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Please find excellent examples or case studies of work spaces designed for group collaboration and creativity
Hello! Thank you for your question about creativity and collaborations in group work spaces. The short answer is the three main trends of successful collaborative offices are designated places of solitude and focus, increased visibility/availability within teams, and circular collaboration spaces. These trends come from successful businesses like Google and Pixar, and also from industry research. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
CULTURAL PRINCIPLES
To begin to understand how employees function best in workplaces, I investigated how culture and societal norms influence expectations and needs. Cultural differences impact views on personal space, work hierarchy, and interruptions. Taking China, the United States, Germany, and Russia for examples, I found that Westerners place more emphasis on the ability to concentrate in their office, while Chinese workers worry more about their privacy and what personal information their coworkers have access to. China also gives greater weight to social hierarchy in the workplace, so access to managers is often restricted and their offices secluded from the general work force. Nonverbal cues are highly important to communication, so video conferencing and face-to-face meetings are prized over phone calls and large, individual work spaces. In the United States and Germany, hierarchy is less important than team building, and direct communication trumps nonverbal, thus leading to a preference for email, whiteboard brainstorming, and access to management. Russia is one of the leaders in flexible work spaces-- getting rid of cubicles for more independent offices where workers have more say in which projects they choose. In the United States, collaboration is becoming a bigger driving force for innovation and office design, but the cultural emphasis on personal space and concentration necessitate designs that include designated solitude spaces as well as collaborative areas.
DESIGN FEATURES
Industry studies have shown that there are 7 main types of office spaces. These are categorized into traditional (e.g. extra large or small, huddle rooms), specialty (e.g. brainstorming, video conferencing rooms), and extra-curricular (e.g. cafe, game rooms). A study of workers at 32 different business showed that 50% are considering small, team oriented brainstorming spaces as the way of the future for collaboration. These spaces need to be easy to get to, with a casual feel, and support small social groups. The study found that "the most rapidly growing categories support brainstorming, small unplanned meetings, videoconferencing and project team work." Scrum rooms, as they are termed, are used by software developers to allow a core project team a place to display project goals, achievements, and information so that everyone has easy access to it via technology, whiteboards, and cork boards. Wireless offices and easy access to technology is a must for every office design.
The desire for privacy must be balanced with easy visibility between team members to foster communication and innovation. In the case studies detailed below, there are designated individual and conference rooms to increase the feeling of privacy and allow for a cessation of interruptions. However, this is balanced by a general office plan of community. Two main design models take these into account. The distributed model has "spaces that support stimulation control are blended into areas for both individual and group work. This model makes it easy for people to shift quickly between modes of work." The other model is the zone model that "defines certain locations within the larger workplace as private, quiet spaces." Data is beginning to show that specific demarcation of spaces within the office for innovation or productivity work, for example, lead to creativity and expanded ideas. "Re-engineering space for interactions over efficiency can increase sales or new-product launches".
In the collaborative spaces, the offices should be designed in a circular format. This augments visibility and accessibility between all members of the team or office. It also increases a feeling of community and appreciation between team members. This can be done with circular conference tables, round common areas, or circled desks.
Teams at Amazon are limited to 5-8 people, and studies have shown that this size is optimal in allowing quality interactions without being overwhelmed with personalities. For these teams to function, they need a space where "everyone has equal access to digital and analog information displays and can see each other eye-to-eye." This study suggests team areas with circular seating, whiteboards, and collaborative technology are the most productive and creative.
It is also important to provide an area removed from project spaces where employees can socialize and have informal collaborations, as shown in the case studies below.
Coffee areas, centrally located restrooms, or game rooms are a common feature in the most successful companies like Google and Pixar, but also in smaller settings. Being able to casually chat about successes or failures boost company moral, and group productivity. Studies have shown "that in some cases even a 5% drop in personal productivity can have a positive outcome on group performance" when people move to common areas to chat with coworkers. This leads to an interesting point about workplace culture and the conclusion that perhaps performance reviews shouldn't solely focus on individual performance.
Finally, office design should go beyond the layout of personal or team spaces. Choosing construction materials, aesthetic pieces, and furniture can impact the office's sense of community and well-being. "A paradoxical use of material or reuse of objects for non-intended purposes can remove ready made ideas from our minds and inspire us to look at things with a pure and naïve perspective." Steve Jobs famously chose specific steel beams for the Pixar headquarters that were bolted, not welded together to promote better aesthetics and design beauty in the building. Natural light is an important tool for battling depression, and with flexible work spaces where furniture can be "re-arranged endlessly with sliding partitions, furniture on wheels (e.g. whiteboards), rolling stools and pushed-together tables" workers feel freer, more flexible, and more open.
CASE STUDIES
To give concrete examples of what has worked for collaborative office designs, I have included brief overviews of Pixar, Google, Cisco, McNeil, and MaRS Solutions, companies of various sizes. Relevant or unique ideas are highlighted with results and statistics where available.
PIXAR
Steve Jobs redesigned the disparate Pixar divisions into "a single cavernous office that housed the entire Pixar team" with the intent of fostering communication, problem solving, and idea sharing. Teams are designated into offices of U shaped units with 5-6 individual offices around a common area. This gives everyone their individual space to focus, but also keeps sight lines open for visibility, and a team meeting is easily, and quickly accessible. They also promoted a culture of individuality and creativity by letting workers decorate their offices however they wanted. More common areas than strictly necessary, outdoor lunch spaces, and recreation rooms all increase face-to-face casual encounters and collaboration.
GOOGLE
Again, the philosophy of workers encouraged to "casually collide" asserts itself by a design plan where "no part of the office was more than 150 feet from food". This fosters communication between teams as well as with wider departments and offices. They included fire poles between floors so team meeting spaces are always quickly accessible. Google also promotes generic thinking areas around their offices so no one is alone or secluded at home when innovating.
CISCO
The Cisco offices underwent a redesign several years ago because many of their jobs necessitated mobile employees and non-traditional hours. To accommodate this without losing collaboration or function, the office became totally wireless with unclaimed workstations for anyone to use for as long as they needed it. "The Connected Workspace floor plan was inspired by a university theme, with open spaces called quads, plazas where employees can meet informally, a commons area for breaks, and enclosed offices called colleges". Only administration assistants received assigned spaces so everyone would know where to find them. They included "3 types of collaborative spaces- open, semi-enclosed, enclosed", both formal and informal. The employees say they like the choice of workstations, and the open and collaborative atmosphere. It also saved Cisco 37% on rent and 42% on construction costs.
MCNEIL:
This pharmaceutical company redesigned their offices since 45% of their work was collaborative in nature. This resulted in individual quiet spaces around perimeter with direct access to team areas and informal meeting rooms. "At the core of each floor and along the main campus circulation routes ‘hubs’ act as the ‘Town Square’ for the neighborhoods. These informal gathering spaces with the coffee/pantry/copy center." This design maximizes visibility and accessibility between teams. Results suggest that 11 out of 12 business operations are fully functional over 5 out 12 before.
MARS SOLUTIONS LAB:
This company groups teams of 4-5 in one large room with their desks mashed together in a vaguely circular pattern. One large whiteboard dominates a wall. The teams have reported increased communication and team building. To allow for concentration or privacy, the company allows workers to occasionally work from home or find other work spaces. The most important aspect of this design's success, the company's actions to foster a "culture of collaboration".
CONCLUSIONS
The old adage of no man is an island is applicable in the workplace. Companies are beginning to foster collaborative office designs that redefine office culture. However, it is not as simple as just an open office. The three main successful traits in collaborative offices are private spaces for employees to use, high visibility and accessibility between coworkers in the form of office design and increased numbers of common areas, and circular, community oriented meeting rooms or work spaces. Cultural concerns should also be taken into consideration when designing offices. Companies such as Cisco and McNeil have shown increased production and a greater sense of community within their workers since redesigning their offices.
Recommendations on further reading:
The Culture of Collaboration: Maximizing Time, Talent and Tools to Create Value in the Global Economy by Evan Rosen
Harvard Business Review on Building Better Teams by Bob Frisch
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