

effect on the cost of travel. 

• Unnecessary number of active landfill sites 

with the application of a landfill tax in the 

UK and across Europe. 

• Nations have become ‘throw away’ 

societies thereby increasing environmental 

regulation and legislation. 

• Greater need for research and 

development into alternative energy 

sources. 

• Developing economies are benchmarking 

the West’s environmental models of 

regulation and measurements, which will 

either improve or impair their carbon 

footprint. 

• Increasing pressure on corporations to reduce 

travel and deal with ecological impact of 

business travel. 

• Improving life-cycle management of buildings. 

• Growth of Corporate Social Responsibility in 

corporate agendas. 

• Increasing pressure to reduce inputs and 

outputs to reduce energy and CO2 emissions 

in the design and construction of real estate. 

• Growing need for change in behaviour 

regarding travel and work patterns. 

• Lack of models in the area of remote working 

to determine environmental trade - offs. 

• Sustainable Zeitgeist is emerging as a cohort 

of people that spans one or two generations, 

despite their diverse age and socio-economic 

background, are experiencing a certain world 

view, namely “save the planet for future 

generations”. 

• Growth of daily facilities risk management due 

to the many natural disasters frequently 

occurring. 

• Ubiquitous wireless technology which will lead 

to a growth in sustainable remote working, or 

will it? 

• Becoming sustainable in the workplace is 

quite difficult to achieve because ‘one size 

does not fit all’. 

23 



TECHNOLOGICAL Drivers, Issues and Trends 

“Humanity is Roadkill on the Information Superhighway” 

Jeans advertisement on Melrose billboard 


Science and technology are the primary drivers behind the economies of developed and 

developing countries. Some technologies can be anticipated, specifically improvements or new 

uses of old technologies, but there is such rapid change it is hard to fully understand the 

implications. This includes advances in biology and biotechnology, materials such as 

nanotechnology and information technology. Nine of the most compelling META and MACRO 

drivers, issues and trends have been identified and summarised as follows: 

META Drivers, Issues and Trends 

MACRO Trends 


The technological advances achieved in the past 

few decades have brought about a revolution in 

the business world, affecting nearly all aspects of 

working life. People can reach others throughout 

the world in a matter a seconds, with cost 

increasingly being negligible. Employees no 

longer need to be physically with their clients and 

co-workers; instead they can communicate 

effectively at home, at a distant office, across the 

world, and even in their car or on an airplane. Ten 

of the most consequential technological MICRO 

issues and trends have been identified within the 

workplace and are summarised below: 

MICRO 

• The vision of networks is beginning to take 

form in fraternal organisations, business or 

sports teams, associations and clubs, as 

information technologies allow individuals 

to connect to other individuals. 

• The World Wide Web is growing 

exponentially and globally – options are 

suddenly very wide ranging and 

applications almost unlimited. But will it be 

sustainable? 

• Increasing communication between 

different cultures is simplified with the 

development of a universal translation, the 

internet, that enables the meaning from 

phrases in one language to be expressed 

in another language. 

• Increased application of artificial 

intelligence, not just in engineering and 

computer science but also in philosophy, 

neuro-psychology, business and fiction. 

• Wars are propelling and driving new 

technologies 

• The USA still has a comparative advantage 

in the field of technologically led industries, 

thus leading to another round of US preeminence 

in the world system. 

• Alternative energy sources are developing 

to tackle the climate change issue, such as 

increased research and development into 

wave energy and the design of new nuclear 

reactors. 

• More and more money is being poured into 

biotechnology with the hope that miracle 

drugs will continue to emerge. 

• Growth in the power and influence of the 

media. 

• Growth of ecological engineering is trying 

to right the wrongs of the 20th century. 

• Changing corporate attitudes towards being 

a ‘market leader’ or ‘fast follower’. 

• Changing provision and access in urban 

and rural environments with technological 

advances. 

• Growth of global techno-crime. 

• Increasing use of management information 

systems in the decision making process in 

facilities management. 

• Security and data protection. 

• Emergence of spam wars, viruses and 

threats. 

• Growth of new and improved transport 

strategies using efficient ICT interchange 

stations, which include technological 

information displays. 

• Emergence of e-governance across the 

portal of the Internet. 

• Behaviours are of a great importance and 

technology is a way of supporting these 

behaviours. Behaviour in the workplace is 

often seen as how the lower levels act – 

e.g. turning off lights/PCs; putting waste in 

correct bins for recycling. However, 

behaviours influence decisions made by 

CEO’s on how a business operates in its 

various functions 

• Increasing obsolescence and redundancy 

of both buildings and people. 

• Technology provides most of, if not all, the 

features of a workplace, so why commute? 

• Increasing efficiencies of heavy plant and 

equipment in the workplace. 

• Greater interconnectivity between home, car 

and office. 

• Improved video-conferencing technology in 

the workplace. 

• Robitisation of the workforce. 

• Increasing development of ‘smart homes’ to 

incorporate the new concept of home working. 

• Continued rise of the 24-hour office. 

• Improving digital keyboard and display 

interfaces. 

• Better use of passive and natural technology 

to support the workplace. 

• Constant upgrading and training with every 

new technological development. 

24 



Wildcards 

A number of sudden or shocking events that will have a high impact upon the strategic question, and 

a low probability of happening, have been identified as follows. 

• Climate change will have an effect on the work environment, habits and mass migration as 

countries disappear due to climate weathering effects. 

• Outbreak of pandemics, such as bird flu and the HIV virus, and need for extreme event 

preparation. 

• An Act of God, such as Haley’s Comet going off track. 

• Stock market moves from the West to the developing countries, just like the manufacturing roots 

moving to Eastern Europe and Asia. 

• Will China dominate the world, or, conversely will they become a sustainable self-contained 

community and close the door to the Western world? 

• US implodes. 

• World oil peak and consequent price escalation. 

• Risk of virus or sabotage to the internet. 

• Growth of natural capitalism where the economic system internalises its externalities. 

• European tsunami. 

• Regional workforce strikes. 

• Terrorist attack on major European cities simultaneously using weapons of mass destruction. 

• Spread of devastating wildfires in parts of the US, Australia and Europe. 

• The collapse of the Brazilian economy which leads to the subsequent destabilisation of South 

America. 

• Neglect of environmental quality causes collapse of the tourist industry in some regions. 

• Climate change does not occur. 

25 



Long-Term Global 

Risks 

Using the discipline of integrated risk management the following fifteen global risks are listed in order 

of resulting likely loss at the next occurrence. 

1. Scientific experiments that change the fundamental fabric of the universe in a way not previously 

seen in nature. 

2. An asteroid or comet over 10km in diameter striking the Earth. 

3. Planet-wide spread of exponentially self-replicating nano-machines utilising DNA/chlorophyll 

(“green goo”). 

4. Computers/robots surpassing human powers. 

5. Bio-vorous fully artificial nanoreplicators (“grey goo”). 

6. Collapse of supermassive star causing intense pulse of x-rays, cosmic rays, and muon particles. 

7. Eruption of continental flood basalts leading to mass extinction of 95% of biota. 

8. Global warming induced release methane from permafrost or clathrates on the continental 

shelves. 

9. A new ice age caused by the natural cycle. 

10. A new ice age caused by abrupt climate change from reduced Atlantic thermohaline circulation, 

leading to a loss of 65% of current land biomass. 

11. Global warming not causing methane release or ice age, but still causing massive loss of biota. 

12. A nuclear exchange involving superpower arsenals, resulting in a nuclear winter. 

13. An asteroid or comet of around 600m in diameter striking the earth. 

14. Super-eruption, most particularly Yellowstone, producing a five to seven year super-volcano 

winter reducing solar and wind power. 

15. Avian influenza pandemic – or other infectious disease that could threaten civilisation. 

Source: An Indicative Costed Plan for the Mitigation of Global Risks (2006) 

Mark Leggett, Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, Griffith University, Australia. [Quoted 

in Futures Survey, September, 2006] 

26 



Scenario logics 

Establishing scenario logics is crucial to the development of scenarios. Scenario logic or themes are 

the organising principles upon which the scenarios are structured. They connect the present to a 

specific scenario end-state or outcome, for any ‘future history’ must make sense ‘today’. 

From the insights and expertise of facilities management specialists (gathered from staff and clients 

of Johnson Controls) the following logics were identified: 

• Political Culture: Dictatorial versus Democratic 

• The emerging workforce: Skilled versus Unskilled 

• Governance: Bureaucracy versus Creativity 

• Success in the workplace: Collaboration versus Competition 

• Workplace Identity: Independent versus Branded 

• Economy 1: Management economy versus Service Economy 

• Economy 2: High Growth versus Low Growth 

• Work/Life Balance: Individual versus the Corporation 

In this report, the scenarios logics adopted to create three possible scenarios are: Success in the 

workplace and Economy 2. See Figure 2. 

Figure 2: Scenario Logics for Workplace Futures 

27 



The Scenarios 


“Complexity managed by ‘marketising’ decision processes” 

The ‘global village’ of 2030 offers competitive market economies propelled by expanding 

globalisation, advances in business communication and rising literacy rates. Innovative incentive 

systems have been developed to get workers to work. A fair pricing system has been created to 

allocate properly the limited supply of resources and goods. Activities are increasingly traded across 

information highway networks. Consequently, E-business has exploded onto the scene with the 

development of advanced and innovative information and communication technologies (ICTs). 

This scenario assumes an 

unprecedented acceleration of 

economic growth, relentless pressure 

for short-term gains and fierce 

competition on a global scale, driven by 

rapid technological advances and 

further market integration. It is a world 

where entrepreneurship, innovation 

and individual responsibility are 

favoured. Give and take is keenly 

attuned to the opportunities of the 

moment and at the same time alert to 

ways of incorporating long term values 

into strategies for commercial success. 

Free market reforms have moved 

governments everywhere to downsize, 

deregulate and privatise. 

Companies adapted to this changing competitive world environment by becoming agile and 

responsive in their operations. This has had a knock on effect in the workplace. More employees now 

have the option of telecommunicating their work from the mobile office known as the ‘Club’. Home 

working offices on-line have become extensive. Knowledge workers have begun to choose where 

they live and work, and demand customised accommodation and facilities which is changing the 

dynamics of the house. International trade and investment has moved towards efficient, supportive 

and facilitative locations, changing the concept of facilities management. Corporations have been 

ebbing away from locations perceived by business as bureaucratic and synonymous with high costs. 

From 2007, centralised ownership of resources and services became a thing of the past because it 

promoted inefficiency, corruption and nepotism. As a result of this, capitalism was seen as the 

contending force to be reckoned with, upon which privatisation and liberalisation of key markets, 

including technology, energy, air transport and financial services became increasingly popular. 

Regulations, intelligent laws, oversight and the inherent positive properties of the market, such as 

transparency, made the free market work. Since then, widespread availability of information has 

enabled free market entry to many new players. A new model of entrepreneurship has been 

developed on the back of the network economy. The ‘winner takes all’ attitude dominates markets. 

By 2015, the exclusive focus on trade and investment leads to environmental degradation and social 

neglect. This can particularly be seen in the Asian region. Between 2007 and 2017, multinational 

corporations relocated to Asia as it became a new hub of industrial activity, driven by the availability 

of a rapidly increasing low wage labour force, unregulated environmental standards, negligible 

corporation tax rates and pliable political regimes. 

Following this transformation, international businesses believe they cannot operate against the 

greater good for long as the global civic society becomes distrusting of multinationals who let 

environmental and social standards drop. Businesses seize the opportunity to take strategic 

economic advantage and become proactive leaders in responding to social and environmental 

change. In doing this, some cut back on business travel and equip their workplace facilities with state 

of the art electronic communication devices such as video conferencing and high-definition 

technology, which combine voice, video, content sharing and network infrastructure technologies to 

promote cost-effective remote collaboration within organisations and beyond. 

After the market downturn of 2020, major companies re-evaluated themselves and ‘leaned out’ their 

entire organisation in an effort to become more efficient and more productive. They thinned their 

product lines, stopped their non-essential projects, reduced waste and inefficiencies in support 

functions, cut costs and started expecting more from their employees. Consequently, the global 

market for labour started to change in an unprecedented way. Temporary labour was no longer an 

incidental concern but a strategic opportunity. Also, radical outsourcing meant that the global division 

of work helped the global company attract local knowledge and a global talent pool. Eastern Europe, 

Asia and South America began to offer a wealth of business opportunities, and resources with a 

cheap and highly skilled workforce. 

28 



The global trade union, One World, was established in 2025, because the individual became the 

dominating characteristic of the free market workplace as entrepreneurs and contingent workers 

grew in numbers. These workers had no sense of belonging. As a result of this, the workplace 

became a lonely and unsatisfying place because all the interactions in the market place were purely 

contractual. Social interactions were extremely limited, so the global trade union tackled this issue 

and focused on social networking, learning, reputation-building and income smoothing. It now 

provides a sense of identity for these workers. 

Despite great improvements in the free market, the increasingly complex marketplace is 

characterised by its vulnerability to certain illicit activities. The huge volume of international trade has 

given rise to an environment that could promote the proliferation of dangerous goods, dual use items 

and slave labour. It seems that opportunities are only presented to those who have access to all that 

is offered from the global market, exacerbating the gap between rich and poor. 

Europe has become a strong cut-throat trading bloc. The European economies have become more 

competitive and flexible. European businesses compete for high-value products and services, the 

best and brightest minds and managerial talent. However, due to mass consumerism throughout the 

EU, its societies are becoming fragmented more than ever, and political unification has been placed 

on the back-burner. 

The following major trends characterise the Jazz workplace and are listed as: 

• Networks become the workplace, where most of the tasks are performed by independent teams, 

which separate once the work is completed. 

• The internet generation makes up the bulk of the workforce. 

• The workplace is an agile and adaptable work ecosystem that supports work anywhere, anytime 

and anyway. 

• The use of facilities beyond normal working hours has become popular. 

• The smart house has become the new office as greater interconnectivity between home, car and 

office becomes available. 

• Smart agents and documents that "take action" on behalf of the worker have been developed for 

reducing/eliminating low-value work. 

• The workplace has become more than an office. Increased remote working has led workers to 

use “Starbucks” type workspaces as well as new workspace community centres. 

• Organisational culture has become extremely difficult to maintain as social isolation becomes 

increasingly apparent through the increase in remote working. 

• Workspace design has adopted a public presence through the use of shared and mixed use 

space in the public domain. 

29 




“Harnessing the knowledge economy for sustainable development” 

It is a secure world in 2030, a shared responsibility. The greatest competition is being fought in the 

global arena of ideas, learning and innovation. Development has become the first line of defence for 

a collective eco-social, economic, security system that takes prevention seriously. Ecological 

modernisation has topped the agenda of most nation states, where the ‘greening’ of markets is 

achieved using taxes, incentives and better information to account for the environmental costs of 

development activity, so encouraging technological innovation to improve resource efficiency and 

decouple economic growth from environmental degradation and social decay. 

This scenario assumes global 

economic stability and an effort to 

attain environmental balance and social 

progress. Institutional improvements 

worldwide facilitate sustainable 

development. It is a world where 

collective, collaborative and 

consensual action is favoured. 

Negotiation is the name of the game 

and policy making and decision making 

has become increasingly delegated and 

expert. Knowledge has become the key 

resource. The most important property 

is now intellectual property, not 

physical property. It is the hearts and 

minds of people, rather than traditional 

labour that are essential to growth and 

prosperity. 

In the first two decades of the 21st century, there were a number of signs that environmental and 

social crises loomed. The exponential growth of the ‘Chindian’ economies was placing a huge burden 

on local environments. Global public health systems were deteriorating and were ill-equipped to 

protect nations from existing and emerging deadly infectious diseases such as the bird flu pandemic. 

Sustained poverty in a number of poorer nations was fuelling the proliferation of weapons of mass 

destruction, terrorism and organised crime. European and North American economies were slowing 

down as the baby boom generation retired placing a severe strain on social expenditure and 

healthcare systems. 

The perceived need for strong and positive actions led to a new global consensus that welcomed 

technological solutions, sanctions and more direct control of the market, to ensure that environmental 

values and social cohesion were preserved. A role for big thinkers, power players and those with 

deep pockets emerged to help fix this problem. In response to this, the World Summit on Corporate 

Accountability was held in Geneva in 2015. From the convergence of ideas and negotiations, a new 

international framework treaty was established for the global application of sustainable development 

and corporate social responsibility. 

This summit was attended by more heads of state than any other previous conference and led 

directly to the development of a number of international conventions, statements and national and 

international policies. The Global Reform Council (GRC) became the enforcer of these policies, while 

working closely with the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. The GRC strengthened 

union engagement with governments, employers and the wider community by promoting sustainable 

development initiatives and ensuring people were able to adjust to these changes. Finally, 

international monetary, financial, trade, development and environmental policies were being 

managed by an independent body that aligned free market forces and private enterprise with social 

and environmental goals, by focusing on the need for deliberate social choices and meeting basic 

human needs. 

The effective creation, use and dissemination of knowledge became key to this success. The 

success of enterprises, and of national economies, became increasingly dependent on the 

information infrastructure that gathers and utilises knowledge. By 2020, cities, communities and 

organisations, particularly in Europe and Asia, began to harness the knowledge economy and society 

with the development of advanced ‘univer-cities’ and ‘employee villages’. Focus was now being 

placed on life-long and life-wide learning; rather than unruly economic expansion. 

The univer-city is a remarkable development offering opportunities to live and learn in healthy welldesigned 

communities. It has become the showcase for innovative and creative approaches to 

equitable education, work, connectivity and sustainable planning. The role of the facility manager has 

grown within this city. Facilities have been consolidated to provide value added services to all 

sectors, government, health, education, recreation, justice, police, and social services. Shopping and 

recreational areas have been transformed to give people access to real-time data and sophisticated, 

accessible facilities. A smart card called the ‘community card’ has been developed for general 

services in the city, notably transport, access to sports facilities, the library and laundry facilities, as 

well as providing a wireless connection. 

30 



From these cities, workers at all levels in this 21st century knowledge society have become lifelong 

learners, adapting continuously to changed opportunities, work practices, business models and other 

forms of economic and social organisation. As a way to harness this, the corporate world is 

cultivating the employee village. These villages focus on a greater mixture of land use types; 

integrate biodiversity plans in design; promote transit supportive development; preserve open space, 

facilitate a more economic arrangement of land uses; and encourage a greater sense of community. 

Such workplaces are healthier, more productive and allow people work to live rather than living to 

work. 

This new approach to knowledge and workplace development is driven by a primary need to think 

globally and act locally in the preservation and conservation of the environment, development of the 

economy, social cohesion, equity and quality of life. 

For Europe, positive dramatic changes occurred in these areas from 2010 – 2025. The public sector 

became a guiding light assisting individuals, firms and civic associations undertake their share of 

responsibility for the community and environment by incorporating the values of sustainable 

development, corporate social responsibility and shared responsibility into their goals and objectives. 

Finance for research, development and innovation increased enormously. In 2007, the EU was 

behind the US and Japan in research and innovation performance. EU Heads of State agreed a 

target to increase its R&D performance to 3% of GDP by 2012, overtaking both Japan and the US, 

with two-thirds of the increase coming from business. Job creation and economic growth was fuelled 

by the successful achievement of this goal. It created a knowledge driven competitive advantage 

across all sectors of the integrated economy, particularly areas such as health, education and the 

environment. 

The following ten major trends are characteristics of the Wise Counsels workplace and are listed as 

follows: 

• The workplace is increasingly supported by ICTs, meaning workers can be virtually and directly 

connected with community peers and have access to whatever knowledge or expertise they 

need to carry out their tasks. 

• The digital company card has emerged as a popular tool that encourages workers to go into local 

communities and check into office space. 

• Workplaces are seen as communities that are propelling the shift from hierarchical management 

structures towards self-organised, self managed teams that are stimulated and motivated to 

ensure a much higher level of work while giving them more flexibility to balance work and life, 

demonstrating a shift of power from the employer to the employee. 

• Trust and confidence amongst workers is promoted in this workplace as employees design their 

own workplace, set their own hours, share all information and have no secrets, this also 

stimulates creative thinking. 

• The facilities manager is becoming competent in managing complex organisations that are very 

like hotels, in order to provide good services to improve quality of life and work. 

• Knowledge workers have equitable access to services and facilities. 

• Governments reform labour market and social welfare systems as education and knowledge 

management become the key drivers in the 21 st century. 

• Transport issues are addressed as corporate offices become environmentally responsible by 

providing bike racks and shower facilities for employees. 

• Collaboration between suppliers, international customers, local government and NGOs has 

become the key to improving social and environmental conditions in the workspace and the 

corporate world. 

• Social activities improve within the workplace as common spaces become more popular and 

workers are encouraged to discuss various subjects and projects. They can join in discussions 

about issues and opportunities for a few minutes in order to relax and get to know other workers. 

It builds trust and confidence among workers and stimulates creative thinking as well. 

31 




"Social reaction to over rapid change” 

It is a fragmented world in 2030. Economic growth remains concentrated in prosperous areas, while 

poverty and frustration leaves the majority of nations feeling isolated and ignored. The rising tide of 

wealth is occurring in a small number of nations while the growing concentration of this wealth is in 

relatively few hands. Consequently, the gap between high and low income countries has intensified 

and continues to persist and widen. It is driven by high unemployment, declining physical 

infrastructures and corrupt governance structures in developing areas. 

This scenario assumes global 

economic stagnation, cultural 

difference and insecurity. Emphasis on 

distrust, retrenchment and reaction 

leads to widespread social unrest, 

conflict and environmental degradation. 

Instability is rife across the globe as 

regions become increasingly disjointed 

from each other. Racism is on the rise 

and ‘each to their own’ is the attitude 

that dominates this world. 

There is mass migration towards rich regions in an effort to find a better life as well as an increase of 

illegal immigrants across borders. This system of inequitable and immoral capitalism presents a tightfisted 

callousness towards minority groups, while the poor and illegal immigrants become scapegoats 

as is evident in the growing number of sweatshops across Asia, Africa and parts of South America. 

There is a rise in healthcare problems, and a great concern about the potential for plagues as 

outbreaks of virulent mutations of malaria occur in fetid slums in 2013. These spread across the 

borders of rich regions placing severe pressure on the health care systems which are not sustainable 

at this time of need. 

National security and foreign policy become matters of urgency. The spread of transnational crime 

increases. Terrorists use organised criminal groups to move money, men and materials around the 

globe. Countries and rebels continue to sell natural resources to finance wars. Governments’ 

capacity to establish the rule of law is weakened by corruption. 

Following the devastation caused by terrorist attacks in 2017, which left 5,000 civilians dead, the 

agricultural sector and supply chain networks were left in chaos. The terrorists not only attacked the 

physical infrastructure of major EU and US cities but launched an attack on the food chain. Fear 

intensified across these regions. Governments, politicians and businesses fuelled and capitalised on 

this fear and anxiety. Areas such as the insurance industry, those parts of the real estate industry 

that source gated communities, facilities management and the CCTV industry are the commercial 

enterprises that begin to make a profit on fear. 

From this fear, and the increase of ghettoisation, the popularity of gated communities increased. By 

2020, a socio-economic divide has appeared between those who can and those who cannot afford to 

live in gated communities. Subsequently, these communities become known as exclusionary, elitist 

and anti-social. Access is controlled by gates, entry codes, key cards and security guards, serviced 

with CCTV tracking. This has caused anger and resentment in the outside world while exacerbating 

social exclusion. Cultural differences, inward-looking attitudes and anti-immigrant sentiment have 

intensified, causing racism to amplify. 

As a result of this, environmental issues are left on the back-burner even following the ratification of 

the Kyoto Protocol, and the signing of the ‘Montreal Agreement’ in 2012 relating to water 

conservation. These policies are ignored as natural resources are stretched and peak oil finally 

occurs. By 2023, the dark predictions of climate change are much nearer to the truth than the 

optimistic ones. 

The effects of these crises begin to ‘trickle down’ into commercial and industrial sectors. Now, in the 

corporate world, widespread insecurity over jobs and pay continues, where employees are running 

scared, striving to compete in a global labour market. It is becoming a jobless future based on trends 

at the beginning the 21st century. Rising unemployment coupled with revolutionary technological 

change have fostered workplaces to down-size and re-engineer, with part-time jobs, temporary jobs 

and job-sharing replacing full- time work. 

In 2015, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was axed. It would have restored worker’s rights to 

join unions across rich regions, the United States and the European Union, allowing workers to 

bargain for higher wages. Instead, workers faced an increasing risk of being fired for playing an 

active role in trying to join or promote trade unions. It placed greater power in the hands of the 

corporate machine in America and the EU. These megalomaniac corporations had great influence 

upon their respective governments to allow a crisis of such controversy to unfold like this. 

32 



Subsequently, corrupt governments and capitalist conservatism opposed legislation raising the 

minimum wage and increasing social security benefits, while proposing ways of cutting employment, 

using severe measures, in a bid to stimulate recruitment and reduce labour costs. As the global 

economy went into recession in 2020, these measures were met with widespread social upheaval 

and violent clashes across many countries. 

Following these clashes, people began to socially isolate themselves and move away from public life, 

adopting a more individual approach to daily life as a result of a lack of faith in collective 

organisations and actions. Consequently, the house became more of a home, so to speak. It 

provided a basis for home working, with new advanced technological capabilities, as well as a safe 

haven from the violence and fear in the outside world. It also provided an integrated system for 

entertainment and social interaction. 

Europe is unstable as its citizens exhibit a fearful view of the world beyond their borders and an 

anxiety about what the future holds for them. By 2030, political fragmentation is ever present as 

economic growth is slow and the rewards are unequally distributed. Nation states are strengthening 

individually as a coherent collaborative foreign and security policy falls by the wayside. ‘Thirst wars’ 

begin in central and eastern European countries, and the survival of the fittest prevails. 

The following trends are characteristics of the Dantesque workplace and are listed as follows: 

• Workplace democracy decreases and hierarchical structures increase in workplaces across the 

globe as corporations maintain full control in an effort to protect themselves and increase profits. 

• Environmental health hazards that have been found to affect the health of the general population 

are being detected more and more in the workplace environment and in the working population 

as workplace health and safety policies are not heeded. 

• Weak employment policies across corporations and nations lead to high unemployment rates 

and social unrest which endanger stable and sustainable social development. 

• Undemocratic workplaces put making profits first, while putting the interest of the worker last. 

This has led to a lack of job security, minimum wages, average benefits, no training, and nominal 

bargaining power. 

• In 2007, there was an excess of highly trained workers, but as the baby boom generation retired, 

that trend was reversed by decreasing labour force growth and rising illiteracy rates. 

• Most knowledge workers are still working in outdated physical environments which promote 

hierarchy and status with space and walls. 

• The facilities management sector continues to struggle to support employees working from 

home, as a seamless support service has not been developed by facilities managers. 

• The internet has become affected by a number of debilitating viruses which has left employees 

unable to work as business continuity plans have not been designed for these attacks. 

• Lack of worker’s loyalty leaves corporate goals to the wayside. 

• Lack of environmental quality has severely devalued office buildings 

33 



The Wind Tunnel Test 

In testing the future performance of organisations against the scenarios described so that they can 

‘fly’ adaptable and robustly in any conditions that lie ahead, the following ten top characteristics have 

been identified in the process as vital to forming a vision of the workplace of the future [National 

Centre for Partnership Performance, 2006]. 

1. Constant innovation will require agility throughout all parts of an organisation to enable 

employees to absorb workplace change. 

2. All decisions will have to be customer-centred so that everyone concerned understands the 

impact of their work on the end-user of the organisation’s product or service. 

3. Most jobs will become increasingly knowledge intensive, and the intellectual skills and 

information base for all jobs will change and adapt regardless of the nature of the work. 

4. Organisations will have to be ever more responsive to the changing needs of clients, markets 

and employees. 

5. Cross-functional ways of working, internally and externally, will require broad networking through 

collaboration, partnership, clustering, shared service activities and inter-agency working. 

6. The focus will be on structuring organisations around a high-performance ethos, with incentives 

and rewards at all levels, an accent on continuous improvement (kaizan), and a bias towards 

implementation. 

7. Successful organisations will value and actively seek a culture of engagement by all concerned 

through open, involved and participatory management systems and work practices. 

8. All organisations will strive to be constantly learning with encouragement of experimentation and 

ongoing provision of training plans, needs assessment, employee support and funding 

mechanisms. 

9. As an integral part of the organisation’s culture and management it will have to be proactively 

diverse, linked to a recognition of the need to ensure a high quality of working life. 

10. Organisations will have to be imaginative in all they do. 

34 



A Workplace 

Prospective 

In an ideal world, what would the future workplace look like? 

Following the adage: “the future is not inevitable, we can influence it if we know what we want it to 

be”, a number of ideas, thoughts and characteristics of a preferred future vision for the workplace 

have been identified. Respondents to a survey questionnaire and participants in the Futures 

Workshop recognised them and they are listed as follows: 

• Every home and office will be equipped with video-conferencing capability; 

• Regional meeting places will be developed to enable social interaction; 

• The house will become both the home and the workplace; improving quality of life; 

• New and improved street-scape office designs will incorporate cafes, shops, offices, lounges and 

the availability of live information; 

• Metaphorically, the workplace will be located on a Caribbean beach as remote working becomes 

widely accepted; 

• There will be fewer large and more distributed facilities that will have less reliance on active 

systems; 

• People will be able to choose when, where and how they want to work; 

• The workspace will be shaped by its users with management, facilities management and real 

estate; 

• Workspaces will be adapted to suit a wide range of threats and opportunities; 

• Increasing cultural references, further branding and information content will be placed within the 

workplace; 

• Every person will be treated equally when it comes to getting a job, advancing in their career, 

and being treated fairly in the workplace; 

• Responsibilities relating to IT or telecoms servicing will increase as the remote worker becomes 

increasingly popular and the traditional office becomes a thing of the past; and, 

• Workplaces will depend on renewable energies; 

However, the sort of challenges facing the facilities management industry today, that would make it 

difficult to achieve this workplace prospective, are most obviously: 

• Positioning and response of the workers to behavioural change; 

• Adapting to the global variation of workplace locations; 

• Supporting a globally fragmented client and user base with greater individuality of needs and 

services; 

• Initiating cultural change within a profession to expand the remit of the facilities management 

(FM) discipline in order to become community inclusive; 

• Promoting dialogue across corporate departments; 

• Aligning FM and strategic visions; 

• Defining the nature of facilities management for the future; 

• Balancing the dynamics between command and control versus individualism; 

• Integrating education, research and best practice into the FM sector; 

• Incorporating innovation and development within service activities; 

• Facilities managers actively listening and entering into dialogue with users instead of blindly 

obeying the corporate machine; 

• Aligning migration patterns, the changing market and the workforce; 

• Imposing legislative restrictions on extensive commuting and business travel; 

• Expanding thinking, for example, to network environments; and, 

• Exploring how the extended workplace promotes and supports creativity. 

In order to accomplish goals and objectives of the organisation, challenges and threats must be 

overcome. In doing so, organisations must mobilise joint actions towards their specific prospective. 

Consequently, policy fields and action agendas are considered briefly here. 

35 



Next on the Agenda 

What are the strategic implications of a 

futures-based approach to a 

sustainable workplace? 

How will the right decision fit into the 

future workplace? 

What are the present actions that 

facilities managers must take to 

prepare their workplace for the 

uncertain future? 

Following the construction of the scenarios, a fundamental stage in the process is the formulation of 

policy field themes and the identification of action agendas. These enable decision-makers to exploit 

positive opportunities and prepare for certain threats that unfold in the workplace of the future. 

Five policy themes emerged from the workshop that will have a positive impact on the organisation’s 

strategy. Subsequently, the workshop participants identified a plethora of action agendas that can be 

implemented within each policy field, so that the organisation can prepare for the many risks and 

opportunities that the facilities management industry will face in the future. Ten of the most significant 

were selected under each of the policy headings. 

1 Knowledge Capital 

A. In facilities management and real estate sectors, building on knowledge capital will increase 

the value of output and support business solutions. 

B. Creating a knowledge management platform will systematically encourage sharing of 

knowledge between the facilities management, real estate sectors and other departments of 

an organisation. 

C. Acting on the need for further education and training within the workforce will give the 

organisation a competitive edge. 

D. Investing in ‘intelligent’ buildings will save costs and boost employee productivity and 

creativity 

E. Describing and translating knowledge into a usable form will enable the construction of a 

relevant and reliable knowledge base. 

F. Linking facilities management, real estate, services and technology into one single service 

management model will provide the facilitation of work, not just the servicing of facilities. 

G. Knowledge repository… Employing a service that centrally stores facilities management 

data. This will deter the silo management system, because different departments will have 

access to the same data, thus making communication more effective. 

H. Creating a workplace strategy embracing mobility and flexible working will facilitate the 

transition to home and remote working. 

I. Developing protocols for new relationships with flexible employees will address loyalty and 

trust issues within the organisation. 

J. Harvesting different skill-sets from the different workforce generations will provide a broad 

knowledge base that will cater for the entire lifecycle of facilities management. 

2 Workplace Culture 

A. Developing a new set of skills to cope with an increasingly diverse workforce will benefit 

organisations and also provide them with a support network through participation at a local 

level in conferences and national conventions. 

B. Encouraging dialogue to better understand wishes and worries will promote a more engaging 

and responsive workforce. 

C. Building a strong workplace infrastructure will enable connectivity, management and support 

for a dispersed organisation. 

D. Understanding workplace cultures will encourage integration of individualism, collaboration, 

creativity and bureaucracy. 

E. Incorporating employee well-being into business plans, strategies and activities will promote 

health and safety among staff and the supply chain. 

36 



F. Creating a community amongst mobile workers through social networking forums will 

encourage them to use their space in the office and home more efficiently. 

G. Developing social media and computing will decrease the feeling of isolation remote workers 

have in the changing workplace environment as social networking continues in a virtual 

capacity. 

H. Encouraging research into behavioural studies, such as environmental psychology, will lead 

to a greater understanding of workplace culture. 

I. Questioning what businesses and people need from the ‘traditional’ workspace environment, 

and addressing these needs through alternative scenarios. 

J. Tackling the task of motivating remote workers to achieve maximum performance output. 

3 Technology and the Environment 

A. Innovating business models in the information technology supply chain will maximise 

shareowner value and increase customer satisfaction. 

B. Making sustainable concepts and solution a priority, will place corporate social 

responsibilities high on the agenda of businesses and one step further in tackling the 

problem of the threatened ecosystem. 

C. Developing models of sustainable, not time consuming practices, such as the integration of 

email into voice messages, will aim to tackle the issue of increasing time and money spent to 

ensure constant accessibility to phone, email, fax and text messages. 

D. Fostering technology as an enabler rather than a driver will improve business management 

processes and create an advantage in terms of improved efficiency and reduced costs. 

E. Increasing the supply of extranet-based workers to work in collaboration with intranet-based 

workers will enable the efficient transfer of knowledge between partners, organisations, 

service providers and clients. 

F. Growing awareness of energy saving policies will lead to balanced distribution of energy. 

G. Identifying technological solutions, like ‘smart’ workspaces, that are likely to impact positively 

on the environment, will increase the possibility of working away from the traditional highenergy 

consuming office space. 

H. Developing a risk assessment process for the major dependence on the Internet and its 

services (such as on-line banking), will help to deal with issues of security and safety. 

I. Improving telephone and conference call quality. 

J. Researching and developing alternative energy sources for facilities will help prevent future 

devastating blackouts. 

4 Quality of Life 

A. Designing the workplace to maximise communication, collaboration, interaction and creativity 

to encourage a shift from hard work to ‘hard fun’, motivating and creative atmosphere, such 

as the Google workspace, and providing a social nucleus, as well as a job. 

B. Considering lifestyle services as an inherent component of the service delivery model, 

placing FM in the home and on the move. 

C. Developing a workspace solution that improves the senses of smell, light and sound within 

the office in order to mimic a home environment. 

D. Offering FM packages to freelance and contract staff to motivate performance and maximise 

business potential. 

37 



E. Embracing the ‘learning’ and ‘creative’ workplace by evaluating current data on new ways of 

working. For example, a healing environment will enhance the quality of life for employees. 

F. Improving services of non-office and diffused environments will lead to greater efficiency and 

less stressful situations for remote workers. One example would be a communal shared 

space in residential areas, as somewhere to maintain social interaction for remote workers. 

G. Facilitating changes in the workplace to allow for less travel and more leisure time will lead to 

reduced energy use. 

H. Recognising that the needs and profile of the workforce are changing and that these issues 

and opportunities must be addressed. 

I. Trusting in social networks will enhance the quality of life in the workplace and home. 

J. Considering the work and life balance in the context of the organisation will lead to better 

recruitment, retention and well-being of staff. 

5 Large Scale Governance 

A. Increasing transparency of information will enable further public access to corporate 

information. 

B. Clarifying the legal status of an ‘employee’ working remotely, at home or on client premises 

will protect staff. Although the policy of work should be what you do, not where you go, staff 

should be covered by insurance wherever they do go. 

C. Linking the carbon footprint to each Service Level Agreement will increase sustainable 

development. 

D. Addressing blended governance issues spanning across legislative, social, economic and 

environmental aspects. 

E. Resisting excessive intervention and regulations will allow creativity to flourish in the 

workplace environment. 

F. Increasing collective contribution to the wealth effort. 

G. Balancing legislation with best practice will help the move towards an ideal workplace. 

H. Increasing FM accountability will encourage facilities managers to own the risk. 

I. Influencing the regulatory framework will possibly decrease the amount of bureaucracy in 


J. Entering into negotiations relating to tax on business travel and compromising in a way that 

some tax is applicable but not outrageous. 

38 



Research Priorities: 

GOVERNANCE: • Local Governance 

• CSR 

CORPORATE • Culture 

• Branding 

• Policy 

• Communication 

WORKPLACE • Flexible Working / Mobility / Remote Working 

• New Ways of Working 

• Technology 

WORKSPACE • Physical vs. Virtual 

• Office / Home / Elsewhere 

• Spatial 

• Collaborative Working Environment 

SOCIAL • The Individual 

• Work Life Balance 

• Network 

KNOWLEDGE • Knowledge Capital 

• Intellectual Property 

• Intellectual Capital – Individual vs. Corporate 

• Knowledge management 

• Knowledge Framework 

• Knowledge Strategy – IP, Corporate knowledge 

Analyse and identify ways businesses can 

operate ethically, sustainably and profitably. 

Recognise ways in which the corporate world 

can strive to make an impact in a very 

competitive market, whilst being supported by 

facilities management accordingly. 

Develop sustainable workplace strategies that 

will provide the most effective work 

environments by accommodating individual 

work processes and organisational goals and 

identify ways to maintain them. 

Evaluate and design new workspaces to 

embrace learning and creativity, enabling 

organisations to move away from the concept 

of individualism, hierarchy and status. 

Assess current data on new ways of working 

in order to develop social networks to promote 

communication, interaction and a workplace 

community setting for the promotion of the 

employee’s physical and mental well being. 

Determine the need to capitalise on 

intellectual and knowledge capital. 

39 



Propositum 

Prof. John Ratcliffe 

Isaac Asimov once defined science fiction as “an escape to reality”. Softening the threat, perhaps, 

but leaving the truth intact. For science fiction has all too often become science fact, and many would 

argue that its forecasting record is superior to that of conventional strategic planning with two-thirds 

of its projections having happened in one form or another (Buchen, 2005). So too with futures 

studies, where the powerful alliance of creative imagination and technological foresight outmatches 

and outperforms the standard trend projection or lineal analysis of think-tank strategic planners. 

Conceiving the future, therefore, is the prime business imperative for the successful corporation. 

Both Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions and The Futures Academy at DIT share the view 

that it is time organisations re-examined how they anticipate and prepare for the future. Nowadays, 

most managers expect that sooner or later their own organisation will experience some type of 

discontinuous change – new markets, new competitors, new customer needs, new combinations of 

technology, new distribution channels, new legislation and the like. There is also a growing 

awareness that this change impacts upon the likely nature of the future workplace. But too many 

managers still plan and invest based on forecasts of past trends or on a plan for a single ‘most likely’ 

future, one that is addressed in the corporate plan. Over and over, organisations that await one 

‘probable’ future find themselves confused and disadvantaged when confronted with an unfavourable 

turn of events for which they are quite unprepared. Often this crisis is one of several futures that 

could easily have been anticipated; and if it had been, the organisation could have readied itself to 

face the challenge. 

We advocate that all organisations seeking to learn from the future adopt a methodology drawn from 

the futures field using techniques similar to the ones employed in this project. Above all, however, all 

futures-oriented organisations should follow five basic precepts. 

1. Appreciate that the key to leadership is the effective communication of a story, a story 

whose central narrative clarifies for all concerned their individual and collective identity. 

2. Recognise that the current business logic is never forever – there is a continuing need 

deliberately to question the basic assumptions of the organisation, its purpose and its products. 

3. Involve a wide body of people, from within and without the organisation in strategic thinking and 

planning – including the odd ‘visionary’. 

4. Conduct ongoing environmental scanning to include industries and agencies from fields and 

sectors beyond those within which the organisation operates. 

5. Accept that all information-rich, networked societies and their markets run on trust, a 

crucially valuable factor that economists tend to ignore in their models. 

The overarching proposition, therefore, is that organisations of all kinds need to take the long view, 

for the greatest risk of our time is being overtaken by inevitable surprises that could have been 

foreseen and for which we could have been prepared. 

40 



Appendix A: 

Participants 

Johnson Controls and The Futures Academy, DIT, would like to thank the following participants who 

took part in the Futures Workshop in Johnson Controls HQ, Farnborough in May 2007 and 

completed and returned the survey questionnaire: 

Dr Mickael Fenker 

Paris La Vilette, France 

Dr Ruud van Wezel 

The Hauge University, The Netherlands 

Peter McLennan 

The University of Central London 

Dom Sherry 

Johnson Controls, EMEA 

Dr Paul Morgan 


Annie Corrway 


Andrew Bradshaw 


Ken Raisbeck 


Peter Ferguson 


Karen Howells 


Dr Marie Puybaraud 


Deb Roberts 

Johnson Controls, Asia 

Clay Nesler 

Johnson Controls, US 

Ichiro Yoshida 


Peter Thompson 

Henley Management College, UK 

Andrew Hawkins 


Professor Frank Duffy 

DEGW 

Rick Bertasi 


Dr Anne Marie McEwan 

Bizintel 

Professor Alexi Marmot 

University of Central London 

Steve McLellan 

Glaxo Smith Kline 

Pete Bays 

IBM 

Paul Bartlett 

OPN 

Paul Carder 

IPD 


DIT 

Ruth Saurin 

DIT 

Julie Gannon 

DIT 

Gillian O’Brien 

DIT 

Dominica Brodowicz 

DIT 

Dr Walter van der Es 

The Hague University, The Netherlands 

41 



Appendix B: 

Academic thought 

provocateur 

Provocative thoughts by Dr Michael Fenker, School of Architecture Paris 

La Villette, France 

Driving forces of change in the workplace: 

Approaching space as a cognitive resource 

In the context where workplace management is more and more approached from the service side 

rather than from a building construction point of view, a different understand of the role of space in 

work and management processes of client organisations can emerge. This understanding is based 

on the distinction between space and artefacts like buildings, tables etc.: 

Actions for FM community to move 

there: 

To support research and studies that 

help to understand usability 

(performance as efficiency, 

effectiveness and satisfaction is 

affected by culture, context and 

situation). 

To develop evaluation methodologies 

that are not limited on achievement of 

requirements established during the 

design phase but that assess the 

ongoing change of business 

processes. 

To consider user experience and user 

knowledge as an integrated part of 

design strategy. This has to happen 

through research that backs up FM 

operations, case studies and 

experimental projects. 

• Space is a social product, a system of social relations mediatized by artefacts. Space or spaces 

are a set of representations that organise the perception of a place and of the relations between 

the users of a place. Space refers back to the diversity of positions in social relations, and to the 

diversity of projects and intentions that individuals or groups pursue while engaging in collective 

action. 

• The way we occupy a place (the way we behave) depends on the representation(s) we mobilise 

in relation to this place. These representations depend on our origin, the situations or the context 

where we mobilise them, it also depends on the collective project or shared values within an 

organisation, etc. 

• Space is a resource for organisations as it contributes to the construction, the negotiation, and 

the understanding of meanings and values. Mobilising representations (using space individually 

and collective as we do) is a way of approving, confronting, negotiating, or changing our 

positions within a group and the goals we pursue. Space reflects, often on a very tacit level, the 

kind of values that an organisation puts on the top, the way business processes are organised 

and the importance given to its social capital. It’s a recipient of meaning without which no action 

can take place. 

FM will essentially become a social and a management activity 

The body of knowledge conveyed by space is not stable over time. Each situation can change the 

representation we mobilise, (because of changing context, changing business strategies, changing 

organisational culture, etc.) and can make the conveyed knowledge / or the recipient (space) 

inappropriate. Construction and negotiation of meaning happens of course during the design phases 

of a place, a building, etc., but it happens also very much during the work or management processes 

in which the occupants of a place are involved in. Understanding space as a cognitive resource for 

organisations will contribute to a focus on the processes part of producing and managing workplaces; 

FM will essentially become a social activity that contributes to the adjustments between the facilities 

(including the related services), the strategic intentions and the shared social value by the 

stakeholders. Beside physical aspects, these adjustments are very much of a managerial kind, 

imbedded in the continuous organisational processes of a firm. 

An important part of services delivered by FM could become the management of the representations 

and of the conveyed knowledge, including making the representations explicit and supporting and 

evaluating the processes by which they affect the organisation. FM could take the role of a mediator 

in this processes of making meanings, finalities, objectives etc. explicit: between different 

organisational bodies, and between management decisions and means that support them (having an 

expertise especially in understanding how these means provide functional and social values). 

42 



What will push towards this way of understanding the role of FM 

The evolution towards a more distributed workplace for many people in fast changing companies will 

diminish the control the organisations have on their classical corporate environment. In exploring the 

territories that become accessible for them, an important question will be how values, culture, shared 

meanings can be stated, transmitted, etc. This will increase the need for emphasising on the learning 

process provided by the design and the use of space. These refers to a double loop process: 

facilities (and the related services) are a result of a design process where organisational goals and 

values have been made explicit and embedded in the artefacts and services. This artefacts and 

services will influence the users of a place and the values they offer will again be confronted to the 

events and changes that occur for the users. The demand for understanding these processes will 

come from companies that largely base their operations on a distributed workplace strategy. 

43 



Provocative thoughts by Dr Ruud van Wezel, The Hague University, The 

Netherlands 

The Futures of the Workplace 

1. How is the appropriation of space (real and virtual) by people taking shape and managed? That 

is for us one of the most interesting FM questions. From the user’s perspective we collect 

environmental psychological and socio-ethnic data on the influence of space on behaviour. From 

the managerial point of view we take ideas from ‘change management’ and HRM. Statement: 

The facility manager has no clue of what moves the business, people wise. 

2. Experience of the space by different ‘target’ groups is essential, how do they appreciate, 

appraise the environment is relevant. We take on board a multi-sensorial approach to investigate 

this. Air quality and control over the air flow as well as control over sounds (music, HVAC 

systems, printers, lightning systems etc.) are taken into consideration when studying the work 

environment. Another, more neglected sense is smell that will gain importance in the future. 

Statement: The facility manager should use his nose. 

3. From a more socio-anthropological scope the concepts of bonding and bridging are of 

importance. Age, sex, ethnicity, work background or, in short, life style could be a strong factor in 

choosing a working/living ambiance. Identity and community are key words in our studies which 

we put in a time perspective. Space and Place in connection with the way people territorialise 

them is a major issue for the future. If FM takes away the individualisation of space it should be 

compensated by collectivization mechanism. Statement: bonding comes before bridging when 

designing space. 

4. The legal aspects of shaping space and place are taking more and more importance. The (intern) 

national standards are playing a significant role. Statement: The new economy (creative industry) 

demands no regulations at all: danger helps! 

5. The nature of appropriation and territoriality in virtual organisational space has had no scientific 

interest jet. A concept of time-space compression should be taken seriously, like the tension 

mediated by physical space and its symbolism. There are parallels in territorializing virtual and 

real space, and what are the interfaces? 

6. At The Hague University we have developed a web based e-learning assessment tool. In this 

simulation students act as junior workspace consultants to solve a workspace problem in a 3D 

virtual building (a travel agency office, called Globus). This program is also to be used for training 

FM professionals (Workspace Edugame © Dr. Walter van der Es) 

44 



Provocative thoughts by Peter McLennan, UCL, England 

The Future of Global FM 

Introduction 

The future of facility management as a sector in the global economy is, like any future, highly 

uncertain. Innovative activity is both stimulated and engaged by uncertain events and, as Porter 

suggests, “is the central issue in economic prosperity.” But the traditional scenario process provides 

the means to anticipate and respond to these risks. There are two main uncertainties that come to 

mind for the global FM sector in the next 10 years. These are labour and customers. The FM 

innovation possibilities given this context (see figure below) are constrained, but have wide ranging 

implications for both client and suppliers in the near future. 

Labour dimension – experience and education 

The labour dimension is polarised in FM as skills and techniques. Both can enable knowledge, 

judgement and innovation, but skills are often based on experience while techniques have their basis 

in learned theory and concepts. Research suggests that the experience only results in sporadic 

innovation along either technological substitutions (cost control) or process lines (operational 

alignment), but these have their limits (see figure 1). On the other hand, learned techniques enable 

analysis and prediction of problems, thereby ensuring the possibility of innovation in a more 

meaningful way resulting in the potential for added value and competitive advantage. This is the 

position that both the EU and BERR in the UK (formerly the DTI) are currently measuring. Their 

research suggests that for any given sector the innovation potential is very different between the 

labour resource that has experience and no education versus those with experience and education. 

Future scenarios for innovation in global FM 

Customer dimension – direct contact or indirect contact 

The customer dimension is the degree to which the facility management function has contact with the 

customer. It is either indirect or direct. The facility management operations in a direct customer 

context are part of the organisations service delivery system, which can be seen as the organisation 

‘trading through their space’ (public sector examples are education, health care and local authorities; 

private sector examples are leisure, sports and entertainment; and charity sector examples institutes, 

aid organisations and foundations). In the indirect they support the employees’ activities. For the 

indirect position the innovation is technological substitution (cost control) and process / structure 

(added value) in support of the organisations’ employees. The innovation potential in the direct 

situation has greater impact and affects the entire service delivery system (competitive advantage) 

and process (operational alignment). The customer dimension provides a number of opportunities for 

innovation. 

45 



The Future 

There are four potential outcomes for facility management based innovation given the two 

uncertainty dimensions shown in figure 1. They limit what is possible in terms of the benefit from 

innovative activity within FM. This spectrum of benefit can range from FM providing competitive 

advantage as a core function for those with direct customer contact (they trade through their space) 

and an experienced and educated workforce to a focus on process and technological substitution 

innovations for those with indirect customer contact and an experienced workforce. Understanding 

which of these roles you perform will enable a more focused innovation. 

46 



Appendix C: 

The Futures 

Methodology 

The Futures Concept 

There is a growing realisation, in all areas of life, that the future is not fixed. The notion that the future 

can be ‘shaped’ or ‘created’ has gained currency over the past decade, and is increasingly the basis 

upon which organisations of all kinds make their plans. 

The concept of ‘futures’ is encapsulated in the idea of trying to make things happen, rather than 

guessing what might happen. Using this concept, and the business of discovery, organisations and 

individuals have to embrace uncertainty, and continually review a wide range of policy options. 

The crucial questions generally examined in the futures field in the examination of an issue or policy 

include the following: 

• What are the main continuities? 

• What are the major trends? 

• What are the most important change processes? 

• What are the most serious problems? 

• What are the new factors ‘in the pipeline’? 

• What are the main sources of inspiration and hope? 

A useful metaphor to describe the aim of the futures field is providing a ‘map’ of the future. In 

essence, futures studies supplies policy makers with views, images and alternatives about futures in 

order to inform and protect decisions made in the present. It is important to note that the underlying 

purpose of futures studies is not to make predictions, but rather to gain an overview of the present 

context in order to illuminate alternative futures. Interpretation, not forecast, is the essence of this 

approach. 

Why Scenarios? 

Put very simply, the purpose of the future studies approach is to discover or invent; examine or 

evaluate; and propose possible, probable and preferable futures. Key to this is the development of 

scenarios. 

Scenario thinking recognises that in dynamic environments the future cannot be predicted, but it is 

something for which one can be prepared. Scenarios embrace the potential for uncertainty and 

discontinuities and, therefore, help to prepare for surprising change. In this way, scenarios help to: 

• Create a wider shared view of future possibilities; 

• Challenge the basic assumptions of those participating; 

• Alert individuals, agencies and organisations to a wider and deeper understanding of change; 

and 

• Enable decision-makers to tackle complexity and uncertainty in a robust, yet flexible, manner. 

Decisions that have been pre-tested and future-proofed against a range of prospects that fate may 

hold are more likely to stand the test of time. Taking an informed and investigated long-run view may 

also give an organisation the courage and confidence to stick to a set of priorities and policies, rather 

than back-off in the face of sudden resistance or short-term failure. 

Scenario development is emerging exponentially as a powerful planning tool, providing an effective 

framework that highlights critically uncertain conditions and options. This will ultimately assist 

organisations move towards more effective strategies in the pursuit of a sustainable workplace 

environment. Crucial to this, however, is the development and application of the ‘Prospective 

Through Scenarios’ approach. 

47 



The Prospective Process 

The ‘Prospective Through Scenarios’ process is becoming more popularly applied across Europe in 

a variety of strategic settings. It requires organisations to perceive creatively what is going on in their 

environments. It requires them to think through in an imaginative way what their environment means 

for them, and then demonstrate the readiness to act decisively upon this new knowledge. Most of all, 

however, it demands them to determine what they wish their preferred future to be. 

They show this willingness by analysing, in an exploratory manner, the required components of the 

process bringing them closer to a common desired goal - the prospective. It is argued that being able 

to use this process is the ultimate competitive advantage. 

What are the benefits of the process? 

• It encourages participation in decision-making, thus enhancing ownership and commitment of 

ideas, plans or policies. 

• It allows for informal discussion and debate, often resulting in a newly formed common language. 

• It encourages the development of social networks. 

• It encourages creative thinking within rigid organisational structures or strategies, and ‘thinking 

outside the box’. 

• It allows for flexibility and adaptability in decision-making. 

The prospective involves a much wider exploration and establishes a much longer time-horizon than 

conventional planning. Moreover, it comprises not only the study of the future, and an evaluation of 

alternative outcomes against given policy decisions, but also the will to influence the future and 

shape it according to society’s and the organisation’s wishes. 

The method concludes by describing a single preferred future and is created following an in-depth 

study in conjunction with the ideas and thoughts provoked by the scenarios. 

Three Phases to Futures Thinking 

48 



Appendix D: 

Partners 

Key Sponsor: Johnson Controls, Global WorkPlace Solutions 

Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions is the leading global facilities management solutions 

provider. With over 50 years experience in the facilities management business, Johnson Controls 

has the expertise to deliver comprehensive workplace strategies that support your global facility 

portfolio. 

Our approach to facilities management outsourcing is unique. We work with our clients to understand 

their business needs and then we create tailored solutions designed to meet those needs. We are 

accountable for implementing our solutions and then for guaranteeing the outcomes promised by our 

recommendations. What we deliver are comprehensive solutions that are good for our customers' 


Contact: Dr. Marie Puybaraud, marie.c.puybaraud@jci.com, 0044 (0) 7966 563 167 

The Futures Academy 

The Futures Academy at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) was established in January 2003 to 

provide both a research and consultancy forum for promoting and encouraging the concept of ‘futureproofing’ 

policy and strategic decisions. Although formed under the auspices of the DIT, The Futures 

Academy is not exclusively an academic exercise. With staff of high quality professional and 

academic backgrounds, The Futures Academy is a very pragmatic, down-to-earth research and 

consultancy service. Through the experience of its staff, it recognises the need for government and 

industry alike to be provided with useful, practical, comprehensible information which can make a 

positive difference to everyday policy and practice. The creation of The Futures Academy in Ireland 

furnishes Irish public and private sectors with expertise and networks within which to develop and 

instigate future proofing in their own disciplines and industries. 

Contact: Professor John S. Ratcliffe, john.ratcliffe@dit.ie, 00353 1 402 3711 

Ruth Saurin, ruth.saurin@dit.ie, 00353 1 402 4041. 

DIT 

The Dublin Institute of Technology is a comprehensive higher education institution, fulfilling a national 

and international role in providing full-time and part-time programmes across the whole spectrum of 

higher education, supported by research and scholarship in areas reflective of the of the Institute’s 

mission. DIT has proven itself to be one of the most popular institutions of higher education in Ireland 

and the reasons include excellent student support facilities, an ethos that encourages active learning 

and dynamic course content, and its tradition of academic excellence alongside professional 

relevance. 

49 



Appendix E: 

Research Team 

The Futures Academy 

Professor John Ratcliffe D. Tech., MA [Urban & Regional Studies]. BSc 

[Est. Man], FRICS, FSVA 

John Ratcliffe is a chartered planning and development surveyor with almost forty years experience 

as a consultant and academic in the fields of urban planning and real estate development. Currently 

he is Director and Dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment at the Dublin Institute of Technology, 

which is the largest university level institution in the Republic of Ireland, and Founder and Chairman 

of The Futures Academy there. He is also an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Salford 

and the University of Lincoln as well as an Associate of the futures consultancy Outsights in the UK. 

The author of a number of books and numerous other publications on land use and development 

matters, John Ratcliffe has also acted as a consultant to national and international organisations and 

agencies in both the public and private sectors. In the public sector, these include the World Bank, 

the UNDP and the European Investment Bank; and in the private sector, American Express, 

Electricitiée de France, Lafarge, Grosvenor Estates and Johnson Controls. He was the initial 

Chairman of the Policy and Practice Committee of the Urban Land Institute [Europe] and the founder 

of the Greater Dublin ‘Prospectives’ Society. He has extensive international experience and spent 

over ten years in the Far East. 

Over the past decade he has acquired a particular expertise in the futures field, with special 

reference to the sustainable development of city regions. He has recently been involved in: 

collaborating in a major European project concerned with Improving the Quality of Life in Large 

Urban Distressed Areas [LUDA]; conducting a Dublin Vision 2020 exercise on behalf of the Dublin 

Chamber of Commerce; advising the Dublin Regional Business Alliance and the Dublin City Centre 

Business Association in respect of strategic planning; and providing assistance to various 

development agencies in several European countries. He has also acted as a consultant to a range 

of corporate enterprises in their long-term strategic thinking and planning. Most recently he has been 

commissioned to undertake a Strategic Visioning Exercise “Twice the Size” exploring the sustainable 

growth and development of the Irish Gateway Cities for the National Development Plan. 

A special interest of Professor Ratcliffe at the moment is the nature and development of responsible 

business practice, with particular reference to the real estate and construction industries. 

In August, 2005, John Ratcliffe was elected to the position of Secretary-General of the World Futures 

Studies Federation, the global body for professional futurists. 

Ruth Saurin BA, PG Dip, MSc 

Ruth Saurin is a postgraduate researcher in The Futures Academy in the Faculty of the Built 

Environment, Dublin Institute of Technology. She is currently involved in a project that focuses on the 

facilities management industry in Ireland using new research technologies drawn from the futures 

field. In addition to this project, Ruth has participated in a number of research projects relating to 

energy scenarios and was heavily involved in the publication of the documents Nuclear Energy: 

friend or foe and Why Renewables Need Nuclear, which explored the potential for nuclear power in 

the future of the global energy scene. Ruth has a background in international business and 

sustainable development with a keen interest in urban and organisational environments. 

50 



Appendix F: 

References 

• Alexander, K. [1997] "Redefining the Workplace" Facilities Management: European Practice 

1997 Arko: The Netherlands 

• Bazerman, M. and M. Watkins [2004]. Predictable Surprises. Harvard Business School Press, 

Boston, Mass. 

• Buchan, I. [2005]. The Future Workforce. R & L Education, Maryland, US 

• Canton, J. [2006]. The Extreme Future. Dutton, Penguin, New York. 

• Gaddie, S. [2003]. “Enterprise Programme management: Connecting strategic planning to project 

delivery” Journal of Facilities Management. Vol 2:2, September 

• Glenn, J. and T. Gordon. [2006]. “Update on the State of the Future” The Futurist. Vol 40:1, 

Jan/Feb. 

• Hawken, P. Lovins, A. and L. Hunter Lovins. [1999]. Natural Capitalism. Earthscan, London. 

• Hawken, P. A. Lovins and H. Lovins [2000]. Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution. 

Earthscan, London. 

• Heerwagen, J., Kelly, K., Kampschroer, K., [2007]. The Changing Nature of Organisations, Work, 

and Workplace. Holland can be found at http://www.wbdg.org/design/chngorgwork.php) 

• Henriques, A. [2004]. (ed) The Triple Bottom Line: Does It All Add Up? Earthscan, London. 

• Klare, M. [2002]. Resource Wars. Owl Books, New York. 

• King Sturge. [2005]. European Real Estate Scenarios: Nirvana or Nemesis. London (can be 

found at http://www.dit.ie/futuresacademy) 

• Leggett, M. [2006]. “An Indicative Costed Plan for the Mitigation of Global Risks” Futures, Vol 38: 

7 September. 

• Lovelock, J. [2006]. The Revenge of Gaia. Allen Lane, London. 

• Martin, J. [2006]. The Meaning of the 21 st Century. Eden Project Books, London. 

• National Centre for Partnership Performance, (2006). Building Innovative Workplaces Through 

Partnership. NESDO, Dublin 

• OECD [2004]. Towards High-Performing Health Systems. OECD, Paris. 

• Rees, M. [2003]. Our Final Hour. Basic Books, New York. 

• Sidle, C. [2005]. The Leadership Wheel. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. 

• Tapscott, D. and A.D. Williams (2007) Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes everything. 

Atlantic Books, London 

• W. Chan Kim and Renée Maulborgne (200?) Blue Ocean Strategy 

• Hawken, P. A. Lovins and H. Lovins [2000]. Natural Capitalism : The Next Industrial Revolution. 

Earthscan, London. 

• CoreNet Global (2004). Corporate Real Estate 2010 : Sustainability and Corporate Social 

Responsibility. 

• Ross, P. [2004] Urban Land Europe, Summer 2004 

• Heerwagen et all [2007] 

• Alexander, K. [1997] "Redefining the Workplace" Facilities Management: 

• European Practice 1997 Arko: The Netherlands. 

• Young, S. [2003]. Moral Capitalism: Reconciling Private Interest with the Public Good. Berrett- 

Kochler, San Francisco. 

• Walzer, M. [2004]. Arguing About War. Yale University Press. 

• Williams, D. [2005]. Real Leadership. Berret-Koehler, San Francisco. 

• W. Chan Kim and Renée Maulborgne (2005) Blue Ocean Strategy 

• Heerwagen, J., Kelly, K., Kampschroer, K., [2007]. The Changing Nature of Organisations, Work, 

and Workplace. Holland (http://www.wbdg.org/design/chngorgwork.php) 

51 



For further details: 

Please contact: 

Dr. Marie Puybaraud 

Programme Director R&D in Facilities Innovation 

Consulting Group EMEA, Global WorkPlace Solutions 

Johnson Controls Ltd 

Park West 1, Farnborough Aerospace Centre 

2 Woodside Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 6XR 

0044 (0) 7966 563 167 

marie.c.puybaraud@jci.com 

Artwork and Design: 

Adam Bushnell, Design & Production Specialist, 

Johnson Controls, Global WorkPlace Solutions, EMEA 

adam.c.bushnell@jci.com 

52

The Workplace - Johnson Controls Inc.

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