Michael L. Joroff

Michael L. Joroff is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning, for which he directed the Laboratory of Architecture and Planning for 18 years.   He consults about corporate real estate strategy and workplace-making with corporations in the United States, Europe and Japan.  His particular specialties relate to organizational diagnostic and design, using the workplace-making process to drive organizational development, problem and opportunity framing, alignment of workplace and business strategy, and innovation in the workplace industry.

Research Activities

Founder and program director:

• MIT Joint Program for Building Energy, with Leon Glicksman, 1983- 1990
• MIT-Shimuzu  Building Research Program, with David Marks, 1982-1987
• MIT-Korean Institute of Construction Program, 1980-1985
• MIT-National Park Service Cooperative Research Program, 1979-1985
• MIT East Asian Architecture and Planning Program, 1980 – present
• MIT Joint Program for Housing Technology, with John Crowley, 1990-1995

Industry analysis projects

• Director, Corporate Real Estate 2000, a five year research program that redefined the global management of corporate real estate, sponsored by 40 global corporations, 1993-1998
• Co-director with Michael Bell, The Agile  Workplace, a two-year research program about the future workplace, sponsored by 22 global corporations, 1999- 2001

Distributed work-related research projects and consulting for such organizations as: 

IBM, Nokia, Nissan, Goldman Sachs, Cigna, American Express, Sun Microsystems, Kodak, British Telecom, AT&T, Xerox, US General Services Administration and numerous health care institutions.

Distributed work-related economic development research projects and consulting in the United States, Japan and Korea, England and Brazil. 

Professional Education Courses

Sixteen years of professional education for corporate infrastructure managers in the US, UK and Japan through MIT professional education programs and programs of professional associations. 

Co-founder and member of the executive committee for the globally-oriented Journal of Corporate Real Estate.

Major Relevant Publications:

• Excellence by Design: Transforming Workplace and Work Practice, Turid Horgen. Michael Joroff, William Porter and Donald Schön, John Wiley & Sons, 1999
• The Agile Workplace: Supporting People and Their Work, co-editor with Michael Bell, MIT and Gartner,  December 2001
• The Fifth Corporate Resource: The Workplace, M. Joroff, M. Louragand, S. Lambert, F. Becker, 1993; Reinventing the Workplace, F. Becker and M. Joroff, 1994; Managing the Reinvented Workplace,  F. Becker and M. Joroff, 1995; Team Space, W. Sims. M. Joroff, F. Becker; Manufacturing and the Lean Portfolio;  F. Becker and M. Joroff, 1996.  All published by the International Development Research Association, the global association of corporate real estate professionals.
• Numerous articles about corporate infrastructure management and workplace design and management in professional journals

Contact details:

Tel: + 1 617 452 5623
Fax: + 1 617 253 9407
E-mail: mljoroff@mit.edu