Activity-based working and their impact on organisational culture – employees’ perspectives

Purpose This paper aims to examine how the existing organisational culture of organisations changed with the introduction of activity-based working (ABW) office layouts from the employees’ perspectives. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was used to measure the influence of introducing ABW. The study focused on three different industry sectors in Australia – financial, IT and government – and one organisation from each sector who had introduced ABW during the period of 2012–2019 was selected. The Competing Value Framework was used to measure the dimensions of organisational culture. A paired sample test was used to measure the changes in employees’ perceptions after the layout changes. Findings Findings identify that the nature of workplace designs has a considerable impact on an organisation’s corporate culture which can be used to leverage and change its culture. However, some noticeable discrepancy between the perceptions of public and private sector employees was identified, where public sector employees felt that standardised procedures still governed their actions even in ABW layouts. Originality/value This research highlights that workplace designs directly influence culture by supporting the engagement, motivation and behaviours of the employees. It emphasises the importance of in-depth examination of the behavioural and attitudinal characteristics of employees to obtain a better understanding of how they interact in ABW layouts. Such an analysis provides the context for a more inclusive understanding of the operation of modern office layouts.