Floor Plans and Innovative Behavior (03-03-10)

Wineman and her colleagues have integrated studies of spatial layouts and social networks to study innovation.  They “explore the social dimensions of innovation as they are embedded in a specific, spatial milieu. . . .As built space structures patterns of circulation, copresence, coawareness, and encounter in an organization, these interrelationships become fundamental to the development of social networks, especially those networks crucial to the innovation process.”  Analysis of the data collected indicates that people working in offices (in the study environment, private offices) located on corridors that are well connected to other offices are more likely to engage in innovative behaviors with others than people whose offices are not as well connected:  “Spatial layout apparently plays a strong supportive role in the formation and maintenance of social relations that ultimately are linked to innovation.”

Jean Wineman, Felichism Kabo, and Gerald Davis.  2009.  “Spatial and Social Networks in Organizational Innovation.”  Environment and Behavior, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 427-442.