The main essence of understanding the pattern of works is to effectively create an environment where work thrives, productivity increases and at the end, everyone gains. There are a number of patterns of work. If you can understand these better then you can design environments that better suit the people. May I quickly add that the situation of your job best determines the type of work pattern you adopt.
Imagine you went to sleep and woke up to a work day in 1960. How different is your work life today, compared to what it was 40 years ago? Clearly, there would not be a Starbucks on every corner or a cell phone in every pocket—but what else has changed and why? The fact is that in contemporary times, the structure, content, and process of work have changed. Work is now: more cognitively complex, more team-based and collaborative, more dependent on social skills, more dependent on technological competence, more time pressured, more mobile and less dependent on geography (Heerwagen, 2016).
In the same vein, in today’s world, you will also be working for an organization that is likely to be very different due to competitive pressures and technological breakthroughs. Organizations today are: leaner and more agile, more focused on identifying value from the customer perspective, moretuned to dynamic competitive requirements and strategy, lesshierarchical in structure and decision authority, lesslikely to provide lifelong careers and job security, continuallyreorganizing to maintain or gain competitive advantage (Heerwagen, 2016). So, the structure and pattern every organization decides to go for has a huge effect on it. Having laid this solid foundation, I will explicate on some of the major work patterns in existence in this contemporary period.
The in/out pattern: The In/Out pattern is typical of sales and support people, whose job is mostly with customers. They come into the office for short periods during the day to plan together, to access the network, to pick up parts, etc. Their ‘real work’, however, is outside the office, typically with customers (or perhaps with suppliers or other third parties). In the office, they need to quickly connect up to the net, make phone calls and have early and late meetings. They are the group most likely to use touch-down desks. They are also likely to have small, brief and ad-hoc meetings, ‘grabbing space’ as they need it (Changing Minds, 2018).
The traveler pattern: The Traveler pattern is typically a cross between the Heads-Down and the In/Out patterns. The traveler will spend days, or even weeks, away from the office, then will return for a period, perhaps preparing for the next journey. Common travelers include people with global or regional jobs, managers of virtual teams, and sales people with remote customers. Whilst they are in the office, travelers are much like other office users, although they may use the phone more and socialize/meet less (especially if they have no coworkers in the office) (Changing Minds, 2018).
The wherever pattern: The Wherever worker will work wherever they are. If they want quiet, they will work at home. If they have a meeting or want to socialize and ‘catch up’, they will come into the office. Not being tied full-time to equipment or other people, and without heavy connectivity needs, they can work wherever they like. In the office they may use hotels and touchdowns or may share within a team space (Changing Minds, 2018).
The whenever pattern: The ‘whenever’ pattern is adopted by people who are not tied to a particular work time frame. They work whenever they have work, such as attending late-night global teleconferences. Such patterns are typical of managers and global workers whose work expands and contracts and who often have to work outside of normal work hours. In the office, they may work late or do out-of-hours work at home. Managing work-life balance means that they may work odd hours in the office (Changing Minds, 2018).
The heads-down pattern: This is the traditional office-worker pattern, where most of their work is carried out at a single desk. Work may be any balance of telephone, computer and paperwork. Although there may be meetings away from the desk with other people, this is a relatively minor part of the job. People from R&D engineers to Personal Assistants work in the heads-down mode (Changing Minds, 2018).
The knowledge pattern: The knowledge pattern occurs where the person is a keeper of knowledge, either in a form of a librarian, keeping it for other people, or as an expert, keeping it for their own use. A visible effect of this is that they may well have extended requirements for paper storage, either printer-sized sheets or books and manuals. The ‘modernized’ knowledge owners will now keep much on the computer, and may even be heavy database and/or web designers/users. People with these patterns include Administrators and R&D engineers (Changing Minds, 2018).
In as much as I wouldn’t like to condemn or criticize any of the aforementioned work pattern, let me categorically state that flexibility is the key in any pattern you choose to go for. A 2012 study by the International Labor Organization (Geneva) shows that since the 1950s, productivity per hour universally drops as hours are increased. They also found that there is a point at which the percentage drop in the level of productivity actually matches the increase in percentage of hours worked. Likewise, a survey in the US of Fortune 500 companies revealed that productivity increased by 1-3% of those companies that improved their family friendliness index ranking, supporting their workers with flexibility for family commitments (Culture, 2015).
References
Changing Minds (2018). Work Patterns. Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/workplace_design/work_patterns.htm
Culture, G (2015). How Workplace Design Impacts Employee Productivity. Retrieved from https://gothamculture.com/2015/08/20/how-workplace-design-impacts-employee-productivity/
Heerwagen, J (2016). The Changing Nature of Organization, Work and Workplace. Retrieved from https://www.wbdg.org/resources/changing-nature-organizations-work-and-workplace
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