Sharing Research Equipment to Bridge Intraorganizational Boundaries

Andereggen, Stefan; Zoller, Frank A.; Boutellier, Roman

doi:10.5437/08956308x5601082

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Second, it is not only the accessibility of people that matters in open spaces -visual accessibility of the objects through which people carry out their work is equally important (Becker, 2007;Elsbach & Bechky, 2007). Research has found that an important promoter of chance encounters is shared laboratory equipment, as people often meet around them to enquire about their availability or to wait for their turn to use them (Andereggen et al, 2013;Merz & Biniok, 2010). However, most recent research on the role of objects has taken place in engineering settings.…”

Section: Working In the Pharma Labmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who talks to whom about what? How interdisciplinary communication and knowledge of expertise distribution improve in integrated R&D labs

et al. 2018

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Although several studies have examined the impact of open workspaces, there is still an on-going debate about its advantages and disadvantages. Our paper contributes to this debate by shedding light on three issues: the effect of open workspaces on (1) the flow of communication along and across hierarchical lines; (2) the content of communication; and (3) the specificities of open integrated laboratories. Our findings derive from a longitudinal case in a large pharmaceutical company that has relocated some R&D teams from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs. The relocation has resulted in (a) increased interdisciplinary communication, particularly at lower hierarchical levels, (b) a shift of the location of discussions and the content of conversations and (c) an improved knowledge about expertise distribution. Practitioner Summary: Communication is essential in knowledge-driven organisations. This article examines the impact of a relocation of R&D employees from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs on communication patterns. We explain how the new environment fosters interdisciplinary communication, shifts the location of discussions and increases the knowledge of expertise distribution.

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Section: Working In the Pharma Labmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who talks to whom about what? How interdisciplinary communication and knowledge of expertise distribution improve in integrated R&D labs

et al. 2018

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“…Indeed, studies regarding the behavioral impact of shared workspaces have shown repeatedly that chance encounters become much more frequent in open office environments (Boutellier et al, 2008 ; Khazanchi et al, 2018 ). In open laboratory environments shared experimental equipment has been identified as a particular strong facilitator of chance encounters as people often coincide around them, exchange technical know-how or wait their turn to use them (Andereggen et al, 2013 ; Heinzen et al, 2018 ). That is to say, that proximity detections in shared workspace environments hardly follow a single or unique rationale but happen to some degree at random.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensor-based proximity metrics for team research. A validation study across three organizational contexts

et al. 2020

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Wearable sensors are becoming increasingly popular in organizational research. Although validation studies that examine sensor data in conjunction with established social and psychological constructs are becoming more frequent, they are usually limited for two reasons: first, most validation studies are carried out under laboratory settings. Only a handful of studies have been carried out in real-world organizational environments. Second, for those studies carried out in field settings, reported findings are derived from a single case only, thus seriously limiting the possibility of studying the influence of contextual factors on sensor-based measurements. This article presents a validation study of expressive and instrumental ties across nine relatively small R&D teams. The convergent validity of Bluetooth (BT) detections is reported for friendship and adviceseeking ties under three organizational contexts: research labs, private companies, and university-based teams. Results show that, in general, BT detections correlated strongly with self-reported measurements. However, the organizational context affects both the strength of the observed correlation and its direction. Whereas advice-seeking ties generally occur in close spatial proximity and are best identified in university environments, friendship relationships occur at a greater spatial distance, especially in research labs. We conclude with recommendations for fine-tuning the validity of sensor measurements by carefully examining the opportunities for organizational embedding in relation to the research question and collecting complementary data through mixed-method research designs.

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“…Open-space labs, whether dry or wet, are becoming more and more frequent worldwide. They are promoted because they are supposed to facilitate face-to-face interactions among researchers, 1 , 2 but pose a big challenge to those who need to be in a quiet environment in order to focus and be productive 3 7 Office designers are seeking to improve efficiency by means of open-spaces, 8 – 10 but might have actually ended up facilitating employee communication, whether or not this supports the work to be done 11 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Cope with Working in an Open-space Lab?

Pautasso¹,

Werf²

2017

European Review

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Open-space labs and research environments are increasingly common worldwide. They are supposed to facilitate interactions among researchers, but can be disruptive to those who need to be in a quiet environment in order to concentrate. This problem is increasingly felt across the natural, medical and social sciences, has a clear interdisciplinary and cross-cultural relevance, but has been the focus of limited attention. We propose some simple suggestions for researchers struggling in an open-space lab, based on a literature review and our experience in open spaces in various labs and countries (Australia, China, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the USA) as undergrads, PhD students, postdocs, researchers and (W. van der Werf) professors. Our aim is to help researchers working in open-space offices and labs with some straightforward solutions that will make their lives and work easier.

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Sharing Research Equipment to Bridge Intraorganizational Boundaries

Cited by 14 publications

References 28 publications

Who talks to whom about what? How interdisciplinary communication and knowledge of expertise distribution improve in integrated R&D labs

Who talks to whom about what? How interdisciplinary communication and knowledge of expertise distribution improve in integrated R&D labs

Sensor-based proximity metrics for team research. A validation study across three organizational contexts

How to Cope with Working in an Open-space Lab?

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