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such they embrace collaborative technologies such as portable
displays with device connectivity, Unified Communication and
Collaboration (UCC) platforms, and cloud-based document
productivity software. The modern workplace allows for
millennials who have been learning everywhere to make the
transition to working anywhere. The workplace reflects the
flattening of hierarchies and bureaucracies with a combination of
layout, furniture, and technology.
Higher Ed architecture to meet these new approaches to
collaboration is very deliberate. Active
learning spaces are designed with
flat, open areas to allow furniture to
be moved into clusters as required by
group size and purpose. Technology
support includes more reconfigurable
media devices, such as large displays,
videoconference units, and wired
tables. Floor boxes accommodate
the need for power and audiovisual
connectivity at these diverse locations.
Maker spaces build on these ideas with
concepts from workshops and labo-
ratories included, to allow hands-on
collaboration in building, experiment-
ing, prototyping, etc. These spaces UMKC Henry W. Bloch School of Management Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
may require specialized resources such Image courtesy of The Sextant Group
as water, gas, pressurized air, fume
hoods, dust collection, etc. Students are in and out of their seats, Environmental diversity from a cultural perspective extends to
learning by collaborating on what they have studied beforehand
in the course materials in the ‘flipped’ classroom model.
The tangible output of collaborative study in Higher Ed is
also going in new directions that can be accommodated in the
corporate environment. Access to output devices such as 3-D
printers, large-format color printers, digital cameras, and video
and audio production equipment is a part of the Millennials’
multi-media world. Millennials are comfortable producing their
work not just as print, but as infographics, 3-D models, and
photographs, sometimes as all of these media connected in
innovative ways. Millennials allow themselves to be ’nerdy’, and
recent popular culture has empowered this attitude through
such television shows as The Big Bang Theory, and Mad Men.
Companies such as Google that foster this attitude have gone
as far as allowing employees to work on their own projects for a
certain amount of time each week, in designated areas, and the
work environment must allow for this flexibility!
Environmental Diversity
Environmental diversity is important to Millennials, who
periodically refresh their creativity throughout the day by moving
to a different space in the workplace. Technology enables the
freedom to work in unexpected places, and Millennials are not
comfortable or accustomed to being tied to sitting at a desk.
Modern higher education facilities such as libraries are now being
designed with a variety of spaces. Comfortable, relaxed seating
in open areas, access to outdoor spaces, ‘nooks’ with minimal
distractions for self-study, ‘huddle rooms’ for group collaboration,
and ‘hotelled’ stand-up/sit-down desks or offices caters to these
new behaviors. Adjustable and customizable lighting, ubiquitous
high-bandwidth Wi-Fi, ample power in walls and floors, and micro-
customizable HVAC allow customer engagement, research and
projects to be done anywhere. UCC platforms such as Microsoft
Lync and Cisco Jabber are enabling the technology to follow the
individual, assuming that everyone can be engaged wherever they
are as long as they have IT connectivity.
aspects of décor and arrangement that may seem counterintu-
itive or odd to some facility managers. Companies are learning
to accommodate design challenges such as Feng Shui, prayer
rooms, smoking rooms, unisex restrooms, and preconceived no-
tions of the relation of office size/location to hierarchical status.
According to Henrik Bresman, in summarizing his landmark study
of Millennials, “To attract, retain, and develop Millennial leaders,
companies and managers need to take these regional differences
into consideration. What matters to a Brazilian Millennial might
differ from what matters to a Singaporean Millennial, which
differs from what matters to an American Millennial. While it’s
important to understand what’s valued in a particular culture,
it’s also necessary to remember that people vary greatly within
cultures. If there is one thing we know about Millennials globally,
it is that they want to be seen as individuals.”1 Universities learn
best how to understand these regional differences by seeking
advice from student groups and faculty. Corporate facility man-
agers may wish to create similar groups of employees and heed
their advice.
The ability for Millennials to personalize their spaces is import-
ant to them, even if they do not have their own personal office or
cubicle. Higher Ed facilities offer many examples of how this can
be achieved. It is common now to find shared spaces brimming
with a blend of individuality and group-think. Write-on glass
walls, expansive push-pin surfaces, post-it-note spaces, knick-
knack shelves and other horizontal surfaces, and varying colored
walls give a lived-in, vibrant look to many spaces. In the corporate
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