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Unworking: The Reinvention of the Modern Office
As we look toward a future of hybrid or virtual offices, a timely call to rethink the very nature and design of the workplace.
Over the past one hundred years, the office has been integral to the development of modern society. It has shaped the architecture of our cities, the behavior of our organizations, and the everyday movements of millions of people. In 2020, however, the global pandemic brought our attendance in the office to an abrupt halt and triggered a complete reevaluation of the purpose of the workplace. This book offers a panoramic view of the office and explores what happens next. The authors advance a manifesto for “unworking”—unlearning old habits and rituals established for an outdated office and crafting and creating new ones fit for an age of digital technology, design innovation, and diverse workforces.
Over the past one hundred years, the office has been integral to the development of modern society. It has shaped the architecture of our cities, the behavior of our organizations, and the everyday movements of millions of people. In 2020, however, the global pandemic brought our attendance in the office to an abrupt halt and triggered a complete reevaluation of the purpose of the workplace. This book offers a panoramic view of the office and explores what happens next. The authors advance a manifesto for “unworking”—unlearning old habits and rituals established for an outdated office and crafting and creating new ones fit for an age of digital technology, design innovation, and diverse workforces.
- GenresBusiness
240 pages, Hardcover
Published October 6, 2022
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61 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 5, 2022
A breezy book full of pronouncements about work and office culture, Unworking has a short history of workspaces and then gets into different aspects of how people who work with computers do work and how the authors think they should. If you like the Economist's multi-article surveys of a particular topic, this is the book for you.
On paper it seems organized and it felt well-written with well-designed charts interspersed but I can't say that I absorbed a ton, perhaps because it doesn't feel personal or closely researched; rather, there's a citation of places X and Y in cosmopolitan cities I haven't been to recently.
Bottom line: Interesting for real estate facilities managers focusing on office environments and to a lesser extent urbanism enthusiasts but probably not managers or people already reading a lot about these topics.
On paper it seems organized and it felt well-written with well-designed charts interspersed but I can't say that I absorbed a ton, perhaps because it doesn't feel personal or closely researched; rather, there's a citation of places X and Y in cosmopolitan cities I haven't been to recently.
Bottom line: Interesting for real estate facilities managers focusing on office environments and to a lesser extent urbanism enthusiasts but probably not managers or people already reading a lot about these topics.
April 2, 2023
In the post-pandemic world, the office has lost its role as a central place of work and has not yet found its new purpose. In their book, Myerson and Ross trace the history of the office to the present and, using concepts such as "experience", "urbanism" or "diversity", describe how offices today can find their place in a world in which work is not just a place, but an activity that can take place in a wide variety of places.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews