Measuring Social and Spatial Relations in an Office Move

In this paper, we outline an investigation of the impact of an office move on the social relationships of staff and students in a university research department. Combining the techniques of Social Network Analysis to assess for changes in social relations and Space Syntax Analysis for measuring the spatial changes, we identify key changes in the social relations that can be defined by spatiality. A decline in the social connections taking place and a change in the structure of the social network, accompanied by significant changes in spatial connectivity suggests that the office locations are influencing the underlying complex social processes.

[1]  Jean Wineman,et al.  Spatial Layout, Social Structure, and Innovation in Organizations , 2014 .

[2]  Greg R. Oldham,et al.  Enhancing Creativity: Managing Work Contexts for the High Potential Employee , 1997 .

[3]  Barry P. Haynes.  The impact of the behavioural environment on office productivity , 2007 .

[4]  John Peponis,et al.  The Spatial Culture of Factories , 1985 .

[5]  Tony Judt,et al.  Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 , 2005 .

[6]  D. Buchanan,et al.  Organizational Behaviour: an Introductory Text , 1972 .

[7]  Mahbub Rashid,et al.  Designing Space to Support Knowledge Work , 2007 .

[8]  K. Dunbar.  HOW SCIENTISTS REALLY REASON: SCIENTIFIC REASONING IN REAL-WORLD LABORATORIES , 1995 .

[9]  Alan Penn,et al.  The Space of Innovation: Interaction and Communication in the Work Environment , 1999 .

[10]  Yuri Martens,et al.  Creative workplace: instrumental and symbolic support for creativity , 2011 .

[11]  Roman Boutellier,et al.  Impact of Office Layout on Communication in a Science-Driven Business , 2008 .

[12]  M. Csíkszentmihályi.  Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention , 1996 .

[13]  F. Herzberg.  Work and the nature of man , 1967 .

[14]  Alan Penn,et al.  Visible Colleges: Structure and Randomness in the Place of Discovery , 1991, Science in Context.

[15]  Theresa J. B. Kline,et al.  Traditional versus Open Office Design , 2002 .

[16]  Thomas J. Allen,et al.  Managing the flow of technology: technology transfer and the dissemination of technological informat , 1977 .

[17]  Simon A. Austin,et al.  Balancing collaboration and privacy in academic workspaces , 2011 .

[18]  Kerstin Sailer,et al.  Creativity as social and spatial process , 2011 .

[19]  Kenneth Powell,et al.  The New Office , 1997 .

[20]  Teresa M. Amabile,et al.  Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity , 1996 .

[21]  Anne-Laure Fayard,et al.  Photocopiers and Water-coolers: The Affordances of Informal Interaction , 2007 .

[22]  Goksenin Inalhan,et al.  Disproving Widespread Myths about Workplace Design , 2003 .

[23]  Franklin Becker,et al.  Offices at Work: Uncommon Workspace Strategies that Add Value and Improve Performance , 2004 .

[24]  B. Hillier,et al.  The Social Logic of Space , 1984 .

[25]  David Obstfeld.  Social Networks, the Tertius Iungens Orientation, and Involvement in Innovation , 2005 .

[26]  Allen C. Bluedorn.  Scientific Management, Comprising Shop Management: The Principles of Scientific Management Testimony Before the Special House Committee , 2001 .

[27]  Alejandra Martínez-Monés,et al.  Combining qualitative evaluation and social network analysis for the study of classroom social interactions , 2003, Comput. Educ..

[28]  R. Hanneman.  Introduction to Social Network Methods , 2001 .

[29]  John Scott.  What is social network analysis , 2010 .

[30]  P. Drucker.  Landmarks of tomorrow , 1959 .