Relationship Between Workplace Spatial Settings and Occupant-Perceived Support for Collaboration

Abstract

The increasingly collaborative nature of knowledge-based work requires workplaces to support both dynamic interactions and concentrated work, both of which are critical for collaboration performance. Given the prevalence of open-plan settings, this requirement has created new challenges for workplace design. Therefore, an understanding of the relationship between the spatial characteristics of workplace settings and the support for collaboration that is perceived by office workers is valuable and timely. Based on a study of 308 office workers in 27 office spaces, this article examines the relationship between a series of workplace spatial characteristics and the support that is perceived by the occupants for collaborations. The spatial characteristics that were examined included individual workstation characteristics that were derived from the literature and a new set of floor-plan layout variables that highlighted shared spaces that are critical for a variety of formal and informal collaboration activities at work. The key characteristics of workplace spatial settings that were associated with the support that the occupants perceived for collaboration were the distance from workstation to meeting space, the distance from workstation to shared service area, the distance from workstation to kitchen/coffee area, and the percentage of floor space that was dedicated to shared services and amenities.

Individual Control over the Physical Work Environment to Affect Creativity

“…Obviously, good-looking surroundings may positively affect participants' level of well-being. Previous studies indicated the positive effect of good-looking workspace on employees' well-being, productivity and creativity (El-Zeiny, 2012;Hua et al, 2011;Newsham et al, 2004;Niemelä et al, 2002;Thatcher and Milner, 2012). For instance, as suggested by Larsen et al (1998), the existence of indoor plants increase the attractiveness and comfort of office environments.…”

“…Previous studies from different perspectives have shown that the perceived quality of the physical work environment have influenced in employees' job perception, satisfaction, psychological stress, attitudes and overall performance (Sundstrom et al, 1994;George and Brief, 1992;McGuire and McLaren, 2009;Thatcher and Milner, 2012;Vischer, 2007;Huang et al, 2004;Hwang and Kim, 2013;O'Neill, 2010;Carlopio, 1996;Al-Anzi, 2009;Hua et al, 2011;Davis et al, 2011). Briner (2000) suggested that the nature and arrangement of designing and furnishing a place influence the frequency and type of interaction that takes place in an environment.…”

Collaboration in open-plan offices

“…Hatch, 1987;Oldham & Brass, 1979;Oldham & Rotchford, 1983;Sundstrom et al, 1980). Furthermore, recent research has focused on issues such as the relationship between office personalisation and productivity (Nieuwenhuis, Knight, Postmes, & Haslam, 2014), the impact of standing desks on creativity (Knight & Baer, 2014), and the emotions and behaviours expressed by employees in openplan offices (Ashkanasy et al, 2014 (Hua et al, 2010;McElroy & Morrow, 2010). Secondly, research on the relationship between open-plan offices and constructs related to collaboration (e.g.…”

“…In terms of empirical research, there has been little research that explicitly examines the relationship between open-plan offices and collaboration, particularly in the context of teams (for exceptions see Hua, Loftness, Heerwagen, & Powell, 2010;McElroy & Morrow, 2010). As Ashkanasy et al (2014) argued, most of the research on open-plan offices is focused on individual outcomes, such as performance, satisfaction, and wellbeing, rather than on group or team processes, such as collaboration.…”

Promises and lures of open creative space for innovative teams

“…This suggests that the innovative design of workspaces has the potential to positively or negatively influence organizational culture and creative processes (Kallio et al, 2015). The transdisciplinary and collaborative nature of the work of new products and services development teams requires spaces that support both dynamic interactions or intense and focused individual work (Hua et al, 2011) and the work in a community of practice mediated by the TICs that characterize the project teams (Harvey, 2014). The connectivity and the intelligence of the place have their source in the technological environment of which the emerging part can consist of systems with visual and auditory sensors which react to the persons by restoring from their computer memory the requirements and data of the last working session of the team (Oksanen & Ståhle, 2013).…”