ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the existing research and cultural analysis on fun and playfulness in organizations and empirical and theoretical contribution to the subject. Huizinga observes fun and pure play in his book Homo Ludens as ‘one of the main bases of civilization’. Huizinga defines play as a voluntary activity. If play is artificially generated or people are ordered to play, it is no longer play. It is just ‘a forcible imitation’ of play. This chapter discusses to shed light on how new forms of office decoration and spatial planning connect with the therapeutic ethos that has brought emotions to the core of organizational culture. It also considers the activity-based office model as a form of ‘therapeutic space’ and organized self-help that offers material elements which try to shape happier, more mobile workers ready to network with new people while being more playful and positive.
