The Credit Society's New Floor
A 28-year-old cooperative credit society has moved into a single 1,100 sq ft floor with 14 staff. There is one entrance. Visitors must walk past the cash counter, the accounts section and the record cupboards before reaching the enquiry table at the rear. A shared laser printer sits immediately beside the cash counter because the cable point is there. Two clerks at one common table handle passbook printing, new-account enquiries and cash receipts at the same time. During the first week the branch receives 22 complaints: 9 about noise while waiting, 7 about the queue blocking the gangway, 4 about overhearing another customer's balance, and 2 about staff being difficult to find. The supervisor's desk is in a corner behind a tall cupboard. The manager proposes to build himself a glass cabin at the entrance and to buy a printer soundproof box. Staff say the real problem is that 'the floor is too small'. The society cannot expand sideways, but internal partitions are movable.
1. Identify the main layout defects revealed by the 22 complaints and link each defect to a principle of office layout.
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The complaints cluster into four defects, and each has a layout principle behind it.
- Public traffic through the work area. One entrance and a rear enquiry table force every visitor past cash, accounts and records. This violates the principle of separating the visitor zone from confidential back-office work. The gangway becomes a queue because it is doing two jobs at once.
- Printer beside the cash counter. Noise and footfall are placed on the most security-sensitive point. Equipment that generates noise or attracts movement should be isolated from concentrated work and from cash handling.
- One table for three different tasks. Passbook printing, enquiries and receipts have different privacy needs and different flows. The principle of arranging work in process sequence, and grouping similar work, is broken.
- Supervisor behind a cupboard. Supervision is by walking about rather than by sight. A usable span of control requires the supervisor to see the counter and the clerks without leaving the desk.
The claim that 'the floor is too small' is only partly true. At 1,100 sq ft for 14 staff, the space is tight but workable if zones are corrected. The manager's glass cabin would add a fifth defect: a private enclosure placed directly on the public route.
2. Propose a revised zoning plan for the floor and justify three specific moves that would reduce the complaints.
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A workable plan uses movable partitions to create five zones:
- Entry and waiting zone (about 120 sq ft): reception ledge, queue rail, notice board, two chairs. This keeps waiting visitors out of the work area.
- Cash counter: at the side of the entry, with a shuttered counter, a direct door to the strong room, and no printer beside it. Visitors should not walk through the office to reach cash.
- Enquiry and passbook table: near the entry but behind a low partition, so a customer's balance is not visible to the queue.
- Staff workroom: desks arranged in process order, with the supervisor at the rear but facing the counter through a glazed partition.
- Records room: lockable, at the rear, holding the printer in a ventilated alcove away from cash and enquiry work.
Justification for three moves:
- Moving the cash counter to the entry shortens the public route and removes visitors from the accounts area, improving both security and confidentiality.
- Moving the printer away from cash reduces noise at the counter and removes a distraction from a point where errors are costly.
- Moving the supervisor to a visible position restores direct supervision without adding staff; the cupboard currently blocks the line of sight.
Gangways should be at least 90 cm on the main route and 75 cm on secondary routes. The test is whether complaints fall and whether staff can be seen and reached.
3. Evaluate the manager's proposal to build a glass cabin at the entrance and buy a printer soundproof box. What would you recommend instead?
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The proposal should be assessed against the complaints, not against status. A glass cabin at the entrance would:
- occupy prime public space and push the queue further into the work area;
- add a barrier between the supervisor and the counter, weakening supervision;
- create a visible status division in a 14-person office, which may damage morale;
- solve none of the confidentiality, queue or noise complaints.
A printer soundproof box may reduce noise, but it treats one symptom. The printer is beside the cash counter because of a cable point, not because the work requires it there. A sound box also adds a maintenance item and may trap heat.
Recommendation: spend first on movable partitions, a separate cash counter and a lockable records area. If the manager needs confidential discussions, use a small shared meeting table screened from the public route, not an entrance cabin. If noise remains after relocation, a simple acoustic hood or a move to the records room is cheaper than a cabin.
The evaluation criteria should be: reduction in the four complaint types, cost, security of cash and records, supervision, and staff acceptance. On those criteria, the cabin fails and re-zoning succeeds.