Today, with three generations – Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials – working side by side within the workforce, miscommunications, and every day annoyances take place (Glass, 2007). These three generations, each shaped by different life experiences and defining moments in history, share an office environment and bring distinctive expectations as well as distinct approaches to work and communication (Lee Hecht Harrison, 2007). This study considers the impact of the built environment on multigenerational workforce, the effectiveness of employees' interactions, and communications. As the oldest generation in the workplace, Baby Boomers expect to work at least part-time in their retirement years. Their eventual retirement will inflict the largest brain drain ever experienced by corporate America (Lee Hecht Harrison, 2007). This brain drain, also called the human capital flight, will result in corporations losing valuable technical skills and knowledge. The next generations are smaller in size and with their limited professional experience and organizational knowledge transferring the knowledge needed for future business success must be a priority (Gordon, 2007). Researching each generation and today's office environment provides a framework for discussing the current workforce and evolving workplace as well as pursuing practices that will leverage both collective and personal knowledge within the organization as well as the best qualities of each generation. This thesis study applied information from a review of the literature, the application of observational studies, and valuable insight from focus group interviews to develop a prototype workplace design. This research study merges the attributes of the fields of interior design and knowledge management while examining the multigenerational workforce of today and the researcher's anticipated workforce scenario in 2030. The researcher utilized the data collected and applied it to the design of a Phase 1: 2015 and Phase 2: 2030 accounting firm office. The researcher aimed to leverage the best qualities of current workplace design processes of knowledge management, and attributes of the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials. The research and application encourages firms, researchers, and designers to take full advantage of all dimensions of talent and contributions to the success of the organization, productivity of employees, and satisfaction of clients, while also providing a context for addressing both the changing aspects of the workforce and workplace. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Interior Design in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts. / Summer Semester 2015. / June 22, 2015. / Generations, Interior Design, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Transfer, Workforce, Workplace Design / Includes bibliographical references. / Marlo Ransdell, Professor Directing Thesis; Jim Dawkins, Committee Member; Lisa Waxman, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253189 |
| Contributors | Baker, Lindsey (authoraut), Ransdell, Marlo E. (professor directing thesis), Dawkins, James D. (committee member), Waxman, Lisa K. (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Fine Arts (degree granting college), Department of Interior Design (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (219 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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