ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one facet of the physical appearance of organizations, that is the physical setting in which organizations operate and with which they are identified. It provides the relationship between the building as such and what it is meant to signify in the life of the organization or in society is not only a largely unexplored empirical field, but also a highly problematic theoretical territory. The symbolic aspects of the physical settings, especially the built environments which man inhabits, have been recognized as important and valid phenomena in most of the social sciences. The physical settings in which goods and services are produced and exchanged may sometimes influence the characteristics of the goods and services as experienced by the people involved. A basic proposition of corporate architecture is that the architectural, interior, and environmental design of corporate buildings and settings has a profound impact on human behaviour in general and on human performance in particular.
