The value of effective collaboration has become increasingly critical for organizational performance and agility. Along with technical and managerial strategies, the workspace spatial environment needs to be recognized and studied for its impact on collaboration and interactive behavior at work. Most spatial parameters studied in the workplace research literature are workstation-scale characteristics. However, these may not sufficiently describe the variety of shared spaces in which collaborative work and interactions take place. Based on a two-year multiple-site field study of workplace settings, this paper explores the space typology of a wide spectrum of formal and informal collaborative spaces, and it introduces a new set of layout-scale quantitative indices to describe the amount and distribution of collaborative spaces in a workplace. This research tested layout-scale spatial variables and compared them with workstation-scale variables in order to determine how well these variables predict the occupants' perception of the support from their workplace spatial environment for collaborative work and the distractions from others' interactive behavior in the work environment. The design implications of the findings are explored, and future research directions are identified.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllenT, 1977Managing the Flow of Technology (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)
2.
BafnaS, 2004, “The impact of furniture systems”InformeDesign Newsletter4(12) 5
3.
BeckerF, 2004Office at Work: Uncommon Workspace Strategies that Add Value and Improve Performance (John Wiley, New York)
4.
BrennanAChughJKlineT, 2002, “Traditional versus open office design—a longitudinal field study”Environment and Behavior34279–299
5.
Brill M, Weidemann S, BOSTI Associates, 2001Disproving Widespread Myths about Workplace Design (Kimball International, Jasper, IN)
6.
CharlesKVeitchJ2002, “Environmental satisfaction in open-plan environments: 2. Effects of workstation size, partition height and windows”, report for National Research Council of Canada, Institute for Research in Construction, Ottawa, ON
7.
DavenportT, 2005Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances and Results from Knowledge Workers (Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA)
8.
DeanLPughWGundersonE, 1975, “Spatial and perceptual components of crowding: effects on health and satisfaction”Environment and Behavior7225–236
9.
DesorJ, 1972, “Towards a psychological theory of crowding”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology2179–83
DuffyFPowellK, 1997The New Office (Conran Octopus, London)
12.
EvansGJohanssonGCarrereS, 1994, “Psychosocial factors and the physical environment: inter-relations in the workplace”, in International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology 9 Eds CooperCRobertsonI (John Wiley, New York) pp 1–30
13.
FriedYSlowikLBen-DavidHTiegsR, 2001, “Exploring the relationship between workspace density and employee attitudinal reactions: an integrative model”Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology74359–372
14.
GullahornJ, 1952, “Distance and friendship as factors in the gross interaction matrix”Sociometry15123–134
15.
GutwinLGreenbergS, 2002, “A descriptive framework of workspace awareness for real time groupware”Computer Supported Cooperative Work11411–446
16.
HatchM, 1987, “Physical barriers, task characteristics, and interaction activity in research and development firms”Administrative Science Quarterly32387–399
17.
HeerwagenJKampschroerKPowellKLoftnessV, 2004, “Collaborative knowledge work environments”Building Research and Information32510–528
18.
IlozorBLoverPTreloarG, 2002, “The impact of work settings on organizational performance measures in built facilities”Facilities2061–68
19.
KrautRStreeterL, 1995, “Coordination in large scale software development”Communications of the ACM38(3) 69–81
20.
KrautRFussellSBrennanSSiegelJ, 2002, “Understanding effects of proximity on collaboration: implications for technologies to support remote collaborative work”, in Distributed Work Eds HindsPKieslerS (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 137–162
21.
LawlerE, 2001Organizing for High Performance: Employee Involvement, TQM, Re-engineering and Knowledge Management in the Fortune 1000 (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA)
22.
MatelaRO'HareE, 1976a, “Distance measures over polyomino populations”Environment and Planning B3111–131
23.
MatelaRO'HareE, 1976b, “Graph-theoretic aspects of polyominoes and related spatial structures”Environment and Planning B379–110
24.
MayDOldhamGRathertC, 2005, “Employee affective and behavioral reactions to the spatial density of physical work environments”Human Resource Management4421–33
25.
NadlerDTushmanMNadlerM, 1997Competing by Design: The Power of Organizational Architecture (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
26.
OldhamG1988, “Effects of changes in workspace partitions and spatial density on employee reactions: a quasi-experiment”Journal of Applied Psychology73253–358
27.
OldhamGBrassD, 1979, “Employee reactions to an open-plan office: a naturally occurring quasi-experiment”Administrative Science Quarterly24267–284
28.
OldhamGFriedY, 1987, “Employee reactions to workspace characteristics”Journal of Applied Psychology7275–80
29.
OldhamGRotchfordN, 1983, “Relationships between office characteristics and employee reactions: a study of the physical environment”Administrative Science Quarterly28542–556
30.
OldhamGKulikCStepinaL, 1991, “Physical environments and employee reactions: effects of stimulus-screening skills and job complexity”The Academy of Management Journal34929–938
31.
OlsonJTeasleySCoviLOlsonG, 2002, “The (currently) unique advantage of collocated work”, in Distributed Work Eds HindsPKieslerS (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 113–135
32.
O'NeillMCarayonP, 1993, “The relationship between privacy, control and stress responses in office workers”, in Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting pp 479–483
33.
PeponisJWinemanJ, 2002, “Spatial structure of environment and behavior”, in Handbook of Environmental Psychology Eds BechtelRChurchmanA (John Wiley, New York) pp 271–291
34.
PorrasJRobertsonJ, 1992, “Organizational development: theory, practice and research”, in Handbook of Industrial and Organizational PsychologyVolume 3, Ed. DunnetteM (Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA) pp 719–822
35.
RashidMZimringC, 2005, “On psychosocial constructs in office settings: a review of the empirical literature”, in Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association pp 107–122; available from RashidM, Department of Design, University of Kansas
36.
SchulerRRitzmanLDavisV, 1981, “Merging prescriptive and behavioral approaches for office layout”Journal of Operations Management1131–142
37.
ShpuzaE, 2006Floorplate Shapes and Office Layout: A Model of the Effect of Floorplate Shape on Circulation Integration PhD thesis, School of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
38.
SparksKCooperC, 1999, “Occupational differences in the work-strain relationship: towards the use of situation specific models”Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology72219–229
39.
SundstromEBurtRKampD1980“Privacy at work: architectural correlates of job satisfaction and job performance”The Academy of Management Journal23101–117
40.
VeitchJCharlesKNewshamGMarquardtCGeertsJ, 2003, “Environmental satisfaction in open-plan environments: 5. Workstation and physical condition”, National Research Council of Canada, Institute for Research in Construction, Ottawa, ON
41.
WatsonDPennebakerJFolgerR, 1986, “Beyond negative affectivity: measuring stress and satisfaction in the workplace”Journal of Organizational Behavior Management8142–158
42.
WorthingtonJ, 1997Reinventing the Workplace (Architectural Press, Oxford)
43.
ZalesnyMFaraceR, 1987, “Traditional versus open offices: a comparison of sociotechnical, social relations, and symbolic meaning perspective”The Academy of Management Journal30240–259
