Many people believe feng shui should play an important part in office design. Proper energy flow in the workplace can bring you good fortune and enable you to work to the best of your abilities. Basic feng shuf in the office is governed by the position of your desk and its surroundings. 　　　Following are some tips to help you avoid common office layout slip-ups: 　　　If you're the boss, you get the biggest desk, right? Feng shui agrees: desk size reflects your level of authority. Likewise, if you're a department head or manager, your desk should be larger than those of your subordinates? but never as big as the boss? unless you're looking for arguments and mistrust. 　　　Whatever your rank, try to make sure you're sitting with your back to a thick wall or large shelf, either of which symbolizes a mountain you can, rely on, meaning that your superiors will always back you up. It is not conducive to good feng shui to have a door or window immediately behind your chair. Either move, or put up a bookshelf as near as possible to create? that mountain. If people are able to routinely walk behind you, set up a screen to feel more secure and close that energy gap. 　　　It is also not advisable to sit beneath a ceiling beam. It will only add to your work pressure and may even give you headaches. Resolve this with a false ceiling, or if that? impractical, simply stick eight old coins along the beam, because traditionally, people believed that old coins with the holes in the centre could improve luck, and the number eight is associated with good fortune. 　　　Watch out for strip lighting. Feng shui regards such arrangements as knife-shaped and thus a source of dangerous energy. If you're sitting immediately below, your concentration will suffer. Move at least a short distance -- say, a third of a metre -- from beneath the light source's centre. 　　　Finally, It's good for everyone if all the office desks are arranged in parallel rows, facing the same direction, as in a classroom. Such a layout promotes a stable environment for feng shui, with everyone working in formation, fostering teamwork and harmony. 　　　As told to Alice Fung by Au Chung-tak (Telephone: 2395 5077)