In March 2013, Bonnie Cain-Wood attended a session on how
work spaces impact collaboration. Her notes, take aways and follow-up questions
are below.
Session Brief: The Allen Curve, a theory
developed by MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Tom Allen in the 1970s,
asserts that the physical distance between individuals directly affects their
levels of collaboration. This belief has begun to revolutionize space planning
around the world—especially the institution where the theory was developed.
Whether it is open office space, specially designed labs connecting typically
bifurcated groups, or the consolidation and co-location of related but fragmented
activities and programs, MIT is taking a revolutionary approach to driving
innovation and entrepreneurship through the creation of work spaces that
promote and enhance collaboration.
Take Aways:
·
Making a place look "status" hinders
innovation. (Think corporate conference rooms)
·
Old model: break up space, send people to work,
bring them together to share. Works well for efficiency, but not for
innovation.
·
The coffee pot is a real and symbolic center
that brings people together.
·
Communal Offices-sharing offices, when someone
is out, someone else uses the office.
Library Applications:
·
Co-working: Could we have flexible working space
that employees could move in and out of so you work with different people and
in a different place? Can we do a pop-up co-work space to experiment with this
concept? As we begin to embed librarians, would co-working space within the
Library be a more efficient use of space?
·
Enablers: do we have something, someone,
someplace that encourages interdepartment collaboration? What can we do to
create this?
·
If the coffee pot is a real and symbolic center
that brings people together, what is our "coffee pot"?
If you would like to share your notes on conference sessions
relevant to the Library Future Series contact
lib-pub@okstate.edu.
